Review

I have a received a series of books from Pen and Sword titled RAF in Camera and these titles cover the aircraft in service from 1950 to the 100th Anniversary; something I remember going to London to watch the flyover.

With a number of companies releasing aircraft of the Royal Air Force since the end of World War 2 I asked to take a look at RAF in Camera series of titles authored by Keith Wilson; I do not know anything about Keith Wilson and so I have added the information available at Pen and Sword at the end of this review. The title is a hard backed book with a nice dust cover; inside the paper is a good semi gloss stock that has been stitched into the spine. The paper displays the pictures in the title very well and makes it a pleasing book. The font and text size make reading the title a pleasing aspect that even my old eyes can see to read without eye strain.

The contents of this title are presented in a yearly format rather than specific aircraft type. The result of this is that you get to learn when an aircraft type entered service with the RAF and when others were retired. If you are looking for something specific then a full index is provided at the end of the title. The text covers political events that affected the RAF, events such as the cancellation of the TSR2 that was supposed to result in the F-111 coming into RAF service.. It was also the time when the government thought that missiles would make the RAF redundant which affected their funding.

Not all of the news was bad as their was great investment in the service during the early 1960’s, examples of this where the Lightning going fully operational and all of the piston engine fighters and bombers being withdrawn. The same can not be said for the transport aircraft that where all still propeller powered. The Argosy and Beverly being well represented in the title, however these were quickly replaced by the Hercules that was just6 starting to make its appearance with the RAF, the harrier and its early predecessor the Kestrel get reasonable coverage.

The copious number of photographs offered in this title have been well chosen to exhibit a great mix of aircraft types. The offerings are in both black & white and colour. The paper chosen does a very good job of displaying these pictures at their best. I feel that once you get into this title you will have to stay and turn the next page until finished.

Keith Wilson has been actively involved in aviation publishing for more than 35 years and is a prolific author. Keith is probably best known for his striking air-to-air images in Pilot magazine, during which time he has photographed almost 2,000 different aircraft; featuring a very broad range of subjects, from gliders, micro light, vintage and veteran, aerobatic and general aviation subjects right through to high altitude research aircraft, business jets, commercial jets and military fast jets. Keith is the author of RAF in Camera: 1950s, RAF in Camera: 1960s and RAF in Camera: 1970s - all published by Pen and Sword Aviation.

This is the first in a truly stunning series of titles showing the RAF's change from piston engines to jet engines as we faced the Cold War.