Hawker Hunter - OP (Complete History)

This is THE reference book - for aviation and modelling enthusiasts - of the sexiest jet aircraft (in my opinion) ever to fly! All aspects of the type's development, production, operation and all operators are covered, with service personnel's experiences interspersed throughout. A reference by a/c serial number is also incuded! The photos are b&w, with 12 pages of colour plates of both representative and the more colourful schemes used. This book is magnificent, and quality indeed for the price!

Writing a new book about the history of the Hawker Hunter, and intending it to be novel and with new material is by no means an easy task, considering the lengthy literature already existent about this beautiful aircraft. For some reason that I cannot fully understand very few books are today actually available on the Hunter, thus the choices are rather limited. The book is well bound and printed on high quality glossy paper. Besides the pictures in the back cover (the front cover one looks like a photoshop work to me), all are printed in black and white (albeit at good quality). At least some of these I have seen published in full color, thus it would have been much better to have at least a color section included (a missed opportunity). About half of the book is actually devoted to the development and operational history of the Hunter, with the remaining basically being an annex, including overseas operators, serials with a brief history, pilot notes and others. The title claims this to be a "Complete History" of the Hunter - well, there is a complete coverage of the 40+ years of active Hunter operations, but it is by far not an extensive and exhaustive coverage of the subject. While the many (and sometimes lengthy) piloting stories add an interesting view to what otherwise could be a rather dry subject, after you delete them the remaining text on the history of this airplane becomes rather short. Overall, this is an interesting and different look at an icon of British aircraft design. However, due to the rather succinct treatment of the development history of the Hunter (for a book labeled as the "Complete History") and the lack of more color pictures, I would rate this book with 3.5 stars. Nevertheless, the many interesting piloting stories and anecdotes made me tip the scale towards the final 4 star rating - recommended.

This is a superb book. For aviation enthusiasts, you will not do better than this. It is the most comprehensive, well-researched history of an aircraft type you will find anywhere, and I congratulate author Tim McLelland on a job well done.

Tim has created a great book here with information for the historian as well as the enthusiast.