AVIONS N°256

Whether specialized or general, the press too often tends to only offer “general public” articles. In our field, the history of aviation, the reader is therefore regularly confronted with subjects on the Luftwaffe, the US Air Force, fighter aces, the Bf 109, the Spitfire, the Mustang, etc. AVIONS must admit that it too regularly succumbs to this fashion: you have to sell... But sometimes, it is good to propose subjects that are out of the ordinary by showing you all the diversity that aeronautics has been able to present over the course of the time. Such is the case with this issue in which you will find Swordfish operating successfully in European skies in 1945, a small unknown American interceptor fighting the Japanese rush in Asia in early 1942, a giant seaplane emerging from the depths in Norway and the first part from the biography of one of the greatest bomber pilots of French military aviation, the little-known Albert Mézergues. Finally, let's admit that we have a little difficulty completely getting away from the "people" section, since celebrity fans are still entitled in this issue to a "laser" study of the legendary Japanese ace Saburo Sakaï!

Christophe Cony


Contents of this issue:
- Readers' letters
- News: a giant BV 222 Wiking seaplane emerges from the depths! Full story, by Christophe Cony
- How the RAF put archaic biplanes into service during the last year of the war: The Albacore and Swordfish of the 119th Squadron Full story, by Geoffrey Bussy
- The ace set of Japanese naval aviation No. 3: Saburô Sakaï, the most publicized. Third and final part, by Bernard Baëza
- From the Battle of the Marne to the Rif War: Albert Mézergues, the bombing ace. First part, by Jean-Jacques Leclercq with the participation of Christophe Cony
- The Curtiss-Wright CW-21B Interceptor in the Dutch East Indies. Second and final part, by Max Schep
- Infoleisure. By Michel Ledet, Jacques Druel and Christophe Cony