THE JAVELIN

BRITAIN’S UNSUNG COLD WAR WARRIOR IS GIVEN MUCH DESERVED ATTENTION IN THIS THOROUGH TRIBUTE TO ITS ACHIEVEMENTS

Author: Martyn Chorlton Publisher: Amberley Price: £15.99

The Gloster Javelin has long been an unsung Cold War hero. An all-weather, day and night interceptor, it guarded British skies between 1956 and 1968, while also serving in Germany, Cyprus, the east during the Indonesian ‘Confrontation’, and in Zambia during the Rhodesian Crisis. Often overshadowed by more famous fighter types, the Javelin was also the Gloster Aircraft Company’s last production aircraft, going through nine operational and one training mark in its short career. Its distinctive delta-winged design was one of a kind, and was typical of the advanced nature of the aircraft.

This short book is a fitting tribute to the brief but significant life of the Javelin. Starting with the story behind the development of the design, the author takes us through the production and testing of the prototypes, a brief description of each of the marks, an overview of their service history with the RAF (with a separate chapter on ‘second line’ training and support units), and then a look at each of the major overseas deployments.

It ends with the technical specifications of each type and a list of units and their operational dates. The focus of the text is the aircraft itself, rather than the crews who flew them, with the concise text concentrating on the facts and figures of the type and its history. Throughout, the book is very well illustrated with 140 photographs, each with a detailed caption.