Graphic War: The Secret Aviation Drawings and Illustrations of World War II

Most of the drawings are not signed or credited, primarily because of the secret nature of the work. During the war, thousands of what Nijboer calls air diagram posters were produced. From Booklist In a foreword, Peter Castle calls this book "a tribute to the myriad designers, draftsmen, technical and graphical illustrators, artists, and cartoonists who contributed to the millions of images on the pages of wartime technical and training manuals, the wall posters, and the vital recognition portrayals of aircraft, ships, and armored vehicles." These drawings and illustrations covered every aspect of the fighting machinery, weaponry, and training programs of the Allies in World War

A Taste of better cheese, not a meal. All other reviews correctly mention the great drawings and very informative back story of the important graphic artist work during the war. I recommend the book, but with reservations. The physical dimensions of the book (and inking quality of the publishers, i.e. many too dark plates) makes it hard to clearly make out. Very informative It wasn't until I received this book that I realized how important "artwork" was in those days.No Computer Aided Design, no digital photography - but still the need to provide clear and easy-to-interpret instructions and illustrations for complicated equipment - such as flying machines.Equally important was the need to. Xcellent Presentation This is a beautiful book that takes us back to the time before the internet DVDs and laptops, and answer the question how do you educate the "user" of the increasing complicated machines of war that were being developed during WWII. This book is of Interest to the graphic artist and the WWII buff. You forget that no ma

Almost all of the material was originally listed as "restricted -- official use only" and previously unpublished in any form. "This fascinating book is a gold mine for aviation trivia junkies." --AirforceGraphic War is a superb collection of top-secret drawings, including training manuals and colorful wartime posters, from World War II. Their work survives on these pages, however, to provide rare and unique insight into war room strategy and the air- and ground-crew trainee classroom. The cutaway drawings of the aircraft and airborne weaponry were critical to the war efforts of Allied and Axis forces alike. As there was little intelligence available to pilots about the design, power and armament on opposing aircraft, these "graphic transcriptions" were essential. They were brilliantly created from a few downed aircraft, but mainly from pilots' views of the enemy in the air, during missions. Aviation enthusiasts, modelers, illustrators, artists and anyone with an interest in World War II history will find Graphic War a compelling inside look at the war fought in the sky.. Many of the graphic artists and technical illustrators employed by the Allies, and most employed by the Axis powers, remain anonymous

Donald Nijboer is co-author, with photographer Dan Patterson, of Cockpit: An Illustrated History of World War II Aircraft Interiors, Gunner: An Illustrated History of World War II Aircraft Turrets and Gun Positions and Cockpits of the Cold War. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.