A Spotter's Guide (To Selected Aircraft of World War II)

During WWII the US Playing Card Co. in Cincinnati, OH, produced multiple versions of "Spotter Cards," decks of playing cards aimed at helping soldiers and civilians in "learning the characteristics of United Nations and Enemy Aircraft." Stark, simplified representations of Allied and Axis aircraft, coupled with terse descriptions, begged "players" to differentiate flying friend for flying foe.To the modern viewer, the spotter silhouettes are abstract--sleek, but not particularly threatening. It's easy to miss the fact that a plane like the Aircobra, pictured in the book, was a fierce killing machine with a 34-ft. wingspan. Or that an obsolete Japanese aircraft like the Ki-27 "Nate" finished the war as a deadly Kamikaza bomb.While in no way a definitive accounting, this book may provide a small window into the triumphs and tragedies in the struggle for air superiority during World War II.