The CAC Boomerang. A Detailed Guide to the RAAF's Famous WWII Fighter, by Richard A. Franks (Valiant Wings)
There are many kits on the CAC Boomerang, the Australian designed and manufactured WW2 fighter, but not so many good books about it. Also many of them deal with this subject together with the Wirraway trainer or even as a part of a wider RAAF theme. May 29, 2017 marks the 75th anniversary of Boomerang's first flight (May 29th,1942), so it is a good idea to review for you the best modeling book about this aircraft, published by Valiant Wings in their Airframe Album series.
The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) Boomerang was a single-engine, low wing, monoplane fighter aircraft. It was designed and manufactured in Australia between 1942 and 1945 by CAC which produced 250 of them. Airframe Album No. 3 details the Boomerang in its versions: the CA-12, CA-13, CA-14 and the CA-19.
This title mainly targets the modeller who is seeking reference to detail his model in any scale but also the aviation enthusiast who seeks a book filled with quality photos, profiles, and easy to read text.
There are almost 100 pages printed in the usual A4 format on glossy, good quality parer. The book is a mix of Boomerang’s history, technical details, camouflage & markings and a round-up of all available kits, accessories, decals, books, etc on the subject. As a bonus the reader can download the complete step-by-step build of the Alley Cat’s 1/32 model kit, which was released too late to be included in the book, simply by visiting the publishers website (link below - at the relevant chapter).
The contents of the book are laid out as follows:
Preface – A 9 page history of Boomerang, its evolution, and its employment, including a comparison with the CAC’s other WWII aircraft, the Wirraway and a useful Glossary of technical terms and abbreviations.
Technical Description – A 35 page coverage of the construction of and the various components that made up the Boomerang. This chapter is broken down into a further eight different sections that contain many contemporary colour and period black & white images as well as technical drawings taken from official drawings:
Fuselage – Cockpit interior, canopy, main and aft fuselage/fuel cell, hydraulics, oil, oxygen, hydraulics, and oxygen systems.
Undercarriage – mains, tail wheel, and the brake system.
Tail – tailplane and rudder.
Wings – the wings themselves as well as the undercarriage bays.
Engine – engine, cowling, exhaust and propeller.
Weapons – armament, ordnance, and gun sight.
Electrical – radio, control boxes, batteries, etc.
Miscellaneous – Access panels and equipment.
Evolution - 10 pages. This section provides the reader with a short description of each version of the Boomerang, as well as isometric and line drawings and photographic illustration of each version.
Camouflage & Markings – 21 pages. An explanatory description of the colour schemes and their variation/evolution worn by the Boomerang from the earth brown and foliage green with sky blue undersides initial scheme (worn by the first production machine) to the overall foliage green with white theatre recognition markings of the final versions. Coverage is also provided for extant restored Boomerangs. This section includes 30 excellent full colour profiles by Richard Caruana, each with a caption describing the relevant aircraft illustrated and giving colour and codes information. One of them is the subject of the Special Hobby 1/48th scale CA-13 kit (“Home James”), an interesting re-release which was recently reviewed in our “News” section (you can read it here).
Survivors – 5 pages. A listing of surviving airframes that includes their history where known.
A Big Boomerang – A three page review of the 1/32 scale Montex/Alley Cat resin kit of the Boomerang. The reader is invited to download the full build by Steve A. Evans by visiting the following link:
Appendix 1 – Boomerang Kits – Listed by scale and manufacturer – 1 page.
Appendix II – Boomerang Accessories – Listed by scale and Manufacturer – A half page.
Appendix III – Boomerang Decals - Listed by scale and Manufacturer – 1 and a half pages.
Appendix IV – Serial Numbers – 8 pages. A list of every Boomerang manufactured together with a brief history note for each one and available photo of the specific machine. A really nice touch by the author and the publisher!
Appendix V – Bibliography – a list of Boomerang related publications & articles. Nine books and their respective front covers plus seven articles from well known magazines.
All in all an excellent book that will inspire you to buy and build one of the available kits on the little Boomerang. Some of us may have built the ancient Airfix kit in 1/72 scale many years ago (who remembers the blister pack version?) but now there are available much more detailed kits in 1/72, 1/48 and even 1/32 scale.
We particularly liked the many good quality photographs, combined with the line drawings, colour profiles and the author’s attention to the small details that a modeller needs. The text is equally very explanatory and easy to read, so even if you had overlooked the Boomerang as a historic or modelling subject in the past, this book will give you fresh ideas to extend your collection and a new interest in this little beautiful aircraft.
Fully recommended!
You can order it easily on line by visiting the publishers website:
