New Book on Marine Corps Aviation in the 21st Century

[Joe Copalman]

You've probably noticed I haven't been very active on the forum or anywhere else over the past year.

Last year I was contracted to write a book for Harpia Publishing on modern Marine Corps aviation.  The general structure we agreed on was a community-by-community look at all of the upgrades and transitions made inside Marine Corps aviation over the past twenty years, looking at things like the transition from the H-46 to the V-22, the replacement of the Hornet, Harrier, and Prowler by the F-35, the H-1 upgrades, and all that stuff.  Having written articles about pretty much every flying community in the Marine Corps since 2013, I figured this would be a collection of previously written articles, expanded to include enough information to fill a 256-page book.  It very quickly became apparent that this approach would not cut it, as there was no overarching theme linking all my previous writing - that is, I wasn't looking at each subject through the same prism, and almost none of those articles covered the twenty-year span I was writing about.

Since last summer, pretty much everything I've done has been to make sure I had everything I needed to finish this book.  To make things more challenging, new projects and proposals for improving Marine Corps aviation seemed to pop up on a weekly basis, then the new Commandant came along and made all sorts of high-impact changes that just gave me more work.  While the book is filled with my photos, it is primarily text, with each chapter looking back on the last twenty years in each community and comparing how the new aircraft being introduced have been used operationally and how they stack up against the legacy aircraft they replaced. In addition to the chapters on each community (HMH, HMLA, VMFA, VMU, etc), the publisher also wanted chapters on the history of Marine Corps aviation, the naval aviation traning system, and a complete overview of how the Marine Corps is organized, the end result being what I feel is a pretty good primer on where Marine Corps aviation has been and where it is going.  And because purely technical stuff bores the hell out of me, a lot of what I write includes personal accounts from pilots, NFOs, and enlisted aircrew explaining how both the legacy and new aircraft or systems were used operationally, with some stuff that surprised even me.  Massive thanks to Scott Youmans and Taj Backus for helping fill some imagery gaps, even if the publisher didn't use a lot of what I included of theirs. 

Anyway, sorry for the rant, but I figured it would be a good idea to explain my absence over the past year or so.  While I currently have two other book commitments I am working on, neither are as demanding or broadly-focused as this one is, so I should be a bit more visible on the forum and out shooting as well, hoping to see y'all a bit more over the coming months. 

The book should be available for international ordering at the end of October, and should be available via US distribution through Casemate in early December.  Price is a bit steep, but if you are not familiar with Harpia's books, they're ridiculously high-quality.  I'm still kind of blown away my first book is through them, but on the plus side, I know there will be no surprises quality-wise, as some other publishers are well-known for inconsistent publishing quality. 

For anyone interested, here's the link: https://www.casematepublishers.com/modern-usmc-air-power.html

[Jay Beckman]

Congrats Joe!  Glad to see you brought this project to heel.  Well Done!!!

[Joe Copalman]

Congrats Joe!  Glad to see you brought this project to heel.  Well Done!!!

Thanks Jay.  Was a cool and surprisingly not-as-nerve-wracking-as-I-expected process getting it down from having nits to pick on nearly every page to getting it down to where the three pair of eyes on it (mine, the publisher's and the editors') all concurred that it was as good as we could get it. 

That said, SOOOOOOOOOOOO relieved to be done with it.  This really turned out to be a "In Soviet Russia, book finish you" proposition. 

Thanks again.

[Jeff D. Welker]

Well done young man. A significant literary achievement completing such a bold and prodigious project. I'll be placing an order and proudly adding to my humble library. Of course, I'd like to get my copy signed when time and the proprieties permit.

[Tower Guy]

Very impressive Joe, I wish you much success with this and your future projects!

[Joe Copalman]

Thanks everyone.  I'm relieved to have it done.