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A British icon of World War I aerial combat, just as the Supermarine Spitfire is for World War II, the Sopwith Camel might more aptly be compared to the equally iconic (if one is Japanese) Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero. A superb dogfighter in the hands of pilots who mastered its vicious idiosyncrasies, the Camel also packed a considerable punch for its day as the first British fighter with twin machine guns. It has been credited with the most aerial victories of any fighter type of the conflict, but that statistic is somewhat misleading - and further muddied by the heavy losses Camel units suffered in 1918, as higher performance types began to eclipse the plane. Nevertheless, Camels appeared on several battlefronts to the end of the war and beyond - during the Russian Civil War, for example - and performed remarkably well in a variety of other roles, including as a ground strafer, night fighter, night intruder, and carrier-based fighter.
Considering the length limitations of the Vanguard series this title delivers a fairly complete summary of the career of this iconic aircraft. The developmental history includes a lot of spin-off aircraft like the monoplane version, Comic night-fighter versions, trench strafers, and a 'parasite' version to be launched from airships. Aside from the Western Front and Italy, most interesting for me was the coverage of the Camel's service in far-flung theaters like Mesopotamia, the Greek/Turkish theater, and the Russian Civil War. The color fold-out on the back cover is a nice touch. I'd like to see more Vanguard titles like this on other WWI aircraft. The only improvements I could suggest are 3-view drawings of alternate versions (for modelers) and a table comparing the performance stats for the Camel (for wargamers).
