Just in from Rare Aviation, this DVD covers life on 51st Fighter Wing at Suwon in Korea during April and May of 1952. It runs over an hour and retails for $39.95.

The DVD is split into fifteen distinct sections, and begins on 16 April 1952 with a short film on dust control, with troops digging and planting trees outside what appears to be the base chapel. Like most excerpts, there is no sound, but unobtrusive background music accompanies each film.

Next up, taken on the same day, we see General Stearley arriving at Suwon in a B-17 to be greeted by Col. Francis Gabreski, the base - and 51st FW - commander. This film is introduced with two scrolling biographies of both Stearley and Gabreski - a nice inclusion and one that can be easily read as the 'scrolling' is not too fast. Short clips of the Mess Hall, Weather Station (30th Weather Sqn) and Motor Pool (51st Motor Vehicle Sqn) follow, all acompanied by restrained backing music.

For many, the highlight of this DVD will be the Sabre footage, and there is plenty of it. First you get an 'On the Ramp' section from 30 April 1952, and there are an abundance of Sabres on view, and even the following '51st Air Police Sqn, May 1, 1952' section has plenty of Sabre action too; I particularly liked the landing views of the aircraft, which are quite unusual to see, and also give a good idea of the terrain surrounding the base.

The eighth part of the DVD is a short portion about medal presentations by Gen. Everest (including a further biography and more Sabre shots), and then onto a further bout of Line Activity, this time from 5 May 1952. Loading of drop tanks and further Sabre maintenance footage makes this one particularly interesting. The next portion is devoted to 'F-86 Operations', again from 5 May, and begins with crews suiting up, pre-flighting their aircraft, starting up, launching and recovering from their missions. This portion is concluded with a mission debrief with sound. Unfortunately, there were no MiG kills that day.

A further section of 'Line Activities' on 6 May follows, and includes footage of T-33 'Rice Paddy Daddy' along with the usual Sabres. Shots of Suwon town, along with more Sabres then come prior to another 'Line Activities' set of footage from 14 May, with sound, as well as some nice airborne film of the base. The penultimate section shows F-86s taking off over typical Korean village scenes, and it's an interestingly unusual take on the more usual type of view from along the runway; the local inhabitants seem generally oblivious to the war being fought from their doorsteps.

Final scenes are from around the Mess Hall and the DVD is brought to a close by the Tannoy announcement of the day's kills - 2 for Maj Bill Wescott, and one each for Col Gabreski, 1/Lt James A McCulley, 1/Lt Robert L Sands, William L Craig and 1/Lt Donald J Hemmer - a total of 7 for the Wing. Though not stated, this footage comes from 13 April 1952.

From the above, it can be seen that this really DVD packs the action in; it's refreshing to see the 'behind the scenes' action included, so the unsung ground personnel also get their five minutes of fame. The film is that much better for it. Whether you were actually there, knew someone who was there, or are just a Sabre nut, this DVD is well worth getting. My only criticism would be the lack of a menu at the beginning, as this would make it easier to navigate to the section you want to watch. However, this is a minor point, and shouldn't detract from what is an in-depth look at life with the 51st. I look forward to seeing further Cold War titles from Rare Aviation. I would recommend it to all. ****