The SEPECAT Jaguar was an Anglo-French design for a ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1968. The French and English versions had their differences but both performed well and received a new lease on life when they were able to demonstrate their capabilities during Desert Strom giving them a new lease on life which has just recently come to pass.

SAM Publications Modellers Datafile series gives a good overall history of the aircraft they present plus profiles, walkarounds and some model builds and this issue continues that trend. There are 200 pages in this softcover book and you get pretty much everything you want to know about the design, first flights, modifications, combat use and some good info for us modelers who want to create one or more of these in kit form. The chapters walk you through the design and development stage then go into separate chapters for RAF, French and International service. Next up is a chapter covering the Jaguar’s combat use in Africa, the Gulf War, and the Balkans. The history is followed up by 5 pages of color profiles which cover most of the schemes they flew in. After that is a series of walk around photos of a couple of English birds and one French one.

The Modeling section has five builds, three of them are of the Revell 1/48th scale kit with another 48th scale French plane from the Kitty Hawk kit. The last one uses the 1/72nd Hasegawa kit. These all depict the single seat version and most include decent pictures of the in-progress builds as well as of the completed models.

This is followed by the Kitography section which gives a good list of kits, decals, and accessories.

At the back of the book is a fold-out section with scale drawings in 1/48th scale.

Overall, I found this to be a good read on the history with lots of great photos showing markings, armament options, and diorama ideas. One thing I learned was the French had developed the Jaguar M (for Marine – Maritime) version and this single prototype made it as far as carrier trials on the Clemenceau before being dropped. Several pictures are included and there is a good description of the color scheme included for those of you who might want something different in your collections. The book is published in England, hence the Pound Sterling price tag, but I have ordered from SAM before and they have great service to the US.

Thanks to Sam Publications and IPMS/USA for the review sample.