Martin Derry – författare

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was arguably the Luftwaffe's most outstanding piston-engine fighter of the Second World War, virtually dominating the skies over Europe for more than a year after its initial introduction into service in the summer of 1941\. Continual development and improvements then kept it at the forefront of operations in the theatres of Northern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Eastern Front for the remainder of the war, while maintaining a competitive edge over many other types as well as gaining and retaining the grudging respect of those Allied pilots who faced it in combat.Despite being designed as a fighter, the BMW 801-powered Fw 190 sub-types performed practically every role possible for a single-engine, single-seat aircraft - including offensive and defensive day fighter, day and night fighter-bomber, ground attack, reconnaissance platform, night-fighter and trainer.The Fw 190A also served in the Hungarian Air Force during the later stages of the Second World War, the Turkish Air Force from mid-1942 to 1948, and post-war with the French, where the SNCAC aircraft company re-built over fifty Fw 190A-5/A-6s under the designation NC 900 for service with the new Arm e de l'Air.Despite having standard factory-applied camouflage and markings schemes, many Fw 190s were also finished in a variety of on unit' and seasonal' and/or operational theatre' schemes which add to the aircraft's story.

Initially projected as a maritime reconnaissance version of the Lincoln bomber, itself a development of the famous wartime Lancaster which saw post-war service in a General/Maritime Reconnaissance role, (see Flight Craft No 4), the Avro Shackleton, (named after the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton) was a completely new design, powered by four Rolls Royce Griffon 57 engines driving six blade contra-rotating propellers.Split into three main sections, this latest Flight Craft title, perfectly timed to coincide with the release of the first examples of the eagerly awaited new tool 1/72 scale Airfix kit, offers a concise history of the Shackleton's development and operational career from the prototype and initial entry in to RAF service in 1951, and its use with the South African Air Force, the only other operator of the type. Section 1 chronicles its design, ongoing improvements and development through the three main Marks, in both the Maritime Reconnaissance and Airborne Early Warning roles, until its retirement after four decades of RAF service in 1991, which includes scores of contemporary photographs with detailed captions, many of which have never been seen in print before.This is followed by a 16-page colour illustration section featuring profiles and 2-views of the color schemes and markings carried by the type in RAF and SAAF service.The final section lists all the plastic model kits, accessories and decal sheets produced of the Shackleton in all scales. As with the other books in the Flight Craft series, whilst published primarily with the scale aircraft modeler in mind, it is hoped that those readers who might perhaps describe themselves as 'occasional' modelers may also find that this colorful and informative work offers something to provoke their interests too.

The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka (a contraction of the German word Sturzkampfflugzeug, ie dive bomber) was arguably the Luftwaffe s most recognisable aeroplane, with its inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann as a dedicated dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft, the prototype first flew in 1935, and made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War. After several design changes in the light of operational experiences, the Stuka went on to serve the Luftwaffe and Axis forces, from the invasion of Poland in 1939, through the Battles of France and Britain in 1940, over the North African desert and the across Mediterranean, the invasion of Russia and the subsequent bitter fighting in that vast area, and following several more design changes and upgrades, continued to serve through to the end of World War Two. This latest addition to the growing Flight Craft range, follows the previous well established format, in that it is split in to three main sections.The first section, after offering a concise design and development history, continues with coverage of the various sub-types, from Anton to Gustav and their operational use from the Spanish Civil War to the end of World War Two. This is followed by a 16-page full colour illustration section featuring detailed profiles and 2-views of the colour schemes and markings carried by the type in Luftwaffe and Axis service. The final section lists as many of the injection-moulded plastic model kits produced of the Junkers Ju 87 in all the major scales that the authors could find details of, including the brand new Airfix 1/72 and 1/48 scale kits which were released while this book was being written, with photos of many finished models made by some of the world s best modellers. As with all the other books in the Flight Craft range, whilst published primarily with the scale aircraft modeller in mind, it is hoped that those readers who might perhaps describe themselves as 'occasional' modellers, or even simply aviation enthusiasts, may also find that this colourful and informative work offers something to provoke their interests too.

The Hawker Hunter is one of Britain's classic post-war jet aircraft. Initially introduced in 1954 as a swept-wing, transonic, single-seat day interceptor, it rapidly succeeded the first-generation jet fighters in RAF service such as the Gloster Meteor (see Flight Craft 13) and the de Havilland Venom. Powered by the then newly developed Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet, the Hunter's performance transformed the RAF's day fighter squadrons from the mid-1950s until the advent of the English Electric Lightning from the early 1960s (see Flight Craft 11).Even then, as successively improved variants of the type were produced with increasingly more capable engines and expanded fuel capacity, the Hunter successfully transitioned into a strike/ground attack fighter-bomber and fighter reconnaissance platform. Two-seat variants were developed for training and other secondary roles with the RAF and the Royal Navy and a few remained in use until 2001, albeit with specialised MoD Test and Evaluation units - well over forty years after the type's initial introduction. Hunters were also famously used by two RAF display teams, the 'Black Arrows', who looped a record-breaking twenty-two Hunters in formation, and later the 'Blue Diamonds' as well as the Royal Navy's 'Blue Herons'.The Hunter saw combat service with the RAF in a range of conflicts including the Suez Crisis as well as various emergencies in the Middle East and Far East. The Hunter was also widely exported, serving with many foreign air forces, in which it also saw active service, which unfortunately lies outside the scope of this particular publication. Almost 2,000 Hunters were manufactured by Hawker Siddeley Aviation, as well as being produced under licence overseas and will remain one of the UK's most iconic aircraft designs of all time.

Developed by English Electric during the late 1940s - essentially as a successor to the wartime de Havilland Mosquito twin-engine, unarmed, fast bomber concept - the Canberra can lay claim to being the first British jet-powered medium bomber when it was introduced in to RAF service in May 1951\.The Canberra became the first jet aircraft to make a non-stop transatlantic flight and amongst the performance requirements for the type was the demand for a high altitude bombing capability in addition to flying at high speeds, and in February 1951, and throughout most of the decade, the Canberra could fly at a higher altitude than any other bomber or even any other aircraft, establishing a world altitude record of 70,310ft in 1957.The Canberra proved to be a highly adaptable airframe, and following the entry of the Vickers Valiant, the first of the trio of V Bombers in to RAF service in 1955, (see Flight Craft 7 'Valiant, Victor and Vulcan') which were capable of carrying much heavier weapon loads (including nuclear weapons) over longer ranges, the Canberra continued to serve in a variety of varied roles including tactical nuclear strike, low-level strike and ground attack in its B(I).6 and B(I).8 variants, photographic and electronic reconnaissance platform in its PR variants, multi-task training aircraft and inevitably its invaluable service with specialised MoD Test and Evaluation units.Serving in all the RAF's Theatres of Operations including the UK, the Middle and Far East and RAF Germany, the RAF continued to operate the Canberra for 50 years from the Suez Crisis in November 1956 to its service in Afghanistan in June 2006\. The Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm also operated Canberras, initially as radio controlled target drones and later by the Fleet Requirements Unit. Although outside the scope of this particular title, it is of interest to note that the Canberra was a significant aircraft on the export market, being operated by the air forces of many nations and was licence produced in Australia and the USA.

When the First World War ended the then recently established Royal Air Force was awash with aircraft of all descriptions. More surprising, perhaps, was the fact that despite an ongoing cull of obsolescing types, on the last day of 1919, the RAF still possessed 9,122 non-obsolete aircraft , with a further 1,100 more assigned to the Fleet Air Arm.Whilst the famous SE.5A and Sopwith Camel had by this time largely been consigned to history, the RAF possessed no less than 1,860 Sopwith Snipes which, from 1920, would become the RAF’s standard single-seat fighter for years to come. Other core types on charge on 31 December 1919 included some 1,650 Bristol F.2B fighters and 1,250 de Havilland DH.9As, which, together with the Snipe, accounted for over fifty per cent of the RAF’s inventory at that time. Avro 504 training aircraft accounted for a further 2,700 airframes.In this Flight Craft Special, the authors provide a detailed and informative pictorial history of those scout/fighter aircraft that served in an operational capacity with the RAF from January 1920 until the last day of 1939 – a period in which Britain once again moved from an era of peace to war with an old enemy, albeit this time Hitler’s totalitarian National Socialist Germany as opposed to the Imperial Germany of old.As well as covering each of the fighter types used during the inter-war period, and featuring most of the squadrons, the photographs themselves convey the sense of the technical advances that rapidly took root within Britain’s aero industries from the mid-1930s onwards, moving from the brightly-marked overall silver wood and linen biplanes to the dull camouflaged metal-skinned monoplanes.The progression of machine-gun development – from the Lewis and Vickers of the First World War to the later Browning – is covered, spanning the days of the biplanes’ two fixed synchronised Lewis or Vickers .303-inch machine-guns mounted in the forward fuselage to eight wing-mounted .303-inch Browning machine-guns in the ‘new’ monoplane fighters. There is also a small, but fascinating, section on the monoplane ‘also rans’ – the monoplane fighters that were designed and had prototypes built but failed to reach the finishing post!