HIEN FIGHTER GROUP
(A Pictorial History of the 244th Sentai, Tokyo's Defenders)


Authors: Sakurai Takashi
Pages: 144
Photos: 168 b/w, 5 colorized
Profiles: 20 color
Size: 20X25cm
Published by: Dai Nippon Kaiga, Nov. 2004, p/b
Comments: An AMAZING publication!!! The first photo book dedicated to a specific IJA unit, ever. And it's about one of the most famous and colorful units, the 244 Sentai.
The first thing you notice when you open the book, is a table with the organizational structure of the 244 Sentai, printed on the cover of the book. Then five pages featuring nicely colorized vintage photos by Yokoyama Kow. Then ten pages of color profiles of exceptional quality, again by Yokoyama, unlike anything you have seen so far. Yokoyama is cleverly using modern technology to create amazingly vivid profiles.
Then come seventy four pages full of 65 b/w photos of exceptionally high quality and clarity by the official IJA photographer Kikuchi Shunkichi. Photos of Kikuchi are also included in the Koku Fan Illustrated #80. Of them, 14 are not included in this DNK book, while 28 are common in both publications. So, there are 37 photos of Kikuchi never published before! And that's not all. From page 92 until the end of the book, there are more than 100 photos contributed by the 244th Sentai Association and family members of the pilots and members of the unit.
And finally, all the photo captions, which very much make 95% of the whole text of the book are translated in English!
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!

Price: 24.00 $US (Postage not included)