Hawker Hart Family reviews



	Hawker Hart Family Online reviews IPMSUSA.org Reviewed By John Ratzenberger, IPMS# 40196 Oh, Happy Days !!! Not six months after I reviewed Mushroom's Fury-Nimrod book and wished for one on the Silver Winged two-seaters, here it is !!! I wish I could claim some credit for providing inspiration, but I know better. And it really isn't just "here it is" -- it's "here it is in spades" !!! Because this is the first of Mushroom's new "Orange Maxi" series, with an expanded number of pages to cover types that cannot be covered in the standard format. The Hart was designed to a 1926 specification for a light bomber and went into squadron service in 1930, promptly out-running the current day fighter, the Bristol Bulldog. Thus it slightly pre-dates its' single-seat cousin, the Hawker Fury. The Hart was so successful it was developed into roles for 2-seat fighter, army co-op aircraft, target-tug, trainer, and naval equivalents. The Hart family includes the Hart itself, Demon, Osprey, Audax, Hardy, Hind, Hector, and Hartebeest, not to mention variations for different countries. Mostly all were the sleek inline engine version, the exception being the ugly Hector and a few radial engine versions of which only the fully cowled Bristol-engine versions such as the 'Persian Hind' and 'Latvian Hind' do justice to the beautiful lines of the basic airframe. All in all, the Hart family was used by all UK/Commonwealth air arms and some 15 other countries, in Europe and the Middle East and Far East, sometimes up to 20 years. Most of the combat was in the Middle East in the 30's and early 40's. But the Mushroom book can best tell that story. The book is in standard Mushroom format, albeit as mentioned, much larger. I'll discuss it in several "sections", although the book isn't formally divided up that way. The first section, 75 pages, covers the development and RAF/FAA service history, second-line duties, and in some cases, special versions or information of the Hart, Demon, Osprey, Audax, Hardy, Hind, and Hector. There is an extensive discussion of the construction of the Hart which of use to modelers. The section concludes with a brief look at the Hart family in the Abyssinian Crisis with Italy, skirmishes in the Middle East, and chasing pirates in the Far East. The next section (pages 76-97) cover Commonwealth service in much the same manner. For each country there is a section on colors and markings that is very useful in conjunction with the color profiles at the end. Of note are the variations of brown and green in lieu of the usual dark earth / dark green one expects. Following this, on pages 98-107, we are off to war with emphasis on the Middle East and East Africa. And then (pages 110-146) all the variants in foreign service are discussed, again with color and marking info that goes well with the color profiles. Note a few of these flew against the RAF. In the sections above, there are numerous 1/72 scale profile drawings and a few 4-views. There are no cutaways, cross-sections, or detail drawings. There is one subtle error in the top-view drawings (i.e. pages 14/15, 34/35) which show the fin offset to starboard. The text says (page 11), and all photos clearly show, that the fin is offset to port - not sure what happened to the drawings. More significant, in the 4-view of the Opsrey on page 34/35, the upper wing is clearly that of the Hart and has not the modified center section to allow the wings to fold. Unfortunately, many of the above sections do not read that well. The sentences are short and choppy -- I had the feeling that research notes were literally transcribed rather than rewritten. A few well-placed connectives would have helped smooth out the text. The other issue I had was the, to me, unnecessary and boring focus on crashes and accidents. OK, there isn't a lot of combat to talk about, but who crashed what when isn't a good substitute. In my opinion, there could have been more discussion of the role these aircraft and others played in the evolving doctrine and expansion of the RAF/FAA in the period. There's nothing wrong with some historic context and social history. The next section (pages 147-152) has charts of production numbers, claims, and specifications. Following all this, on pages 153-163, is a unique and very interesting section of period pilot's notes and of flying the Shuttleworth's Hind. This is priceless. There are some cynical comments on cockpit arrangement and management of the retractable radiator that really bring the aircraft to life. Next, a one-page bibliography, which frankly simply doesn't do justice to the material available on either the aircraft or the RAF/FAA 'tween wars. Next, on pages 165-172, is an extensive and informative discussion of surviving aircraft. This gives one hope that more restorations going to be on display, or even in flight. The next-to-last section, pages 173-231 - that's right, 58 of 'em - are the detail photos and these are just great -- one of the best collections I have seen from Mushroom. The first 10 pages are of the RAF Museum Hart and Hart Trainer and these are modeler's photos, down to nitty-gritty details, and the accompanying text does a great job pointing out the highlights. These ten pages and the pilot's notes mentioned before are worth the price alone. The rest of the detail photos are also good and are useful in supplement to the first ten pages. Some period photos and documentation are interspersed. The last few pages cover weapons and contain some great shots of the Light Series and Universal Carrier mounts, useful for any number of aircraft/models, not just the Hart family. The available cockpit detail is a bit of a shortfall particularly given the pilot's notes prior. See the photos and description of the ram's head exhausts on page 191 -- designed as flame dampening, they tended to collect unburned fuel then explode! Lastly, the final 33 pages contain the standard Mushroom color profiles. These are a great cross-section of all aircraft and variants, to include Commonwealth and Foreign Service, for a total of about 43 profiles. If you want to build a member of the Hart family, you have dozens of options available. As one might expect, many of these profiles are of aircraft shown in B/W pictures earlier and sometimes previously discussed. I didn't do any exhaustive checks, but everything appears to be correct back here. There are some editing issues, particularly in the first dozen pages, but these are obvious and should not, except for the drawing errors, lead anyone astray. On page 7, bottom photo is id'd as J9933 when it is J9938. On page 9, the upper right insert is id'd as K2089, it is K1996. On page 55, aircraft are id'd as K5545 and K5513 - they are K4645 and K5513. On page 80/81, the last line on page 80 is repeated atop page 81. On pages 216/217 a couple photos and captions are mixed up. And add to these the drawing errors already mentioned. Summary This is a great book !!! I note the editing issues, the choppy text, the focus on crashes, and the fin offset to alert you -- they are insignificant compared the value of the other material in this book. As I noted the pilot's notes and the detail photos alone are worth the price, in my opinion. I have a fairly good collection of "Silver Wings" references -- none of them (except my original 1936 Air Ministry reprint of the 1932 Hart Aeroplane Manual) present this much info on the Hart. This is not another rehash of pictures and information available elsewhere -- you would spend a lot of time and money collecting it yourself. If you are a fan of the Hart family, or of the 'Silver Wings' era, then you want this book. Regardless of what you already have, I believe this book will add to, not just duplicate, information in your collection. I have a squadron of 1/72 and 1/48 Hart family kits (Aeroclub, Airfix, Merlin/Frog) in my stash, plus the West Wings wood/tissue, rubber-powered model -- time to get a couple of them out ... Once again, my thanks to Mushroom Model Publications for including Silver Wings in their catalog and for providing this book for review. As always thanks to IPMS for allowing me to review it. SAM by Paul E. Eden In the second of these recent MMP publications, the publisher has taken on a massive and neglected subject in the shape of the Hawker Hart series. Not surprisingly, the book extends to a massive 256 pages, with a commensurate increase in price. Given that all aspects of the Hart series, from development, through operations to colours and markings are covered, it is asthonishing that so much has been crammed into even these 256 pages. The text is workmanlike rather than readable, often seeming a little note like, but it nevertheless provides a thorough history of these legendary aircraft. The complexity of the story is relieved by a logical breakdown into sections dealing with each type. As well as contemporay photographs, there is a also a comprehensive walkaround section and 25 pages of colour artwork complement the 1:72 scale drawings used throughout. Any student or modeller of interwar aircraft must have this book. Hyperscale.com Reviewed by Rob Baumgartner F i r s t R e a d Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and for some, the Hawker Hart and its derivatives are some of the most elegant aircraft built. Names such as the Audax, Demon, Hector, Hardy, Hart, Hind, Hartbeeste and Osprey encompassed much of the operational equipment of the RAF and other air arms in the 1930s. They took on the role of fighters, trainers, bombers and cooperative tasks and went to war with a number of countries. The “Orange Maxi” series has been started to provide more pages than usual to cope with those types that can’t be covered in the standard format. The Hawker Hart family of aircraft is ideal for this layout. There are 256 pages and these contain a wealth of information. The development of each type is amply described and separate chapters are devoted to its use in both the Commonwealth and foreign services. The former consists of Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Southern Rhodesia while a staggering 14 air arms fill the latter category. Colours and markings for each country follow as well as the roles they played in the various conflicts around the world at the time. General arrangement drawings are available in 1/72 scale and these cater for the Hawker Hart, Swedish B4A Hart and Osprey. Other types are still represented but are shown in side view only. One of the most entertaining chapters relates to the flying of these machines. Pilot’s notes for the Hawker Demon, Hector and Hind are relayed and provide an interesting insight into these aircraft. Complimenting the text is nearly 350 photographs with almost a third of them in colour. The latter form is generally confined to the “walk around” section where detail shots are taken of various survivors scattered throughout the world. Examples offered are the Hawker Hart, Hartbeeste, Demon, Hind, and Audax. A chapter on armament and equipment is also included which shows images of the message hook, Scarff mounting, bomb carrier, and Lewis gun. Also included are images of the radio aerial, flare bracket, camera gun and equipment racks. A total of 43 colour profiles can be found and these are superbly done by Remi Pierlot. Where needed, extra views are available to the viewer so as to provide a more complete picture of the subject. The variety of subjects is commendable and there will be something to please everyone. C o n c l u s i o n The larger “Orange Maxi” format of this book is a great way for Mushroom Model Publications to expand their range. Some topics require extra space to be covered in a way that is fitting to the type. The Hawker Hart family is one such subject and fittingly Alex Crawford covers a lot of ground in these pages. So whether you’re a modeller or just have a fascination with this stylish biplane, this piece of reference work comes highly recommended. Highly Recommended. MiniReplika No 57 - Polish modellers' magazine (printed) www.aerostories.org by Philippe Listemann Alex Crawford is probably one of the best author regarding the British biplanes of the thirties, having written so far some of the best books of that category, on the Gloster Gladiator and Hawker Fury and Nimrod, both books published by Mushroom. This time, it is the Hawker Hart family and its derivatives which are under the spot. The Hart family became the mainstay of the pre-war RAF in various roles, from the light bomber to the two-seated fighter, without forgetting the co-operation aircraft. The book is classical, being spit into the description of each version, followed by the operational use up to the first months of the war. Some point of interest, the actions taken in Palestine early in 1939. All the countries which have introduced any Hart or derivative in their inventory are studied one by one, and I was pleased to read something about Afghanistan, a country for which it is always difficult to find out information. Generally speaking, it is a book easy to read. The photographs are clean and relevant, even if some are really too small, and would deserve to be published in a much larger size. On the colour plates side, the quality is excellent and give to modellers a good source of inspiration, even if details on “when and where” in some captions are missing. One third of the book is reserved for close-up details of surviving airframe, something highly appreciated by modellers. Anyway, this book is a really nice one with a lot of valuable information, and something more economical than the alternative “Hawker Aircraft since 1920” by Francis K. Mason published by Putnam many years ago. And for the ones who already have the latter, Alex Crawford is offering a good update at a very reasonable price. InternetModeler.com Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl When I first heard that Mushroom Model Publications was doing a book on the Hawker Hart, I wondered if they were going to just cover the Hart, or if they were going to cover the entire family. With 256 pages, they decided to do the entire family, which means that if you are interested in any one of these planes, this is the book to get. Coupled with their recent book on the Hawker Fury and Nimrod, we now have a very thorough examination of the Hawker biplanes of the 1930s. For those not familiar with the Hawker Hart family, it is quite extensive. The original Hart was developed as a light bomber. This then evolved into a two-seat fighter, called the Demon. In answering a call for a reconnaissance/spotter aircraft, Hawker modified the Hart for the Royal Navy, coming up with the Osprey. Similarly, a requirement for an army co-op aircraft led to the Hawker Audax. A tropical version for use in Iraq became the Hawker Hardy. By this time, the original Hawker Hart was showing its age, so Hawker improved upon it and came up with a Hart-based Hart replacement called the Hawker Hind. Along similar lines, the Hawker Audax was replaced by the improved Hawker Hector, which was the last of the Hart designs. With those as the basic variants, it is easy to see how one can become confused with the Hart family. This confusion becomes even more pronounced when the family was exported. For instance, the Hawker Audax in South Africa became the Hawker Hartbeeste, also spelled Hartbees, Hartbee, Hartebees, and Hartebeeste. India, Egypt, Iraq, Latvia, Persia, and Sweden all flew variants with radial engines, giving the aircraft a very different appearance, yet with no change in name. With all of that to deal with, having a good book on the family is essential, and Alex Crawford has provided just that. As usual for the Mushroom titles, this book provides a detailed examination of each of these types, with photos and drawings showing the differences between the main types. As the international variants were further modified, the drawings for those countries highlight those changes as well. The result is an easy to follow outline of the various Hart designs that makes sense of all the confusion. Further complementing the technical description are the operational accounts, both for British and foreign nations. The Hart family saw combat in quite a few areas, and these sections make for some excellent reading. No Mushroom book would be complete without the color profiles and detail photos, and this book is no exception. There are several surviving examples of the Hart family, including a radial-engined example in Sweden, a Hartbeeste in South Africa, a Demon in Australia, and the beautiful flying Hind of the Shuttleworth Collection. Detail photos of all of these are found here, providing the modeler with all he could hope for in reference material. Forty-two individual aircraft are covered in the profile illustration, along with two pages of upper wing markings showing the colorful silver wing era of the RAF. Quite simply, this is an essential book for anyone interested in pre-war British biplanes. The Hawker Hart family was extensive, both at home and abroad, and the varied history and development makes for fascinating reading. Hawker Hart Family book was No 2 in Military Vehicles category on Amazon.co.uk ModelingMadness.com Reviewer: Scott Van Aken This is by far the most ambitious book yet produced by Mushroom Model Publications. It is certainly the thickest and covers the extensive production of the Hawker Hart family of two place fighters, bombers, and army cooperation aircraft. In fact, there is more information in one place on these aircraft than in any other book on the subject that I have seen. This alone makes it a 'must have' for the enthusiast. All of the different variants, sub-variants and modifications are covered within the 256 pages. There are dozens of superbly done line drawings and three views. Hundreds of photographs in both black & white and color are provided for you. There is a complete history of each major type along with the various air forces that operated the aircraft. Some of these are rather obscure to most modelers and provide a rich background for possible projects. The many period photos are well reproduced and chosen for clarity. As is the norm for these books, there is also an extensive 'walk around' section using photos of extant airframes as well as period images and illustrations from tech manuals. A complete production history is also provided as is a listing of surviving airframes, regardless of condition. This is all capped by an excellent section of well over 20 pages of superbly done profiles. In all, this book is not only an exemplary resource, but a real bargain as well. It has certainly earned my highest recommendation and I am positive you will find it to your liking as well. May 2008 Cybermodeler.com By Ray Mehlberger The Hawker Hart and its derivatives (Demon, Hind, Audax, Hector, Hardy, Osprey, Hartebeeste) comprised much of the operational equipment of the RAF, and many other air arms in the 1930’s. Bombers, fighters, trainers, army coop, these roles and many other tasks were carried out by these aircraft. Perhaps the first “multi-role combat aircraft”. On it’s introduction, the Hart bomber was faster than the RAF’s front-lone fighters, and this elegant, reliable and highly adaptable aircraft remained in service well into the jet age, surviving in the Afghan air arm into the 1950’s. The Hart family went to war, in Finland, East Africa, Iraq (fighting on both sides) and elsewhere, and Hectors even flew bombing missions over Dunkirk in 1940. This new book, by Mushroom Model Publications (MMP), is written by a highly respected historian and best-selling author. It tells the story of these elegant aircraft in all their versions. It is profusely illustrated with 202 black and white historical photos (a handful of these were taken of surviving aircraft in museums). There are 148 color photos, the majority of which were also taken in museums and are mostly of the walk-around type. There are 17 1/72nd scale line drawings as profiles and 7 more as 2-views. Included also are 3 illustrations from tech manuals and a color photo of a poster that advertises a aircraft display at Hendon. The book chronicles the design, development and service of the Hart family in it’s many guises. From the vibrant colors of the pre-war RAF and FAA through the drab camouflage of wartime operations, and the many overseas users: Swiss Air Force, Portuguese Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, South Rhodesian Air Force, Royal Egyptian Air Force, Latvian Air Force, Estonian Air Force, Canadian Air Force, Royal Iraqi Air Force, Persian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Belgian Air Force, Afghan Air Force, Irish Air Force, Yugoslavian Air Force, Swedish Air Force, Spanish Republican Air Force and the Finish Air Force. This is done in 41 color profile paintings and 9 color illustrations of upper wing markings for these various countries (including the RAF of course). There are 7 data lists and a bibliography in the book. The book is 256 pages long, this more pages than Mushroom Model Publications normal amount for their aircraft books. It is done to cover these aircraft types, whose stories cannot be squeezed into their standard format. The book is soft-cover in 6 ½” x 9” size pages and labeled as “MAXI SIZE”. This book will be essential reading for all those interested in military aviation and British aircraft. It is an invaluable reference for aero-modelers and aviation historians. Highly recommended. Mushroom Model Publications is based in Redbourn, Herts UK. A forthcoming book, for later this year, is shown on the back cover of this new book. It will be titled “Gloster Gladiator”.