The Camel Fighter

“The Camel Fighter”
by John Pudney. 65 pp. 6-1/8 in. x 8-3/5 in. ( (Hamish Hamilton Ltd., 90, Great Russell Street, London, W.C.1. 15s.

This compact and attractive little work, in the Hamish Hamilton Monograph series, which includes D. B. Tubbs’ “The Rolls-Royce Phantoms,” reviewed last year, is a fine tribute to an historic aeroplane.

Briefly but sincerely, almost all aspects of the famous Sopwith Camel fighter are covered, even to a fascinating account by Grenville Manton, who used to write for Motor Sport years ago, of how he bought a Camel from the Aircraft Disposal Company at Croydon after the 1914/18 war, and fitted it with a 45-h.p. Anzani engine, in a courageous attempt to re-live the days when he was a pilot in the R.F.C.

The book is delightfully illustrated with photographs and drawings, there is a page specification of the Camel, three-view scale plans of an F.1 Camel, and diagrams of Camel aerobatics, cockpit views, etc. One picture shows solid-tyred lorries of various makes, led by a Commercar ambulance, going to the aid of a crashed Camel. This is a book of which many old-timers will enioy every page.— W. B.