The Hawker Hurricane was credited with 60% of the RAF's air victories and played a critical roll in the Battle of Britain. More than 14,000 Hurricanes were built and they fought in all the major theatres of the Second World War. They served as fighters, fighter-bombers, and ground support aircraft and for a period of time the main single seat night fighter in the RAF.

For their latest release Lifelike Decals has produced decals for four Hurricanes flown by three well-known pilots. The first is Battle of Britain ace F/L Arthur Clowes of No. 1 Squadron who is credited with 10 victories. The second is the night fighter of S/L James MacLachlan of No. 1 Squadron. He was a highly decorated ace credited with 16.5 victories. The third pilot is a well know veteran of WWII. He is Group Captain Peter Townsend. Townsend was another highly decorated pilot with 9 kills to his credit. He became better known after his RAF career. Among other offices he held for the royal household he was Aide-de-Camp to King George VI and had an ill-fated romance with Princess Margaret. He also wrote a number of books on the war and raced Hurricanes in his spare time.

The first two sets of decals are for the military version of the Hurricane and have the typical roundels, fin flashes, squadron lettering and personal symbols. The other two sets of decals are for Townsend's blue racing Hurricanes representing the aircraft he flew in the 1949 Kelmsley Air Trophy Race and the 1950 Kings Cup Race and the plane he flew in the 1951 National Air Races.

These decals are first quality. They are thin, have perfect registry, and excellent color and opaqueness. The printing is very crisp. Some of the roundels come in two parts with the red center being a separate decal. The gold lettering and stripes for Townsend's royal blue Hurricanes are beautiful.

There are two smaller decal sheets. One contains all the stencils and the other contains the person symbols found on Clowes' and MacLachlan's aircraft. The stencils are very sharp and legible. Clowes' symbol comes in two parts, the bee or yellow jacket applied over a white background decal.

The narrative accompanying each airplane provides a little history of the plane as well as instructions for painting and decal placement. The instructions show the four planes in profile and plan view and there is a crisp line drawing that clearly shows stencil placement. There is no way this set of decals should receive anything but a high recommendation.

I would like to thank Lifelike Decals and IPMS/USA for providing me the opportunity to review this set of beautiful decals.