Aircraft of the Royal Navy since 1908 by David Hobbs. HB large format, 368 pages, 500 B&W photographs, 60 line drawings, Seaforth Publishing, £50, ISBN 978-1-3990-8952-4
Members of the Ulster Aviation Society will remember Commander David Hobbs from when he visited, with his wife Jandy, in June 2010 to give a very interesting talk on RN Aircraft Carrier Development. They will recall, I am sure, a fascinating private guided tour of HMS Caroline, before her conversion to a museum ship and hosted by Commander Don Crosbie. David and I have been friends ever since, so I must declare an interest.
Way back in 1972, I saved up my pocket money to buy The Flying Navy by Richard E Gardner, for the princely sum of £1.25. Some years later, I obtained second-hand copies of Naval Wings by Adrian Vicary and British Naval Aircraft since 1912 by Owen Thetford. I thought that I had the aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm covered as regards reference books. I was wrong.
David Hobbs’ latest magisterial work on naval aviation surpasses them all in size, breadth, depth, quantity and quality. It has been deeply researched, drawing not just on David’s lifetime of study but also, as the bibliography attests, on a wide range of sources (including many of Air-Britain’s outstanding books). The quality of this weighty, large-format volume as exactly what can be expected from the publishers, Seaforth. Colour photographs would have been nice but I suspect that this would have pushed the costs up so much that it would have made the book uneconomic to sell. As it is, it isn’t cheap but, to my mind – if you want an absolutely excellent guide to FAA aircraft – this is good value for money. As always, I would also recommend having a look on Amazon.
It is arranged simply and logically: alphabetically by designer/manufacturer and then chronologically for each. The entries vary in length with the more important types being allocated several pages and photographs. All types are included – fixed-wing, rotary-wing, lighter-than-air and drones. Aircraft manufactured by Shorts are accorded a dozen pages, beginning with the S.34 Naval Aeroplane No. 1. The two post Second World War types – the Sturgeon and the Seamew – are given fair and accurate treatment. Picking a favourite photograph from the 500 on offer is not an easy job. I will select three – the Grumman Wildcats seemingly precariously parked on HMS Queen, the Fairey Firefly being raised on HMS Eagle’s forward lift and the Sopwith Camel landing on HMS Argus. Though it is hard to resist the claims of the full-page frontispiece and doubtless Ron Bishop will vote for the cover!
Sometimes the publisher’s blurb on the back of a book rather overeggs the pudding, in this case it quite simply doesn’t! Highly recommended, not only as a reference book but also as a ‘dipping in’ good read.
