Jaguar Book Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

Here is the first title from a new publisher - HMH Publications from Belgium. The publisher plans to release a series of aircraft references oriented towards the scale modeler, this one covering the Jaguar. According to one of the authors, they had acquired the Kitty Hawk 1/48 Jaguar kit and realized that there was little good information on the aircraft from a modeler's perspective. Their goal is to fill that void with quality photography and information that will allow the scale modeler to capture and replicate as much detail in their projects as possible.

The SEPECAT Jaguar was an Anglo-French collaboration to develop a tactical strike fighter capable of meeting cold war requirements. In operation, the Jaguar is considered by many to be a 'mini-Thud', a smaller version of the F-105 Thunderchief. Both aircraft were designed for the conventional and nuclear strike roles and both have high wing-loading which renders a smoother ride in low-level/high-speed flight needed for ingress and egress from hostile target areas. Unlike the Thud however, the Jaguar can operate from forward operating locations like highways and austere fields.

This title focuses on three of the major operators of the Jaguar, the RAF, French Air Force, and the Indian Air Force. This title combines a variety of images collected from some of the aforementioned air arms and are supplemented with a variety of photos taken specifically for this title. The coverage in this title provides a look at the aircraft in action followed by a thorough walk around of the airframe noting differences in details between the RAF, French, and Indian versions.

Quibbles?

• At first glance, you might think this title was written/edited by Duke Hawkins, and there is even a paragraph on the inside rear cover allegedly written by Duke as well as his name appearing on every other page of this title. According to one of the authors, the 'Duke Hawkins' banner is their name for books in their aircraft monograph series.

The authors have compiled a great photo reference of the Jaguar variants and will be an essential tool for building the Kitty Hawk (or other) Jaguar kits.

My sincere thanks to HMH Publications for this review sample!