The Westland Lysander

by Richard A. Franks

Valiant Wings Publishing
Airframe Detail No.9

Reviewed by Graham Carter

This range of reference books need no introduction as they have become the go-to sources for modellers and those interested in specific aeroplanes since they first started to appear a few years ago. This monograph of the ‘Lizzie’ is an A4 114 page volume, well bound with a glossy card cover and printed on quality glossy paper that allows excellent reproduction of images and drawings. While primarily aimed at the modeller, there is much to appeal to the historian and technically-minded person as well. The ‘Airframe Detail’ series is not as in-depth as the ‘Airframe and Miniature’ series, usually concentrating on aeroplanes that did not appear in as many variants as warranted by the larger size volumes.

The cover has a photo of an early war plane with a colour drawing of a TT MkIII. Inside we find a Introduction of over twenty pages tracing the development, RAF and Commonwealth usage and by foreign forces, all illustrated with useful photos and drawings to show variations.

The ‘Technical Description’ section occupies around 50 pages and give the reader an enormous number of colour and B&W photos from modern conserved and contemporary sources, along with technical manual drawings and excellent notes. This is really a highlight of this volume and provides an invaluable source of information for the interested technophile or the super-detailer. 

There follows a 25 page section on the Camouflage and Markings carried on different airframes and what a wonderful variety there were, all illustrated by Richard Caruana in full colour. The Third section contains a detailed build by Libor Jeki of Dora Wings’ lovely little 1/72 Lysander MkIII (SD). This builder is well known for the quality of his modelling and the clear photos and explanations of how he produced this model are worth a detailed read.

Finally, there are three appendices covering, in alphabetic lists by scale, all of the kits that have been available, Accessories and, Decals and a Bibliography. An enormous amount of work has gone into compiling these lists. As befits a more specialised aeroplane these are not as extensive as, say a Spitfire or Bf109, but there is still sufficient to fill four pages of three columns each.

The volume concludes with a list of the squadrons, both RAF and foreign, that made use of the Lysander in all its different guises.

This really is an extremely useful volume that should be in every Lysander modeller’s library, regardless of which scale one works in, and I recommend it whole-heartily.

This really is an exceptionally useful volume that should be in every Lysander modeller’s library, regardless of which scale one works in, and I recommend it whole-heartily..

Thanks to Valiant Wings Publishing for the sample.

Review Copyright © 2021 by Graham Carter
This Page Created on 22 March, 2021
Last updated 22 March, 2021

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