This latest edition of Valiant Wing's Airframe Album series covers an aircraft that many consider the sleekest twin engine fighter ever developed, the de Havilland Hornet. It was one of those planes that was just too late to see action in WWII and was overshadowed by the frenzy to get everything turbine powered. Though it was used in only a handful of RAF squadrons, it did see action during the Malaya Insurgency, operating as a ground attack and recce plane until the mid-1950s. The type was also used by the Royal Navy as the Sea Hornet. In this case, it was used more as a night fighter, adopting the APS-4 radome in the nose of the plane and fitting an operator in the fuselage behind the wings. It was used even less than the RAF version, making only a cruise or two before being retired.

Typical of this series, the opening section of the book is a history of the development and use of the aircraft. Then we get into a much larger section that covers the aircraft itself. Much of this material comes from technical manuals as there is not an extant airframe of this aircraft. Fortunately, there are a lot of excellent photographs of the various parts of the aircraft so this is not really an issue. This is followed by several pages of drawings showing the differences between the variants, starting with the prototype, a real help for the modeler.

Despite the relatively low numbers of aircraft built, these planes did carry a variety of camouflage schemes during its career and that is well covered. We then get a goodly number of pages of full color profiles. There have been several kits of both the standard Hornet and the Sea Hornet produced over the years and the modeling section covers a 1/72 Special Hobby Sea Hornet and a Trumpeter Hornet F.1.   This is followed by a listing of available kits, decals, aftermarket and books relating to the plane.

In all, it makes for another superb addition to a growing catalogue and a book that will be useful to both historians, enthusiasts and modelers alike. These books tend to sell quite well so get in your order soon.

November 2015

For more on Valiant Wings, including getting this book, visit www.valiant-wings.co.uk. Thank you for the review copy.

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