Suggested Reading
Mark reads a rather lot of aircraft related books so we have persuaded him to review some for you. All the comments and opinions are his own and we hope that this will be of interest to you.
Fiction
The Imperial Lance by Dan Haymond & Liam Sands
This is an alternative history novel which explores what would happen if the Japanese became allies of the British rather than the Axis powers. As I'm a mad Japanese aircraft fan this idea intrigued me. At first thought the idea is quite mad but is handled rather well. Simply put the Navy with the Emperors full support seize power from the Army. This does not make the Army very happy and they do not just take this lying down and plots against the Emperor go into full swing. Meanwhile the British with their backs against the wall accept the Japanese offer of an alliance though, the Japanese do have to have to soften their hand in China for it to work. The real fun bit(Well for us British readers) at this stage is the reaction of the Americans! The IJN send their carrier task force to Europe and do a Pearl Harbour on the much surprised Germans. With the carriers are the first few Zeros off the production line. I really don't want to go into more detail as it would spoil the story for you. But I will say the book covers the idea realistically even down to the British officers who despise the thought of working with the little yellow men. Also the aircraft the British start to supply to the Japanese when their own planes are no longer operable had me rolling around in laughter. This was a fun easy read and I would give it five stars except that there is some very odd 'SS' adult material which adds nothing to the story. Ignore these bits and enjoy the rest.
For those of us who game, the book contains a wide variety of scenario ideas and offers some unique encounters.
The novel is available through Lulu