Aeroplane September 2017

100 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017

Reviews

REVIEWS RATING

 e latest books and products for the discerning aviation enthusiast

★★★★★ Outstanding

★★★★ ★ Excellent

★★★★★ Good

★★ ★★★ Flawed

★★★★★ Mediocre

Enough said

Junkers

by Mark A. Chambers

published by The History Press

This is much more

then the sub-title

‘Military Aircraft

of World War II’

suggests, the fi rst

58 pages giving

an overview of

the company and

its aircraft from the beginning in 1895.

The company’s inter-war civil transports

from the F 13 to Ju 90 are covered, as

are research aircraft of the period. The

Ju 52 begins the bomber section, since

it had an early bomber variant. Each type

is described in great detail, including the

Fw 190/Ju 88 Mistel combination, and

the same goes for the advanced Junkers

piston and jet engines. Future projects to

the end of WW2 are discussed, and there

are notes on the company’s impact on

aviation and warfare. Some lead one to

ponder further; for instance, the Ju 287

with a forward-swept wing and four

Jumo 004 turbojets had a fi xed, spatted

undercarriage, hardly conducive to the

proposed maximum speed of 487mph!

Many illustrations are unfamiliar and

are credited to the US National Archives.

Readers will know of the painting-out of

swastika tail markings on photos released

post-war, but here they are all shown

complete with these marks as they should

be. There are eight pages of good colour

illustrations.

This is a very interesting book, but

it seems somewhat insulting that the

washed-out full-page illustration facing the

title page shows Hitler and Goering, while

the only picture of Hugo Junkers — not

a supporter of National Socialism — is a

passport-size inset on page 2. Surely this

warranted the full-size position opposite

the title page? I suspect the designer is to

blame, not the author. Mike Hooks

ISBN 978-0-7509-6418-0; 10in x 9in

hardback; 168 pages, illustrated; £25

★★★★

Evolution of British Jet

Engines 1926-1966

by Bill Howard

published by Farnborough Air Sciences

Trust (FAST)

For the author to

cover — and to

cover so succinctly

— as wide a sweep

as is suggested by

the sub-title ‘Early

British Aero Gas

Turbines from the

RAE and Whittle to

the pre-eminence

of Rolls-Royce’

is a considerable

achievement. The story of British jet engines

starts with work done at RAE Farnborough

as early as 1926, while the period covered

ends in 1966, when Rolls-Royce took over

Bristol Siddeley Engines to become the

major (didn’t say ‘only’) UK player.

Howard’s comprehensive and accessible

text covers the technical innovations,

production programmes, the inevitable

politics, mergers within the industry, the

arrival of viable jet and turboprop aircraft,

the development of VTOL fl ight and much,

much more. This is not a large-print run

book from a major publisher; rather, it is

a perfect-bound (glued) volume with a

clear-coated cover, and all illustrations

are black and white. That said, it is well-

designed and laid out, with numerous

illustrations, tables and diagrams. Factually,

everything seems to check out impeccably,

save the statement on page 133 that, “An

American version of the Harrier was built

by McDonnell Douglas as the AV-8A”. All

AV-8As were produced in the UK; it was

the later AV-8B that was built by McDD at

St Louis. DJC

no ISBN; 11.7 x 8.3in softback; 222 pages,

illustrated; £18.50 from

http://www.fastmuseumshop.org.uk

★★★★^

BOOK of the MONTH

Hurricane R4118 Revisited

by Peter Vacher

published by Grub Street

We wouldn’t

normally give

such prominence

to the second

edition of an

existing book,

but this one

absolutely

deserves it. Peter

Vacher’s tome

on Hurricane

R4118, which

he recovered from India in 2001 and

had restored to fl ying condition, fi rst

appeared 12 years ago. Back then,

the Battle of Britain veteran fi ghter

had only been airworthy for a few

months. It is now a familiar attraction

on the air display circuit, but much

has changed in the intervening time.

Further research into R4118’s history has

unearthed a great deal of previously

unknown information, and, of course,

the aircraft itself has changed hands.

New owner James Brown cherishes the

Hurricane just as Peter Vacher did, and

his Hurricane Heritage organisation

has established itself fi rmly on the UK

historic aircraft scene.

Some of the updated material —

Nicolas Livingstone’s remarkable tale of

how R4118 shot down an RAF Whitley

in a ‘friendly fi re’ incident, and James

Brown’s splendid piece on how he

came to acquire the machine — will be

familiar to Aeroplane readers from our

September 2015 and July 2016 editions,

but is no less fascinating for that. And

there’s plenty more, including wartime

letters home from No 605 Squadron

pilot Christopher ‘Bunny’ Currant,

who fl ew this Hurricane in 1940, a

contemporary ‘from the cockpit’ report

by Keith Dennison, and quite a lot of

new or recently found imagery.

Criticisms? Well, the book’s design

is less than inspiring, and there are

instances where a further sub-editing

intervention would have been benefi cial.

But this detracts little from an excellent

account of one of the fi nest warbirds to

be seen in British skies. Ben Dunnell

ISBN 978-1-910690-43-7; 9.5 x 6.75in

hardback; 192 pages, illustrated; £20

★★★★

100-101_AM_REVIEWS_Sept17_cc C.indd 100 31/07/2017 11:20