Fouga Magister – An Irish perspective

The French Fouga Magister flew first in the early fifties. As a two seat jet trainer and light attack aircraft it was quite successful and it was manufactured in large numbers, mainly for the French, Belgian and German air force.

It entered service at the Irish Air Corps quite late, in 1975, and only six were purchased. These six were not even new. Four were from the Austrian air force and the other two were originally ordered by the short-living Katanga air force but never delivered. In this book the story of the Irish Air Corps Magisters is extensively told.

The book starts with a short overview of the Magister birth and development and continues with a very interesting chapter of the Magister used by the Katanga air force. A single Magister flown by a Belgian pilot created havoc at the UN forces present in this area at that time and Irish UN soldiers were in fact confronted with the Magister at the receiving end!

In the following chapters the introduction and operational life at the Irish Air Corps is described where the Magister replaced the ageing De Havilland Vampire trainers. Also the activities of the aerobatic team ‘Silver Arrows’ flying the Magister is described in detail.

The book concludes with the phase out at the end of the nineties after more than twenty years of service. The Magister was easy to maintain and had at the Irish Air Corps a very good reputation and safety record since no fatal crashes ever took place. It is also noteworthy that all six Irish Air Corps Magisters still exist!

Last part of the book is used to give many detail shots, both from outside and inside the Magister with a number of very detailed 3-view line drawings.

In short, this book is not only interesting reading for people just interested in military aviation, but also for the model builders!

In the book some 171 photos are given, most of these in colour and  a number of colour profiles made by Radu Brinzan.

I can only say the book is RECOMMENDED!

Book details:

Title: Fouga Magister. An Irish Perspective
Authors Joe Maxwell and Radu Brinzan
Publisher: Max Decals Publications Ltd. Ireland
ISBN: 978-0-9562624-1-7
Book type: A4 size on glossy paper , softcover, 108 pages
Website: www.maxdecals.com
Price: Euro 22 + P&P

With special thanks to Joe Maxwell for providing a free review copy of this book.

Max Decals offers on their website already several decal sets for Irish Air Corps aircraft types and although decals for the Magister are not yet in their inventory we can be quite certain this set will follow in the near feature!

Nico Braas