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134Javelin. As such, they were not built to last and their front-line servicewith the British forces amounted to little more than eight years,(although the prudent Swiss got far more than their money%u2019s worth asthey kept some going into the 1980s). That being the case, I wassurprised to read the author%u2019s assertion that the Venom flew more groundattack sorties than any other British type since WW II. On reflection,however, I think that he is probably right, as the years 1952-60 saw agreat deal of action in Arabia and Malaya, not to mention the Suez affair,and all of these campaigns are amply covered. As is usual with suchhistories, the narrative is enlivened by first-hand accounts contributed bypilots who actually flew the type.I found very little to criticise. On pages 128 and 165, the authorappears to be a trifle confused by the alternative designations of the radarfitted to some of the two-seat variants, the American AN/APS-57 whichthe British restyled as AI Mk 21, although he does gets it rightelsewhere. The caption to a series of pictures of an early French-builtSea Venom identifies it as an Aquilon 201, although it is fitted with asliding cockpit canopy which, as the text makes clear, means that it isactually a model 202. References to a couple of units at Valley areslightly off the beam in that it is inappropriate to include the figure 1 inthe titles of %u20181 Guided Weapons Development Squadron%u2019 and %u20181 GuidedWeapons Trials Squadron%u2019, since neither unit had a numericaldesignation (and the T in GWTS actually stood for Training, rather thanTrials). But this is all pretty arcane stuff and I am clearly having to digdeep to find anything to carp about and, on the plus side, the writer doeshave an easy style, making the book a pleasant read. Recommended,especially for Venom vets.CGJEyes of the RAF by Roy Conyers Nesbit. Sutton; 2003. %u00a312.99.First published in 1996, Eyes of the RAF has recently reappeared as asoftback. Written at the request of the Association of RAF PhotographyOfficers, it is a substantial account of the evolution of photographicreconnaissance going right back to the days of pre-WW I balloons. Thebook is lavishly illustrated with very well reproduced pictures ofrepresentative cameras, photographic equipment, aeroplanes, people and,of course, examples of airborne photography. The narrative is a littlestrange in that the last quarter of the book, which covers the post-war