This in the sixth volume in Osprey’s Air Vanguard series, but the first I have come across. The series seems geared to providing an overall view of the subject aircraft’s development, technical specifications, and operational history. One interesting angle on this series is that the books are also available in eReader formats such as Kindle or ePDF files. People have differing opinions on which format is better suited to a reference book, but in any case it is nice that this option is available.

The book is broken down into 4 basic sections: Design and Development, Technical Specifications, Mark by Mark, and Operational History. A brief Conclusion section wraps things up, and a small bibliography (6 titles) is included.

Design and Development covers precisely that – the developmental history of the Hurricane design. This section starts with the formation of the Hawker Company itself, and proceeds right up to the production model of the Hurricane. This is not an in-depth discussion by any means, but the high points are all covered in approximately twelve pages. Following this are two pages describing the technical details of the Hurricane.

Mark by Mark is a 15-page section describing not only each variant of the Hurricane, but various one-offs as well. There are tables showing the main specs of each of the major variants, i.e. armament, powerplant, performance, etc. One very useful page in this section has color drawings of various armament used by the Hurricane, including rockets, bombs, and guns.

The Operational History section has 28 pages covering, chronologically, the deployment and combat history of the Hurricane in WW2.

Regarding illustrations, in addition to black and white photos throughout the text, there are two pages of nice color profiles, covering a total of eight different aircraft (with accompanying descriptions). Another page has the armament profiles mentioned earlier. There is also one color 3-view of a Battle of Britain Hurricane, two color action digital prints (actually three, if you count the cover), and one very nice color cutaway view on the fold-out rear cover.

I think this book is a decent reference if you are in need of something basic. It is a good one-stop guide to the Hurricane. If you are modeler looking for loads of detail photos and interesting color schemes, you won’t find them in here. But, if you are interested in a well-written overview of the aircraft, this is a reasonable investment. I do really like the option of buying this in electronic form (at a lower price).

Thanks to Osprey Publishing for the review copy, and IPMS for allowing me to review it!