As I'm putting together my Squadron Signal collection, I am trying to not buy older editions as the newer ones are usually better and may have more pages.

The evolution of updated editions in Squadron's history is a little funky. Early on, they'd update an existing "in action" book, for example, by keeping the same cover art and material but simply adding more pages, usually about eight. They'd add an "updated" banner across one of the corners of the book. But the new version would essentially be identical to the previous one except for the new pages. In those cases it is an easy decision to skip the earlier edition unless you're a completist and want both.

Things got weirder after a while. Sometimes the newer edition would have a different cover. Sometimes the newer edition would have different text or pictures. Now it became harder to decide which one to buy if you were coming into it late as I am.

So I'm going to do some cataloging of differences between editions. I'll probably do a table of differences at some point for all the books where I can see the differences, but in some cases, like the case of the A-4 Skyhawk Walk Around, I discovered marked differences, and some of the changes aren't necessarily for the better. Here goes...

I'm looking at the A-4 Skyhawk Walk Around book, number 5541 (2006) versus the later edition released in softcover as book 25041 and hardcover as book 65041 (both 2013). What did Squadron decide to change in the seven-year update? And apologies for the poor readability of the table; tables aren't Blogger's forte.

A-4 Skyhawk Walk Around, 5541 vs 65041

Cover Art

The front and back covers are the same in both editions. I can't fault them for this because the front cover is a great painting of an A-4 pilot named John McCain standing in front of his Skyhawk, before two fateful incidents. The first would be when a weapon misfired while McCain was still on deck, leading to the tragic fire on the USS Forrestal. The second would be later when McCain was shot down over Vietnam.

The back cover shows an Israeli Skyhawk in colorful camouflage.

So far, so good.

Frontispiece

5541 features a nice side profile shot of two US Marine A-4 jets flying in formation by a rock structure. It's a nice photo.

The 2013 edition replaces the 2006 edition's photo with a nice shot of the Blue Angels flying the A-4 in a pyramid formation. I like both photos but 2013's is more dramatic and so I have to give Squadron props on this change.

Introduction and Indicia

Almost all the "in action" and "walk around" books started with at least a half page up to a few pages of solid text introduction that often summarized the story of the featured aircraft. 5541 and 65041 have the same text in the introduction, but the 2006 edition includes a small headshot of aircraft designer Ed Heinemann. Why did the later edition remove this? Heinemann is one of the most successful and beloved of aircraft designers and it's a disappointment his picture was removed. It's possible there were licensing issues preventing Squadron from using the picture but the omission is no less disappointing even if justifiable.

Book 25041/65041 does a better job with the indicia page. Both books include the author's acknowledgement statement and some copyright information. But the 2013 edition also includes the "About the Walk Around Series" text block explaining the goal of the category. In addition, the newer edition also includes thumbnails of the front and back cover and captions for each. The 2006 edition has the captions but not the thumbnails.

Body

Most of the editions share the same photos and text but unlike earlier updates that feature identical material except for a new set of pages, there were several changes in the Skyhawk Walk Around. Here are some of the most notable:

Pages	25041/65041 Changes from 5541	Comment
3,4	Subject: Aircraft development. Grammatical error corrected in one photo caption
5	Subject: A-4B pictures "Navy Attack Squadron" added before VA-76. Upper right corner picture of A4B is zoomed in.	The zoom cuts off the tail, even though caption is discussing distinguishing features, including one on the tail.
6	Subject: Cutaway diagram Drawing is slightly smaller. Some text slightly rearranged. VMA-225 is prefaced by "Marine Attack Squadron".	Would not have reduced size of cutaway as it's already hard to see a picture with so many details.
7	Subject: JATO bottles and refueling Upper left pic is cropped. Caption for upper right photo is expanded.	This was a good crop; the part cut out was just extraneous terrain and none of the aircraft shot was affected.
8	Subject: A-4C, A-4F, Blue Angel Same pictures as 5541 but rearranged to give the Blue Angel A-4 an enlargement. Other captions were slightly rearranged with no loss of information.
9	Subject: Gladiators pic, tailhook study Captions enhanced with italicized carrier names and a few extra details, such as noting that one adversary A-4 at Top Gun has a Cuban flag insignia.
10	Subject: B&W TA-4E pics Captions better split between the two pictures
11	Subject: TA-4 FACs Caption regarding VA-126 is significantly reduced, with a sentences about the squadron history removed.	That's cool stuff, why remove it?
12	Subject: Fueling probe and nose Additional and more detailed captions.
13	Subject: Radome Reworked captions, more about Israeli air force
14, 15	Subject: B&W fuselage and engine spread Resized photos, added more detail in captions
16, 17	Subject: Air brakes, chaff dispenser, nose gear No major changes
18, 19	Subject: B&W photo set Same pictures, captions rearranged, and one caption on page 19 is misplaced with wrong picture.
20, 21	Subject: TA-4 color spread Same photos, more captions added on page 21
22, 23	Subject: B&W photo spread with cutaway drawing Nearly identical.
24	Subject: Cockpit
25	Subject: Ejection seat pictures Same pictures but one seat photo is zoomed, showing closer view of shoulder harness and overhead ejection activation handle while cutting out seat and lower activation handle. Some extra detail in the captions.	Didn't like this zoom choice, but you can see the lower handle in other photos.
26	Subject: Cockpit panel diagram Numbers in diagram items list are adjusted to be consecutive unique integers. Original has 18 and 18A, update has 18 and 19.
27	Subject: Ejection seat diagram No major changes
28, 29	Subject: Cockpit detail Same photos, some reoriented and zoomed, some added detail in captions
30, 31	Subject: Cockpit detail Same pictures, minor modifications to some captions
32, 33	Subject: Cockpit detail
34	Subject: Intake detail
35 - 37	Subject: Tail detail Functionally identical, some rewording of captions.
38	Subject: Antenna diagram, fuselage details No major changes
39	Subject: Ejection sequence diagram, fuselage details
40	Subject: A-4F color shots
41	Subject: Export A-4 pictures
42, 43	Subject: B&W spread, tie-down location diagram Captions modified. Mention of USS Intrepid loses its code designation (CVS-11)	Not sure why this was done, there was room to leave it.
44, 45	Subject: Landing gear detail Pg 45, one of the B&W pictures of an A-4 on carrier approach is replaced by a color shot of one doing a touch and go.	Color is appreciated, but the original photo showed the tailhook extended. There are however other photos showing the tailhook down in book
46	Subject: Variant evolution profile drawings
47	Subject: A-4E specification sheet
48	Subject: Wheel wells and tailhook and catapult attachment points Pictures have been resized and formatted in more structured 3x2 arrangement
49	Subject: A-4 squadron pictures Caption detail removed on landing gear operation in event of hydraulic failure: Gear is hydraulic but gear doors are mechanical. In event of hydraulic failure, the gear rests on gear doors. Pilot can manually release the doors and the landing gear will fall into deployed position	This is a great bit of detail that's perhaps not important to modelers but nice for historians. I wish they would have not removed it.
50, 51	Subject: A-4E and OA-4M profile diagrams
52	Subject: A-4M color shot, plus two landing gear detail shots The A-4M shot is completely omitted in updated edition, but the two landing gear shots are kept and zoomed. The A-4M shot's caption had a mix of information about VMA-324 and some history of why the A-4 was originally designed for the marines. Most of its relevant A-4 information is retained as extra language in the two landing gear picture captions.	I liked the photo that was removed, but fortunately they retained most of the interesting A-4 data from the caption. The zoomed landing gear shots are useful and probably very helpful for modelers.
53	Subject: Two color shots of A-4 squadrons, one VMA-331 and one Top Gun A-4 Functionally identical, some reformatting and zoom of the adversary A-4 picture
54, 55	Subject: B&W wing detail spread Nearly identical, a sentence from one caption was added to one of the others.
56	Subject: Control surface detail Improved caption positioning
57	Subject: A-4 squadron pictures
58	Subject: Ordnance photos Error: Caption for loading of Mk-82 on an A-4 is used twice; thus one caption is lost: "Marine loads 20 mm rounds in an A-4E of VMA-331 at Chu Lai, December 1967. Each gun weighed 88 pounds."	Come on, man.
59	Subject: Ordnance photos One B&W photo of an A4D-2N (A-4C) doing AGM-12C Bullpup missile testing at Pax River, is replaced by a color photo of a Harpoon missile closeup.	Some of the replaced photo's Bullpup information transferred to a different picture's caption. This change is OK, although I liked the original photo, the update shows a newer weapon in the Harpoon. A fair trade, and there are Bullpups in other photos.
60, 61	Subject: A-4 squadron and some ordnance pictures
62, 63	Subject: A-4 squadron and some ordnance photos
64, 65	Subject: Variety of adversary, test, and export A-4s Some photo resizing. Details about squadron VC-8 were dropped in update.
66	Subject: B&W Vietnam Skyhawks set
67	Subject: B&W Vietnam Skyhawks set (side shot of A-4E of VA-144 in flight; a Marine A-4E in hangar at Bien Hoa; a group of A-4s lined up for aerial refueling) This page is completely dropped in update with 5541's page 71 in this space instead.	I guess I can live without yet another profile shot and the hangar shot doesn't show much, but the refueling shot is really cool and I wish it was kept.
68, 69	Subject: Color profile drawings spread Some caption positions changed
70	Subject: B&W Vietnam Skyhawks set Caption positioning changed
71	Subject: B&W Vietnam Skyhawks set Updated edition does not have this page. Instead are some color shots of export (Singapore) A-4s. In 5541 this appears on page 80
72, 73	Subject: Color profiles drawings spread
74, 75	Subject: B&W Vietnam Skyhawks set These pages are missing in updated edition. In their place is a Blue Angels A-4 color spread.	I like the Blue Angles, but not sure I like this decision.
76, 77	Subject: Color 1970s A-4 photos
78, 79	Subject: B&W Vietnam Skyhawks set These pages are missing in updated edition. Instead is a color spread of export A-4s.	Hate losing good Vietnam shots, and the original captions have good information on weapons usage. But the color is nice and export information is a legit part of A-4 history
80	Subject: Singapore export color shots This page is moved to page 71 in updated edition, and instead is a fitting farewell shot of the A-4 against a sunset.	I like the artistic and poetic update, plus the caption identifies the end-of-service date.

The moral of the story is that while most of the time the updated edition adds on to the older edition and you don't lose much material, sometimes that's not the case.

The Missing Pages

Some of the original pages removed from the later edition follow. It was a shame to lose these since there's a lot to learn from the Vietnam material.

Pages 67, 74, 75, 78, and 79.