U.S. Air Force by the Numbers

Numbers tell the story in this examination of the U.S. Air Force. Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first military plane, for example, topped off at 42 miles per hour, while the current record-holding manned aircraft flies at 2,000 miles per hour! Bolded text and bullet points keep the information orderly and are accompanied by color and black-and-white period photographs. Readers can dip in and out of this collection of interesting tidbits on topics such as weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles, and aircraft inventory. Basic-training stats may be of special interest to young readers, as they learn that recruits face a 4:45 a.m. wake-up call, must be able to assemble their newly issued M16 rifles in 2 minutes, and are not allowed personal items such as MP3 players. Back matter includes a glossary (vocabulary words are also defined at the bottom of the pages where they appear in the main text), suggestions for further reading, a link to publisher-selected Web sites, and an index.