Reviewed by Steven Eisenman

Mushroom's Bulldog and Gauntlet Book is available online from Squadron.com 

Two of the Royal Air Force’s last open cockpit, biplane fighters are given excellent treatment in this new offering in the Mushroom Model Magazine Yellow Series.

While neither aircraft saw extensive front line action, both achieved “kills”: the Bulldog with the Finnish Air Force and the Gauntlet with the RAF in East Africa. The Bulldog alone is to be remembered for what it did to the flying legend Douglas Bader.

This relatively small volume is probably not the most detailed history of either the Bristol Bulldog or the Gloster Gauntlet. Yet, Alex Crawford has provides us with a very well written overview of both aircraft, which will more than satisfy most aircraft enthusiasts and modelers.

This volume follows the usual Yellow Series of being comprised of three main sections. The first is the development and operational use of the aircraft. The second is the “walk around” which has pictures of a restored aircraft. Finally, the third section presents numerous profiles of the aircraft.

The author clearly and succinctly describes the development and operational use of both aircraft with the RAF and with the air forces of other nations that received them. There are accompanying line drawings of each Mark of these aircraft as well as well chosen photographs of the various Marks in the service of the various air forces.

At the end of each sub-section dealing with the operational use of the aircraft with the various air forces, the author briefly describes the applicable camouflage and markings. This includes a listing of each RAF squadron that used the aircraft and the marking on the wing top unique to each squadron.

In the “walk around” section, the author has given the background of the restored aircraft that are pictured. In the case of the Gloster Gauntlet in the Finnish Air Force Museum, we are made aware that the original engine was not used, thus the aircraft has a longer nose. This information adds to our understanding, but does not diminish the pictures presented. In the case of the Gauntlet, the pictures of the restored aircraft are supplemented with pictures from the original technical manual.

Finally there are the profiles. These are well presented on a gray background to give full effect to the illustrations of aluminum / aluminium doped aircraft. The profile section also includes color illustrations of the wing-top marking of the various RAF squadrons that used the aircraft.

This Yellow Series volume on the Bulldog and Gauntlet is truly well done. I recommend it to every enthusiast and modeler with an interest in the inter-war period of aviation or the RAF. It is a shame, however, that the Bulldog and Gauntlet are not better represented in 1/48 scale mainstream modeling.

Highly Recommended
 

All Mushroom Model Publications books are available direct from the publishers, who now accept credit cards (Visa, MC, Amex, Switch)  

North American distributors are Squadron/MMD, Australian distributors are Platypus Publications. In Europe, the books are available from any good bookshop (via our UK distributors, Orca). Contact MMP direct in case of difficulties. 

Thanks to Roger at Mushroom Model Magazine  for the sample.