- a Collection of Stunning Airplane Illustrations for iPhone Viewing

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Great Book of World War II Airplanes is a highly regarded work featuring a collection of super-realistic airplane illustrations that has sold around 170,000 copies worldwide. With the conversion of the first batch of these illustrations into "iPhone app" form, iPhone users can view and enjoy the superb images of the Zero Fighter drawn by leading airplane illustrator Rikyu Watanabe.

Headway Inc. (Representative: Hisae Akioka, Address: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo) hereby announces that with effect from today it is beginning distribution of the iPhone/iPod touch-use application WORLD WAR II AIRPLANES / ZERO FIGHTER from Apple's App Store.

This application was created by taking images of the Japanese World War II Zero Fighter from the among the illustrations appearing in The Great Book of World War II Airplanes, which was published in 1984 and has sold 170,000 copies worldwide, and repackaging them to create an iPhone app.

WORLD WAR II AIRPLANES / ZERO FIGHTER is being sold in an English language edition at a retail price of US$5.99. However, for one week from today, this app will be on sale at a special release price of $3.99.

Features of WORLD WAR II AIRPLANES / ZERO FIGHTER

• This application contains over 50 beautiful and highly realistic illustrations of fighter planes including the world famous Zero fighter and a number of other popular Japanese World War II fighters such as the Raiden, Reppu, Shiden and Shinden that are renowned for the excellence of their design. These illustrations were drawn by Rikyu Watanabe, one of the world's leading exponents of airplane illustration, whose drawings are even today widely referred to by aircraft fans and modelers the world over.
• These illustrations of these excellent airplanes including trihedral drawings, airplane internal structural drawings and illustrations of parts such as sights, engines, etc., are displayed in full on a beautiful iPhone/iPod touch screen. The instrument panels are also reproduced in detail with such extreme precision that some users may even feel that they are actually sitting in the cockpit.
• This application introduces the Zero fighter in even greater detail thanks to specialized iPhone functions that display explanations and other detailed information by tapping the i mark or expanding or reducing the magnification using double tap and pinch operations.
• A sideshow function is included to allow users to enjoy viewing each illustration in succession at a leisurely pace.

WORLD WAR II AIRPLANES / ZERO FIGHTER is an iPhone application developed and sold by Headway Inc. with the express permission of Zokeisha Publications Ltd., the owner of the copyright of the original book The Great Book of World War II Airplanes. Continuing on from the Zero fighter, Headway is planning to develop a series of iPhone applications for a number of the other great airplanes featured in The Great Book of World War II Airplanes, such as the P38 Lightning, the P-51 Mustang, etc. A Japanese edition of the present application is scheduled to be available within 2010.

List of Illustrations Included (Partial)

• Mitsubishi Zero Carrier Fighter Model 21 (A6M2 "Zeke")
• Mitsubishi Zero Carrier Fighter Model 52c (A6M5c "Zeke")
• Mitsubishi Local/Floatplane Fighter Raiden Model 21 (J2M3 "Jack")
• Mitsubishi 17 Trial Carrier Fighter Reppu (A7M2 "Sam")
• Kawanishi Local/Floatplane Fighter Shiden Model 11 (N1K1-J "George")
• Kyushu 18 Trial Local/Floatplane Fighter Shinden (J7W1)
• Zero Model 21 (A6M2) Anatomical Drawing
• Zero Model 52a (A6M5a) Cockpit Drawing
• Nakajima Sakae Model 21 Engine (NK1F)
• Model 98 Firing & Bombing Sighting Device, etc.

※ About the Great Book of World War II Airplanes

The Great Book of World War II Airplanes on which this application is based is an illustrated collection published in 1984 that has sold approximately 170,000 copies worldwide. This book is a celebration of twelve typical fighter and bomber aircraft that played active roles in the Second World War and is packed with full-color illustrations by Rikyu Watanabe together with a voluminous text. The book brings together the contents of an earlier series of works introducing each of these aircraft, which were published in a 12-volume series between 1980 and 1983.

The Great Book of World War II Airplanes has attracted feverish support from a wide range of airplane and fighting machine fans on account of its large B4 modified format, massive binding, mammoth 632-page format, 24 dynamic gatefold illustrations, beautiful coloring accomplished using special colored inks including silver, exquisitely detailed full-color illustrations, and superb expository writing. In addition, this book has been highly evaluated as a historical document and has continued to attract and enchant readers for over a quarter of a century since its first publication.

※ In WORLD WAR II AIRPLANES / ZERO FIGHTER, some parts of the contents of the original book have been omitted. Also, the main text is presented in English only.