Richard J Caruana

During the last decade or so a considerable number of requests were received, especially from the younger generation, for me to put together a cross-section of my work into a book. Truly an impossible task considering the thousands of illustrations produced over these fifty years. It was therefore with this in mind that I’m embarking on this voyage of memories that will hopefully be met with approval by both those who remember the drawings in now-defunct or difficult to find publications and also those too young to have had the opportunity of enjoying them. It also gave me the chance to update older illustrations to today’s standards. Contents: Fokker D.VII............................2 FIAT CR.32.............................6 Fleet Air Arm Corsairs...........16 Boulton Paul Defiant.............26 Last of the Spitfires...............28 USAF Starblazers.................36 SEPECAT Jaguar..................40 Guido Pongiluppi...................48

Call it elegance, call it grace, or even beauty; Hawker’s Hunter was the last of a breed of aircraft where one of the rules of thumb in design philosophy was ‘if it looks right, it will fly right’. No computer gurus were around at that time, able to run simulated test runs on the desktop. It all had to be done by pencil and slide-rule. Richard J. Caruana describes and illustrates this Hawker thoroughbred, with a selection of some of the most colourful schemes sported by this fighter. Hawker’s Chief Designer, Sir Sydney Camm found little inspiration in the official specifications as outlined in F.43/46 and gave birth to a completely different design concept under the designation of P.1067, flexible enough to accept different power plants. This resulted in the Mk. 1 and Mk. 4 being powered by the Rolls-Royce Avon, the Mk. 2 and Mk. 5 being powered by the Armstrong Whitworth Sapphire. This dual use of power plants probably saved the Hunter from oblivion, as had happened to the troublesome Sapphire of the Supermarine Swift. It was, however, with the arrival of the Hunter Mk. 6 that a true fighter aircraft was born. The revised and strengthened wings could carry more fuel in underwing tanks, giving the Hunter longer legs, together with the possibility of carrying bombs and rockets with the introduction of the Mk. 9 ground attack version.

During the last decade or so a considerable number of requests were received, especially from the younger generation, for me to put together a cross-section of my work into a book. Truly an impossible task considering the thousands of illustrations produced over these fifty years. It was therefore with this in mind that I’m embarking on this voyage of memories that will hopefully be met with approval by both those who remember the drawings in now-defunct or difficult to find publications and also those too young to have had the opportunity of enjoying them. It also gave me the chance to update older illustrations to today’s standards. Contents: Airco DH2, RAF S.E.5a, Seversky P-35, Short Stirling, IMAM Ro.43, Desert 109s, Douglas F4D Skyray, Fleet Air Arm Phantoms, John Livingstone Boyd.

Retired from service close to a quarter century ago, the English Electric (BAC) Lightning has become a cult subject with aviation enthusiasts, especially those who, like the author, remember seeing this mighty interceptor take to the air. As its Avons roared, it rotated on take-off, snapped in the main undercarriage like a flash, and then sat on its tail to go into a vertical climb disappearing to in the deep blue above, all within a few seconds.On its introduction into service, Royal Air Force squadrons faced a leap of several generations in technology, from the cannon-armed, subsonic Hunter and Javelin to the Mach 2, missile-armed Lightning. Its major task was the defense of Britain’s airspace, while for many years, it became the frontline interceptor in RAF Germany, operating from a base less than 100 miles away from the ‘Iron Curtain’. Further afar, Lightning squadrons were based in Cyprus and Singapore.For an aircraft whose development fell victim to false political doctrines at the time of its birth, it has more than vindicated its existence. Notwithstanding its complex nature as a service aircraft, it was loved by all those who worked on it; any Lightning pilot would agree that the only recurring feature in flying the aircraft was a unique sense of excitement.Richard J. Caruana describes and illustrates the Lightning in his inimitable way, a tribute to an aircraft whose retirement from service marked the end of a long tradition of single-seat interceptors in the Royal Air Force.

Maltese aviation artist and historian Richard J. Caruana, who started his career just over 50 years ago, celebrates this special milestone with a work dedicated to his own country’s struggle for survival during the Second World War. Three battles during WWII were decided in the air and changed the course of history: the Battle of Britain, the Battle of Malta, and the Battle of Midway. The heroic resistance of the tiny Mediterranean Island denied Rommel and his troops vital supplies, with the result that by the end of 1942, Axis forces were driven out of North Africa. When the Allies won a firm foothold on Sicily, Malta could finally breathe a sigh of relief and it became a stepping-stone for the movement of thousands of troops, aircraft and naval forces to the new frontline in Italy. A short narrative gives an outline of the air battle’s history which is then illustrated with close to 200 colour profiles and other drawings.

Internationally renowned aviation artist and historian Richard J. Caruana provides a tribute to an often under-appreciated aviation legend, the Saab 37 Viggen, an aircraft that was ahead of its time on many fronts. Richard's book provides a brief history of the aircraft combined with an exceptional collection of over 56 colour profiles showing schemes worn by Viggens operationally, as well as the special celebratory schemes that became so familiar towards the end of the aircraft’s career. Each profile is accompanied by a detailed caption and a brief operational history. A page of detailed scale drawings illustrates and explains the different versions of the Viggen and another page illustrates unit markings worn by the types illustrated in the colour profiles.