Getting information about the Israeli
Air Force has been problematic for
years. Understandably, security concerns
have to be addressed, but this has made
it difficult and sometimes impossible to
get solid information on Israeli
aircraft.
IsraDecals has introduced a line of
books that have started to role back the
shroud over this secretive air arm.
There latest book release is on the
F-15I Ra'am. They
announced the book's release on the back
cover of the F-15I decals that came out
over Christmas of 2005. Today, I got a
copy dropped into my hot little hands by
the postman. It has been a while since a
new book has gotten me this fired up.
This book is fabulous!
The Book
The book is the same style of
printing and paper as the F-16I book
that was released at the IPMS Nationals
in 2005. The paper is glossy, heavy
stock. All the images are 100% color. I
did not count them all, but I think
there are about 250 to 300 images in the
book. Below is a selection of pages for
your enjoyment.
Cover Page |
Overall Images |
Cockpit
Details |
Weapons
Details |
Rear Cover
Page |
The following are
some specifics about the book.
- The book is 84 pages in length,
counting both the front and back
covers.
- All the photographs are in
color.
- The book is divided into
sections:
- Pages 1 through 11 discuss
the F-15I development and
delivery to Israel.
- Pages 12 through 19
chronicals in pictures various
deployments the F-15I aircraft
have made outside Israel,
including a trip to participate
in a Red Flag exercise at Nellis
AFB in the United States in
2004.
- Pages 20 through 29 are a
photo gallery showing many
images of the F-15I in use
around Israel -- lots of
takeoff, landing, and flight
shots in this section.
- Pages 30 and 31 hold four
detailed markings diagrams of
various F-15I Ra'am. Two
of these show the large eagle
head markings applied to the
tails. See below.
- Pages 32
through 43 have many images of
the F-15I during daily routine
usage and being maintained. The
images in this section in
particular are great to see as
they show typical usage of the
aircraft. There are lots of
ideas in this section for great
dioramas of F-15I Ra'am.
- Pages 44 through 84 are full
of detail images that take apart
every part of the airframe,
starting with two-page spreads
of images for each cockpit.
Another two pages of images deal
solely with the ejection seats.
Then, the next few pages show
practically every inch of the
exterior of the airframe -- the
GPS dome, the flare/chaff
buckets, the CFT pylons, all
three wheel wells in
excruciating detail. Then, the
last few pages cover various
weapons, including a live
AGM-142 Popeye and some good
clear images of live Python-4
and AIM-120C AMRAAM missiles.
- Tucked into the back of the book
are two fold-out pages of full 1/48
scale and 1/72 scale five-view
drawings. These are drawn by Willy
Peters and look outstanding.
I do not think there are enough
positive adjectives in the English
language to really describe this book --
great, super, fabulous, terrific,
fantastic, and any others you can think
of. If you love the F-15I Ra'am
or are just a nut about all things
Israeli, this book is definitely for
you. The IsraDecals web site
lists the book at $30.00 (US). For what
is provided by this book, it is worth
every penny (IMHO). |
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