The Hawker Sea Fury, Airframe Album No.2 (Second Edition – Valiant Wings, 2018)
Valiant Wings has just released an updated and expanded second edition of “Airframe Album No. 2”, entitled “The Hawker Sea Fury: A Detailed Guide To The Fleet Air Arm's Last Piston-engine Fighter”. Powered by a Bristol Centaurus radial engine, the Sea Fury was the last piston-engined combat aircraft used by the British naval aviation (FAA).
The author, Richard A. Franks, begins with the development of Hawker Fury (not to be confused with the Fury biplane from the 1930s) as a direct development of the Tempest. When this is rejected by the RAF, Hawker concentrated on the naval variant. Export successes followed in the former British Empire. These aircraft had some differences.
In addition to information about the Sea Fury, there is also information about kits, accessories and decals. There is a list of the remaining museum and airworthy Sea Furies and a list of released kits (1/32, 1/48, 1/72 and 1/144 scale), accessory kits, decals and literature.
This recent title in the Airframe Album series (No.2) is now (Spring 2018) revised and updated to include:
Builds of the AMG 1/48th T.20 and new tool Airfix 1/48th FB Mk 11 kits by Steve Evans
Updated information on preserved examples
Updated appendices for kits, accessories and decals
114 pages in heavy, glossy, high-quality paper
Plus all the original content of the first edition:
Period diagrams
Data from flight manuals and spare parts catalogue
Walkaround images of preserved examples
Pictures before and during the restoration of the TFC (The Fighter Collection) and airworthy FAA examples
Fully detailed 3D isometric views of prototype and production machines by Jacek Jackiewicz
Colour profiles and concise camouflage detail by Richard Caruana
The first thing you notice is the excellent cover art by Seweryn Fleischer, which is newly-commissioned for this revised edition. The presentation of material in this book is impressive throughout. Photographs are generally clear and crisply reproduced, as are the isometric line drawings by Jacek Jackiewicz. The colour profiles by Richard Caruana are handsomely rendered.
The content itself is organised into four main sections plus an introduction and appendices:
Introduction
1. Technical Description
2. Evolution - Prototype, Production and Projected Variants
3. Camouflage and Markings
4. Models
5. Survivors
Appendices
I. Fury & Sea Fury Kits
II. Fury & Sea Fury Accessories
III. Fury & Sea Fury Decals
IV. Bibliography
The book is laid out as follows:
Preface – Introduction: A history of the Sea Fury’s evolution and employment at United Kingdom and abroad (7 pages)
Technical Description – 41 pages of detailed coverage of the construction and equipment - really comprehensive. It contains many colour and black & white images as well as technical drawings taken from official drawings and is broken down into various sections:
Fuselage – cockpit interior, canopy, main and aft fuselage, fuel, hydraulic, oil and oxygen systems
Undercarriage – main, tail wheel and arrestor hook, and the pneumatic system.
Tail – tailplanes, vertical fin and rudder.
Wings – the wings themselves as well as the undercarriage bays.
Engine – engine, cowling, and propeller
Weaponry – armament, ordnance, sighting, and drop tanks
Electrical – radio, and miscellaneous (control boxes, batteries etc)
Miscellaneous – Access panels, and equipment.
Evolution - 9 pages. This section provides you with a written description of each version of the Sea Fury as well as 3D isometric line drawing and photographic illustration of each version. Really nice to spot all the differences among variants – including all prototypes!
Camouflage & Markings – 23 pages. A full written description of each colour scheme and their variation/evolution worn by the Sea Fury from prototype onwards with separate coverage for versions from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Pakistan, Iraq, Burma, Cuba, Egypt, Morroco, and West Germany (TT Mk 20s as well as their only single seat FB Mk 50). This section also includes eight pages of colour profiles showing the schemes & markings worn by the various operators of the type.
Models: Two excellent kit builds by Steve A. Evans: The new Airfix FB Mk 11 and the two seater T Mk 20 by AMG, both in 1/48 scale (9 pages)
Survivors – 9 pages. A listing of surviving airframes that includes their history - where known
Appendix I – Fury & Sea Fury Kits – Listed by scale and manufacturer – 2 pages
Appendix II – Fury & Sea Fury Accessories – Listed by scale and Manufacturer – 2 pages.
Appendix III – Fury & Sea Fury Decals - Listed by scale and Manufacturer – 3 pages.
Appendix IV – Bibliography – 1 page.
The book is softbound with 114 pages of good quality glossy paper and measures 8 1/4″ x 11 3/4″ (inches) or 21 X 29,5 cm
This title is aimed mainly at the modeller but there is plenty here for aviation enthusiasts and Sea Fury fans too, but the emphasis is on providing the modeller with useful data and as much detail as possible.
The “Technical Description” section of the book is packed with period photographs, technical drawings and contemporary restoration images. The airframe is covered comprehensively from nose to tail, with special emphasis on those areas of the most interest to modellers: cockpit and engines.
The section on the evolution of the airframe gives a concise but very clear overview of the development of the initial Fury prototypes, right through to the final production variants of the Sea Fury.
The Camouflage and Markings section covers the type's use by the Fleet Air Arm, along with Commonwealth and middle-eastern users. A decent selection of period photographs, including several in colour, is accompanied by six pages of colour profiles.
The next section of the book features two model builds, both in 1/48 scale, and both by Steve Evans. The first features the new Airfix 1/48 Sea Fury FB Mk 11. Evans does an excellent job with this kit, and it's an impressive build.
The second build features the AMG 1/48 Sea Fury T Mk 20 kit. This is a much more challenging build, but Evans has exercised all his skills, and the finished article in NMF Alclad Aluminium looks terrific.
On 114 pages, in heavy, excellent quality glossy paper and equal quality sewn binding, there is a lot of information and therefore this second edition is especially recommended to those who have missed the first one.
In conclusion: A detailed, comprehensive and modeller-friendly title. If you're building, or intend to build, a model of the Hawker Sea Fury in any scale, this book will prove invaluable. It lives up to the Valiant Wings Publishing excellent ability of providing information in just about every facet of the Sea Fury that a modeller could possibly want. Definitely worthy of a place in your bookshelf!
Highly recommended!
You can order it online here
