This new book from Mushroom Models Publications is on the Henschel Hs-126, a type that isn't exactly on the top of everyone's 'cool aircraft' list. Yet this workhorse provided sterling service to the Luftwaffe throughout the war despite production stopping in 1940 after some 900 had been constructed. The termination of production was following the types high losses during the Battle for France.

This showed that in order for observation types like this to be effective, they had to operate in a climate where there was total air superiority. The HS-126, like the British Lysander, was pretty well a sitting duck for enemy fighters as it was unable to speed away and had no real air to air offensive capabilities.

This book on the 126 is superbly done, as are all in this series. There is a full development history along with the subtypes produced. Then the book goes into a description of the airframe itself, including the various systems and armaments carried.

The meat of the book is in its operational history. Most of this is with the Luftwaffe, starting with the Condor Legion in Spain and going through the various theaters of operation. A place where these types were quite effective was in the Balkans and Russia where they were used for anti-partisan operations on one hand and for spotting and general reconnaissance in the other. The Russian campaign was one where local air superiority was often easy to maintain so allowed the 126 to perform its primary function. A few were provided to other nations and a few were captured during the war and those are covered as well.

Next section is as much of a 'walkaround' as one can get without a fully extant airframe. Period photos and diagrams from the technical manuals come in very handy in this section. There are artifacts of the aircraft which exist and photos of those bits are included. Perhaps one day a full airframe will emerge. Of course there are many pages of superbly drawn profiles, something these books are well known for providing.

In all, it is another exemplary book from the folks at Mushroom Models Publication. The finest I've seen on the type and one that I know you will enjoy reading and find useful for your projects. A bonus is that this one is a full 208 pages.

September 2008

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