Aircraft in Detail #001
Duke Hawkins:
The Sepecat Jaguar

Royal Air Force, Armee de l’Air
and Indian Air Force

by N. Deboeck and R. Pied

HMH Publications

Reviewed by Graham Carter

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This is the first in what looks like a series of handy guides from Belgium, with titles to be released three or four times a year. According to their website, already available are the F-16 and Mirage 2000. Despite some research I am unable to ascertain whether Duke Hawkins is an author or a generic name for the series as ‘he’ is referred to in inverted commas in the note from the series editor, Nicolas Deboeck,  that comes with the book. Nicolas says that “modellers, photographers and pilots have teamed up to produce these books” and that “reactions have been very positive”. Well no wonder as this is an excellent reference for those interested in this aeroplane coming, as it does, in the twilight of its career.

The case bound book contains 84 pages in high quality semi-gloss paper that reproduces photos very well. Unfortunately the binding is not strong enough and already several pages have come loose in the review sample after only a couple of openings. Unusual in that it is square - 240mm x 240mm, every page has beautifully printed colour images of the Jaguar all to a useful size. Only two images cross the centre-line ( the bane of a modellers life!) on pages 45 and 81 and since it is only the tip of a nose and a wing, this is pretty inconsequential. Good layout work!  Captions are in English and are well written and informative.

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The first 18 pages cover the three primary users and the variants they use(d) with images showing the various fuselage and airframe variations. The airframe is then broken up into its components for detailed coverage, all incredibly clear and useful for the modeller . Without listing the lot we find such things as  Air Intakes, Wings, Cockpit, Seats, Fuselage, Front and Main Landing Gear, Tail surfaces and Pylons all covered with up to ten pages of great images that will really help the modeller. Of particular use are the shots showing where the RBF ribbons are attached, something so common on modern aircraft but not always clearly located.

This book makes no pretence of being a modeller’s camouflage guide so you will need to go elsewhere for that. However the vast number images of British, French and Indian airframes will give you some of the detailed patterns. Disappointedly , for me anyway, there are only two shots of the ‘Desert’ scheme for French versions and one Gulf War image, but what’s not to love about this shot of the final RAF ‘spotty’ scheme on page 9?

Thanks to HMH Publications for the sample.

Review Copyright © 2018 by Graham Carter
This Page Created on 14 March, 2018
Last updated 16 March, 2018

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