TheSaab 35 Draken is the latest publication from Duke Hawkins Books and is the thirty-first volume of a series of books that they have recently published highlighting modern aircraft. This series got its start with The Sepecat Jaguar in July 2017 and has been quite successful. There is also a special limited edition on the Belgian Air Force F-16 and on the Juan Carlos I Aircraft Carrier. This series of publications fall under the name of Duke Hawkins, but it is not clear exactly who Duke Hawkins is. If you check out other retail sites on this series, you can findRobert Pied and Nicolas Deboeck listed as authors, but there is not much additional information on them. One of the bylines goes like this:

So, there I was, looking for a book that could show me the Jaguar in every detail. I didn’t find it. I found a couple of photos online, but I wasn’t really estatic about that. That’s when I decided to make a book for myself. I showed it to a friend and he said: “We should publish it! And make other books too!” And here we are.

HMH Publications are distributed in North America by Casemate Publications.

The Saab 35 Draken is a Swedish single-engine, fighter-interceptor aircraft that was the first European built supersonic aircraft to enter service and the first European aircraft to exceed Mach 2.0 in level flight. Design requirements were issued in September 1949 from the Swedish Defence Material Administration. First flight of a 70% demonstrator, the Saab 210 Lilldraken, was achieved on January 21, 1952. The first flight of a full size production airframe was achieved on October 25, 1955.A total of 651 aircraft were manufactured, serving with the Swedish Air Force, Austrian Air Force, Finnish Air Force, and the Royal Danish Air Force. Several Drakens also saw service in private fighter schools as well as commercially: the Miller Brewing Draken.

This latest photo-essay monograph byNicolas Deboeck and Fredrik Edvardsen is printed on high quality glossy heavy-bond paper. The front cover features a color photograph of one of two Saab 35 Drakens operated by the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight. In this case it is their single seater, the J 35J [sn 35556, SE-DXR] in its two-tone grey pre-2022 paint scheme wearing yellow 10 [for F10] and Red 56 on the vertical tail. SE-DXR was originally a J 35F that was accepted by the Swedish Air Force on May 2, 1969. It was later upgraded to the J 35J standard. Upon retirement before being transferred to the Swedish Air Force Historical Flight. I counted 260 full color photographs. There is text scattered throughout, but most of it would be considered detailed photo captions. The Table of Contents includes the following sections:

• Saab Draken Introduction
• Saab Draken Types
• Saab Draken Forward Fuselage [Part 1] [Page 011]
• International Success
• Saab Draken Forward Fuselage [Part 2]
• Danish Drakens
• Saab Draken Fuselage [Part 1]
• Saab Draken Air Intakes [Page 025]
• Saab Draken Fuselage [Part 2]
• Unique Profile
• Saab Draken Wings
• Flying the Draken !
• Saab Draken Cockpit [Part 1]
• Saab Ejection Seat
• A Draken for Two
• Saab Draken Cockpit [Part 2] [Page 055]
• Landing the Draken
• Saab Draken Front Landing Gear
• Saab Draken Main Landing Gear
• Saab Draken Tail Gear
• Short Landings
• Saab Draken Brake Chute
• Saab Draken Speed Brakes [Page 075]
• Saab Draken Vertical Tail
• Saab Draken Aft Fuselage
• Saab Draken Exhaust
• Maintenance
• Saab Draken Maintenance
• Saab Draken Pylons
• Saab Draken Ordinance
• Draken Action !!!
• About the Swedish Air Force Historical Flight
• Draken Team Karup [Page 105]

This book provides amazing source detail in color (260 color photographs!) and is an excellent reference for modelers. The detailed captions pick out plenty of small details for the modeler as you can see from the sample of five pages included with this review. Page 25 on the Draken rear instructor’s cockpit is a good example where the rear canopy details are shown well with the dorsal fairing to the rear canopy. One can also see the instructor’s periscope and the back of an air intake. The different colors of the starboard engine air intake are shown to advantage in the lower left photograph.

This is a fantastic book and a must for anyone waiting to detail up their Saab 35 Draken.Luckily there are excellent kits in 1/48 and 1/72 from Hasegawa. The Hasegawa 1/72 J 35F Draken was released in 1994 and the 1/48 J 35F/J Draken was released in 2008. Hasegawa has released both kits on a regular basis over the years usually with new decal options. Although the basic kits are very good, there is no shortage of detail sets and additional decals that will permit one to do nearly every variant of the Draken. The Draken is also represented in 1/150, 1/144, and 1/100 with a brand new 3-D Printed kit being made in 1/32 by Jetmads of a J-35J for release later in 2024. My thanks to Casemate Publications, HMH Publications and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great book.

Highly recommended!