If you ask the question: name a plane from the Patrouille de France, the answer will be ... the Fouga! Built in more than 900 units (plus about 30 for its cousin the Zephyr), this emblematic bird has trained thousands of military pilots around the world and over several generations. He also made the powder speak in various local conflicts on almost every continent. Nowadays, many copies are still flying in the hands of collectors, especially in France and the United States. But it is also, beyond being an industrial technological success in a difficult post-war period, a human success. At all levels, the actors of this great adventure have surpassed themselves to overcome difficulties and failures, but also tragedies.
With 496 pages, more than 1,200 photos, 13 color profiles and 11 plans by Patrice Gaubert.
We talk about it on the Net and in the Press:
FACEBOOK comments:
JL. S - Great art, the result of an extraordinary amount of work! Hat Gentlemen !!!
M.S - What a paving stone! This book is beautiful with the remarkable photos. What work ! Well done to the authors
M.G. - Congratulations to the authors, ordered copy received today and superb discovery on first leafing. Beautiful book, richly illustrated. Bravo once again to Lela Presse for allowing the authors of monographs to be able to edit and distribute their colossal work of iconographic research.
C.F. - I received it this afternoon, mazette what a crazy job, and what iconography !!! Bravo Jean-Louis and Claude for the work accomplished and to LELA Presse editions for giving it the deserved setting !!!
C.L. - Yes, wonderful that work for such a result BRAVO to you both
E.C.C. - Well received today. Wahoo ... Thank you for this wonderful work !!!
J.Y.S. - Magnificent work. A big bravo!
E.B. - Superb work! Very nice job. Hats off to the authors, and a big thank you to the editors who allow us to have this book in our hands.
J.H. - It is huge, a brick, a directory, superb work of the authors.
C.C.B. - The leaping Basque!
P.B. - An OUF job that our two friends did. It’s amazing the intelligence we’ve collected about this little butterfly that has transformed so many military pilots around the world. Bravo Jean-Louis and Claude, this is really the benchmark that was missing on the Fouga and its derivatives.
B.P. - Book received, a big thank you to both of you and congratulations on this book which will undoubtedly stand out.
B.V. - I also received the book. A big thank-you. I have no doubt for a moment that this book will be THE reference on Fouga.
- Lela Presse is enriched with a new title, on the Fouga Magister and her marine cousin the Zéphyr. A landmark monograph, an anthology! LELA Presse's aircraft profiles collection is a bit like the Paris Roubaix of aeronautical history: a succession of cobblestones sometimes difficult to swallow, but which we always come out happy with… The 31st volume of the collection is no exception. rule, with nearly 500 pages devoted to Fouga Magister and his marine cousin, the Zéphyr. It's heavy, but the plane deserved it! The project was supported for six years by the two authors, Jean-Louis Gaynecoetche and Claude Piet, and the editor. The list of friends who have helped out by opening their archives and their memory is very long. No doubt, this book is the fruit of a very large team who have produced an exhaustive book in which nothing is missing. The technique, the anecdotes, the use of the plane in France and abroad, everything is there. The illustrations are remarkable, it is even difficult to count the treasures exhumed from private collections and official sources. For airplane lovers, for those who regret the whistling of the Marboré (there are some), for those who have never known it, this is the bible you have been waiting for and which will keep you awake during the next confinement ... © Frédéric Lert - Aerobuzz.fr
- You need to have a solid training to start reading this book totally dedicated to an airplane which has left its mark on the flight logs of a number of aspiring pilots in the making and "mustaches" capable of extracting the essence of it. and the best part of an airplane with a strong character, a device that was not forgiving but not easy in plain language, a plane for beginners but with a solid base in terms of piloting ...
Very dear Fouga, here you are finally inducted into the squadron of old literary rods, sanctified by true aircraft enthusiasts worthy of being called legendary by an editor who is a referent in the matter and who through your bible makes you relive the most beautiful, the most humble, the most endearing pages of your history, rich in everything, you who under the colors of the Patrouille de France gave birth to so many vocations of pilots and mechanics and who today hui made the talented hearts of the authors such as Jean-Louis Gaynecoetche & Claude Piet beat in unison with Patrice Gaubert as architect master of plans and it was necessary such a trio to tell in the small details, your story you the plane so generous in feeling of all kinds, you come back into the light at the moment when, oh chance of things, your successor Alpha Jet gradually takes the direction of the retreat.
The Fouga is an "old-fashioned" plane, recognizable among all by its whistling-shaped voice and its distinctive silhouette with this V-tail and this thin and slender fuselage, cut to fly again and again and always. happy in addition to a few beautiful copies preserved in quantity in the collections, there are still your colleagues who under civil registration bring your legend back to life ...
This book is up to the task with a quantity of abundant documents in terms of quality and quantity dedicated to all devices produced in all versions where nothing has been neglected in the smallest details ... From the very beautiful book to the style companions of the duty of memory ...
Bravo to the artists and authors ... and congratulations to the publisher for this masterful lesson in history ... © Marc Debeer - Fleuves & Canaux
- 496 pages on the Fouga (Magister)! Usually I tell you how many illustrations there are but there are just too many!
The authors intelligently start by telling us the history of the Fouga company, to remind us that there is not only the Magister (yes there is also the Esquif / Zephyr)! (page 14-23).
Then we get to the heart of the matter (unfortunately the design part is reduced to… half a page! We thus arrive directly at CM-170 R 01). The various prototypes lead us to page 39. Then follow over 200 pages devoted to Air Force Magisters. Some would have stopped there but not from page 264 to 379, it is the exported Magisters that are presented ... and the authors have done an enormous amount of research here to find the trail of all these machines (even the countries for which the sale is no has not been carried out are detailed!). And it's not over ! The next 10 pages are devoted to civilian planes and preserved with the list of all survivors.
Pages 390 to 425 are dedicated to the technical description of the device with a 1/48 plan and numerous extracts from the instructions.
The rest is the CM-175 Zéphyr (page 426 to 481) with prototypes, operational devices and a technical description including a 1/48 plan.
And we end with 13 pages devoted to “derivatives” (so there, we can ask ourselves a few questions about the title since “derivatives” represent less than 3% of the work ... was it worth mentioning them on the blanket ?)
We sometimes speak of a "sum" for a book, but this is very justified here because apart from the study part obviously ... skimmed over, everything you want to know about the Magister you will find here:
Hundreds of photos of operational devices
· Many anecdotes and testimonials from crews
· Decoration schemes (but surprisingly no color profiles, the decoration evolutions are described verbatim ... a rare choice and one which will not suit layout designers, especially since they must be found in the middle of the text.)
· Assignment lists (by unit)
A history of French Fouga (Magister) by manufacturer number
List of accidents by codes
For each user country, a list of the devices used
· Numerous extracts from instructions and in particular, what will be appreciated by model makers, views of cockpits, landing gear and weaponry
One point that I greatly appreciated were the comments of the authors on what they failed to discover ...
In the end this book is a must, almost 500 pages on the Magister / Zéphyr. If this is not the definitive book on the subject, it looks a lot like it despite the few minor criticisms above. © Modelstories 2021
- The sheer weight of this book is the promise of ... plentiful content! And as soon as you start to leaf through it, the very first impression is one of a plethora of photos!
Then, reading the texts of Claude Piet, of which these are the first steps as a historian, shows the quality of the research undertaken as much as the beautiful way of synthesizing them.
Who would have thought that there was so much to say (without diluting) about this little training jet? The aircraft was both endearing in its silhouette and unremarkable in its ubiquity in the Air Force. The authors go beyond the use of this device and its assignments, and in a way let us discover the "personality" of the CM.170, through testimonials from pilots. Today, an aeronautical book worthy of the name can no longer just talk about machines, and this book goes in the right direction.
The iconography is remarkable, when one would have feared a litany of planes in perfect profile. The choice of photos is neat and served by a beautiful layout. Patrice Gaubert's profiles and color plans are impeccable.
Training plane but also liaison and presentation plane on patrol, the Magister is replaced exhaustively in each of the units where it has been present, in the Air Force as well as at the CEV.
After a very condensed production list (which makes it impractical), we reach halfway through the book, telling ourselves that we already have an excellent product ... but the rest is breathtakingly rich! We will discover in detail the Fouga in all its foreign users, from the smallest to the largest, with many details, tables and photos. And each chapter is not a summary! There follows a status of Collector's Magisters, which will obviously lapse over time as the aircraft continues its civilian career.
And there are still 100 pages left for a copious technical part and a long chapter devoted to the CM-175 Zephyrs of the Navy, treated with as much care as the other Fouga.
In short, this book is a monument of which the authors can be justly proud. And, seen from the reader side, you really get what you pay for! © Patrick Vinot Préfontaine - TRAIT D'UNION.
- With its V-shaped tail, this small trainer is easily identifiable. Put into service in 1956 the Fouga Magister, produced in more than 900 copies, was finally withdrawn in 1996 in France, a career of forty years training thousands of military pilots. It was sometimes used outside our borders and even in combat, in particular in Israel and Katanga. But it was especially known as an emblematic plane of France as a mount of the Patrouille de France for twenty four years. But he was very little honored by the authors.
The book proposed by Lela Presse is impressive! Jean-Louis Gaynecoetche and Claude Piet, with the help of other enthusiasts, have assembled a whole range of documentation and testimonies to offer us this paving stone which finally fills the void on this plane. In the first part, the inevitable and indispensable history of design and commissioning. Details of all Air Force units that have used the Magister follow, with full description, photos and a list of all aircraft. The Patrouille de France obviously occupies a special place! Next comes a list of production and accidents before moving on to foreign users, detailed in alphabetical order, then civilian and remaining aircraft.
A technical section is teeming with details of the aircraft, its components and possible armament with photos of details, technical drawings, 1 / 48th plans and superb profiles of Patrice Gaubert.
The marine version, the Zephyr, is not forgotten with about fifty pages before ending with the other derivatives.
The documented and precise text is the result of long and serious research into the archives and the memories of those who have lived with this aircraft. The iconography is unrivaled with a profusion of photos, most of them unpublished and of excellent quality. We certainly have THE reference book on Fouga Magister, a remarkable piece of work that every enthusiast should have in his library. It was worth the wait!
496 pages, 1200 photos, 13 profiles, 11 maps, text in French. © J.-L. FOUQUET - Cocardes.
