Ad Hoc Publications

Aeroguide 32 Sea Harrier Aeroguide 34 Canberra PR.9

by  Roger Chesneau

Reviewed By  Paul Bradley, IPMS# 35554

MSRP: 14.95 GBP Sea Harrier: 56 pages, 106 photographs, 35 line drawings, 20 colour artworks, ISBN 978 0 946958 44 3. Canberra: 56 pages, 150 illustrations, 16 colour artworks, ISBN 978 0 946958 49 8. Do you remember the original Aeroguides from the early 1980's? I have most of that innovative aircraft walkaround series that primarily dealt with contemporary RAF aircraft in a detail that had not been published before. Indeed, they were an inspiration that I tried to emulate on my airshow visits all those years ago, when I was first starting to add extra detail to my models, and all walkarounds that one finds on the internet today have their ancestry in Aeroguides. That series went on hiatus many years ago, but series creator, Roger Chesneau has recently restarted the line. Two of the new Aeroguides feature aircraft that were controversially retired in 2006; the Sea Harrier, arguably the best fleet fighter in the world, and the Canberra PR.9, perhaps the world's most versatile recon platform even at its retirement. In both cases, a potentially dangerous capability gap has been created, and one can only hope that there are no dire consequences. One marvels at the assuredness of politicians who make the same mistakes that their predecessors made 20, 30 or 40 years ago; one cannot learn too much from history. Still, this is a book review, not a political science review….. Compared to the old series, these new Aeroguides have been completely re-vamped; while retaining the close up detail photos of old, these are now in full color and are of top-notch quality with excellent reproduction. These photos are supplemented by a host of additional features that were given somewhat perfunctory treatment in the old Aeroguides. The text is much expanded while remaining concise, and features chapters on development, history, exports and squadron colors and markings. In addition, a new feature is a series of full color profiles in the centre of the books that are to a large scale. These are set on two gatefolds; I like this idea. At the back of each book are a set of 1/72 plans, with lots of scrap views - unfortunately, those for the Canberra are bound across the middle of the views - it is a shame that the plans were not gatefold too. In spite of this, the overall package is of great use to the modeler. Of course, the world has changed since the first Aeroguides, and many might think that the Internet has made the Aeroguide concept redundant. However, this is certainly not the case; while the photograph "cannot lie," the written word when culled from the internet cannot be regarded with anything other than suspicion, as many webpage authors do not conduct research from primary sources. There is a place still for properly researched and well written books, and these books are just that. These books contain all that is necessary for the modeler and I can highly recommend them. These books are available from Ad Hoc Publications; please visit their website (www.adhocpublications.com) for pricing details. They are also available through leading booksellers. Our sincere thanks to Roger Chesneau of Ad Hoc for the review samples.

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