BOOK REVIEWS, October 1961, October 1961

BOOK REVIEWS

“Fokker—The Man And the Aircraft,” by Henri Hegener. 224 pp. Ilk in. 8.!! in. (Harleyford Publications Ltd., Letchworth, Ikrts. 45s.)

Last month we commenced witIva review of Putnain’s excellent history of the Hawker Company and now comes another painstaking and lavishly-produced aeronautical history from the house of Harleyford—none other than the life story of Anthony Fokker, ” the flying Dutchman,” and the aeroplanes built by his famous company. Edited by Bruce Robertson, produced by D. A. Russell, M..I.Mech.E., and illustrated with hundreds of fine photographs and splendid tone paintings by W. F. Hepworth, based on original drawings by J. I). Carrick, this is a fantastic ” onemake ” history, of which, the publishers assure us, they sold over 4,000 pre-subscribed copies. The author met Fokker in 1919, frequently flew with him, and was closely associated with Fokker’s Chief Designer, Reinhold Platz,

The book is really in three parts, first a 65,00o-word narrative of the life of Fokker, and of his Company up to the present day, then a section devoted to 49 three-view 1/72-scale drawings of famous Fokker types, from the Spider to the latest F.27, the larger of these drawings requiring double-page spreads, and finally a type-by-type review of over 200 Fokker aeroplanes, with a photograph of nearly every one, this section being compiled by E. F. Cheesman. This really is a fabulous book and although motoring history books continue to pour from the publishers, few, if any, are as comprehensive over a single marque as these great aeronautical works by Harleyford and Putnam.—W. B.