Without a doubt, one of the finest fighter aircraft of the 1930s was the Hawker Fury. This was a time when it was realized that for speed, one really had to have an in-line, liquid-cooled engine and the mating of Sidney Camm's sleek airframe with the Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine produced a fighter that was second to none for its time.

Of course, these were also times when there was little money in the coffers for a lot of aircraft and the first generation of the Hawker Furys was built in rather small numbers. This only allowed three RAF Squadrons to be fully equipped with the type. Even as war descended on Europe and Africa, the now obsolete Fury was still able to put up a fight and did so in the hands of the South African Air Force in East Africa against the Italians.

This book covers the complete history and operational use of the Fury in both RAF and SAAF hands. This even includes its used as an advanced fighter trainer by the RAF once the type had been removed from front line service. In line with other titles in this series, there are well done appendices that include an air to air claim listing, a loss listing and an individual history of each of the airframes built.  Included are a large number of superb period photos of the men and machines as well as excellent color profiles based on some of these images. A role of honor for the men who flew these aircraft and specific information on each of them is included.

Overall a book that is superb and one that any enthusiast or modeler who has an interest in the type must have on their shelves. I know you will be as pleased as I with this edition.

January 2010

Review book courtesy of www.raf-in-combat.com. Visit them for other great titles

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