Duke Hawkins

Another of the rather fine aviation albums produced by the Belgian publisher HMH Publications under the house name "Duke Hawkins". This one provides full colour detail and action shots of the remarkable Saab J.35 Draken.

It has nearly all the detail one could wish for if you are an enthusiast for the Draken. I say "nearly all" because although it claims to show aircraft "flying with the European air forces", this is not quite so. There are pictures of Drakens in service with the Swedish, Danish and Austrian air forces, plus aircraft from the Swedish Air Force Historical Flight and a privately preserved Draken in Denmark. But there are no photographs of the Draken's service with the Finnish Air Force, so the coverage isn't quite as comprehensive as you might like.

Admittedly, this is because the Austrians had all their Drakens second-hand from the Finns; but the book does include some historic photographs of Danish examples, so it ought to have been possible. To compound this oversight, the book claims erroneously that Austria was a direct customer for the Draken, which is not so.

Still, a nice album that any fan of the Draken will enjoy.… (altro)