Book Reviews

THE ROYAL AIRCRAFT FACTORY

By Paul R Hare

Fonthill Media, 2021, 384pp, £35.

The Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough. A line-up of BE1s, RE8s and FE2s on 16 July 1916.

For those interested in the history and development of the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough, Paul Hare is undoubtedly the most accomplished author in this specialist area with his outstanding and broad knowledge of the ‘Factory’. He has authored a number of historical books on aviation in the Great War, as well as numerous magazine articles covering various aspects of that war.

Nulli Secundus II at Farnborough around 1908. RAeS (NAL).His new publication is a revised and updated version, in larger format, of his original 1990 Putnam Guide. A number of additions add historic value to this volume, namely biographies and key participants in the Factory progression and text and drawings have been updated and corrected where necessary. The new format allows larger pictures to be used and makes a number of additions to the photographic content which enhance the understanding of the Factory history. An interesting aspect of the larger picture format is that the background now allows more identifications of the Factory buildings of the period (perhaps only of interest to aviation historians).

The book has 384 pages and five comprehensive appendices covering the prototype and production aeroplanes, a full list and description of the Factory production and prototype/development engines and descriptions of the surviving airframes & reproductions.

The fifth appendix is new, containing short biographies of the key participants in the development of the Factory up to 1918 when it evolved into the Royal Aircraft Establishment.

The biographies are of Busk, Folland, Fowler, Goodden, de Havilland, Kenworthy and one of the enemies of the Factory – Pemberton-Billing.

Overall, a successful update and upgrade, adding more substance to the original volume

The chapter on Factory aeroplanes, with plans and photographs, uses 193 pages of the total and, while still based on the original layout, contains considerable updates in both images and information.

Airships are covered from Nulli Secundus to Epsilon and three good indexes – general, engines & aircraft – simplify the interrogation of the text.

Overall, a successful update and upgrade, adding more substance to the original volume, and a definite must for those with either a general or specific interest in the early days of the Farnborough story or for those who need a good starting point for deeper research into the Royal Aircraft Factory through the specialist National and Museum archives. Well recommended.

Dr Graham Rood
FRAeS Curator, Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum

KOREAN AIR WAR

Sabres, MiGs and Meteors

By Michael Napier

Osprey, 2021, 319pp, £30.

A USAF Douglas B-26B Invader of the 452nd Bombardment Wing bombing a target in North Korea, 29 May 1951. USAF.

I have been waiting years for a solid and intelligent review of the air power over Korea in 1950-53. It was a pivotal moment in the history of aeronautics and the development of air power – the shift from the piston-engine to the jet engine in war. Lessons were learned by both sides.

Michael Napier has produced a solid piece of work with excellent illustrations, many of which are either very illustrative or rarely seen. It is laid out in sequence of the development of the air power employed by the United Nations against the Communist invaders and its conclusions are worthy of note and even as the basis of further research. The role of Russian and Chinese loan aircrew is well researched and recorded.

However, this is really a book about jets, written by a jet pilot for other jet pilots. It also plays up the role of a ‘handful’ of Sunderland flying boats, almost the only Royal Air Force equipment contribution to the air war but plays down or ignores the vital role of the air observation post aircraft, directing artillery. British and Commonwealth artillery spotters worked hand-in-glove with US and Allied ground forces in appalling conditions and have been rarely given the acclaim they and their groundcrews deserve.

A US Marine Corps Vought F4U-4B Corsair of Marine Fighter Squadron 214 (VMF-214) ‘Blacksheep’ being readied for take-off in 1950 aboard the escort carrier USS Sicily (CVE-118) for a strike in Korea. US Navy.

There is a real issue for me in the off-hand way in which the persistent presence of the Fleet Air Arm fighter-bomber and strike aircraft aboard Light Fleet Carriers is treated. Mr Napier believes that the Fleet Air Arm was ‘relegated … to a minor role’ because of its lack of jets.

This is a distortion of the contribution of the Royal Navy which, despite being ‘handicapped by the limited range and performance of its aircraft’, managed the shoot down of the MiG-15, Britain’s first jet ‘kill’ and that by a Hawker Sea Fury. Sadly, the author attributes this historical feat to the wrong pilot but perhaps that’s because he relied solely on the official account at the time. Recent research has put the matter right (AEROSPACE February 2018).

The author redeems himself with his analysis of the birth of effective helicopters and the contribution of battlefield helicopters in Korea, especially in combat search and rescue and also in casualty evacuation.

The other important point, and Mr Napier would have personal experience of this conclusion from his own flying over Iraq, the jet aircraft is vulnerable to ground-based anti-aircraft artillery. North Korean and Chinese AAA caused the greatest casualties rather than the more glamorous air-to-air, Sabre v MiG combat.

Finally, it is important to record that 70 officers of the Royal Air Force were able to contribute to the air war in staff jobs and seconded to both the US Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force. Sometimes, Mr Napier’s prose does make one think there is a hint of apology for the lack of Royal Air Force participation – remembering, of course, that the Light Blue were stretched across the globe in the retreat from Empire and having faced substantial cuts by the Attlee administration.

In the final analysis, is this a worthy tome for the historian or interested reader’s bookshelf? Yes, it is.

Perhaps a second edition might redress a couple of the weaknesses and then it would be an outstanding contribution to the history of air power.

Paul Beaver
FRAeS Chair of the Aeronautical Heritage Specialist Group