The new type was ordered into production as a possible replacement for the Nieuport 17, but became “surplus” when it was decided to replace the Nieuport with the SPAD S.7 in the French air service. Some were supplied to the French Navy, a few of which were eventually passed to the U.S. Navy – some naval Hanriots were converted to, or built as, floatplanes with enlarged tail surfaces.

The bulk of early production, however, was diverted to the Belgians, who notoriously had to make do with aircraft unwanted by their allies. With the Belgian fighter squadrons the HD.1 proved surprisingly successful, and the type remained the standard Belgian fighter for the rest of the war. Willy Coppens, the top Belgian ace of the war was the most successful HD.1 pilot.

The type was also supplied in small numbers to the Italians who manufactured it in quantity, and used it to replace not only Nieuports but also SPADs in their service. The type was considered (by the Italians) to be a better all-round fighter than even the SPAD S.XIII and it became the standard Italian fighter, equipping 16 of the 18 operational Italian fighter squadrons by November 1918. Surplus Italian-built Hanriots were used by several countries postwar – including the Swiss.

The U.S. Naval Aircraft Factory built (or possibly modified/converted) 10 HD.1s in the immediate postwar years. These were mainly used as trainers, although they were also involved in experiments with takeoff platforms on warships – they could be fitted with twin guns, and at least one machine had a hydrovane and flotation bags of the type developed for the Royal Navy.

This is a very nicely done kit by HR Model that is typical of what we can expect from some of the more prolific short run kit makers. There are two sprues of nicely molded plastic that have minimal flash, no problems with misaligned molds or with much in the way of ejector pin marks. I like that the fabric representations are quite subdued, just like on the real aircraft.

As you can see, there are more parts than you will use on this boxing. Checking at www.hobbyshop.cz, I notice that there are no fewer than seven different boxings, so that explains the extra bits. There are four different rudders, four different upper cowling pieces and a set of floats as well as two different engines. Take away what are not needed for this particular boxing, and you get a pretty basic kit, which is quite appropriate for a WWI era aircraft as they were pretty basic.

The cockpit is basically a seat, control stick, rudder pedals and an instrument panel, which is an acetate sheet. There is also a decal if you do not wish to use the acetate for this. There is separate head rest and the builder needs to stretch some sprue for a seat mount. Options consist of upper cowl guns (USN option) and three different design windscreens (which are also on the acetate sheet. Tailplane struts will also need to be made from stretched sprue. The attachment points for the various wing and undercarriage struts are rather small so it may be worthwhile to drill those out a bit more for a more positive fit.

Instructions provide ten well drawn construction steps and no paint information. That is supplied on the color and markings guide for the exterior and provides generic paint names. Markings are for four aircraft. Two of them are US Navy planes from 1923 in an overall light blue grey with aluminum engine cowling. They differ in numbers and the fact that one is armed. An Ecuadoran HD.1 in overall dark green with just a name (Telegrafo I) and rudder stripes is the third option. It also has an aluminum cowling and is unarmed. The Venezuelan version is overall aluminum dope with the forward section in what looks to be unpainted aluinum. This has roundels in six wing positions. It also has a band of stars in its rudder stripes to differentiate it from the Ecuadoran plane. This one is shown armed. The decals are very nicely done

In all, this is a very nice kit for the 1/72 scale modeler of an important WWI fighter. I particularly like this boxing as it offers some very nice markings options that will help to spice up the display shelf.