Bristol Bulldog I & II

Perfiles Aeronauticos 8 & 9
ISBN 84-96016-03-X (#8)
ISBN 84-96016-04-8 (#9)
By Rafael A. Permuy Lopez and Artemio Mortera Perez
Quiron Ediciones, Valladolid, Spain
Softbound, 32 Pages
Spanish text with English captions

Reviewed by Patrik Meixner

The Bristol Bulldog is one of those lucky British interwar airplanes that gained so much publicity to be known even outside the pure aviation enthusiasts' community. Serving in ten RAF first line fighter squadrons between 1929 – 1937 and in several foreign air forces too, it is a notable representative of the 1930s biplane fighter era.

As such it did not pass unnoticed by the editors of Spanish Perfiles Aeronauticos series (which in its issues 1-7 handles He 60, Hs 123, He 70/170, Fw 200 and He 115 – the last two in two volumes).

The first volume of the Bristol Bulldog monograph covers the aircraft development and RAF service, illustrated by about 30 photos and 14 large color profiles (15 if I take into account the one on the cover), one page of squadrons badges and one more showing the top wing markings – all in excellent printing quality. Supplemented by tables of technical data, production figures and squadrons deployment, are two-pages of technical drawings of Mk. IIA in an undefined scale, unfortunately completely omitting the aircraft’s starboard side.

The second volume traces the fate of the fighter in Spanish civil war, describes its derivatives for Japan and its service in air forces of Latvia, U.S. Navy, Siam, Australia, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Once more supplemented by 16 perfect color profiles (plus one on the cover), 25 photos, and an overview of Finnish Bulldogs. The Spanish civil war chapter is looking very comprehensive and really worth studying, at least for those, whose Spanish is much better than the one of mine.

Personally I would like the color profiles to be a bit smaller in size. There could have been more photos in their place. Drawings of the TM and Mk. IV versions would be useful too. However, I do not want to look pedantic, in all respects I like the two-volume monograph a lot and I can only recommend it.

The booklets are available on www.quironediciones.com and I think I will keep watching the site regularly, because their future promises are looking quite interesting. What do you think about Gloster Gladiator, Hawker Fury, DH.89 Dragon Rapide or Airspeed Envoy?