Valiant Wings Bristol Beaufighter – Airframe Album 14

[Mike]

Bristol Beaufighter – Airframe Album 14

A Detailed Guide to Bristol's Hard-Hitting Twin

Valiant Wings Publishing

 

 

 

Based upon the Beaufort bomber, the whittled-down heavy fighter became an excellent nightfighter, ground-attack and maritime strike in European and South Pacific theatres, with many variants and improvements along the way.  Entering service in time for the Battle of Britain, it quickly fell into the nightfighter role, with its ability to carry heavy armament and equipment without unduly affecting its performance endearing it to the pilots and strategists alike.  After being re-engined early on with Hercules radial engines to gain the extra power needed, it became a common sight behind German bombers at night, raking them with four 20mm cannon and wings full of six additional machine guns. 

 

The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) were also fond of the type, as it was able to carry enough munitions in either free-fall or rocket-propelled forms to deal a substantial blow to any enemy shipping it happened upon.  The Mosquito coming on-stream took some of the limelight away from the Beau, and it was eventually replaced by it in many roles, most notably the night fighting arena.

 

 

The Book

The fourteenth volume of the popular and interesting Airframe Album series by Richard A Franks details this pugnacious heavy fighter, its versions, trials and tribulations.  It spans 178 pages and is perfect bound in an A4(ish) portrait format.  If you are familiar with the series you will know what to expect, with the book broken down into sections, as follows:

 

 

 

i. Introduction

A brief narrative history of the development and operation use of the Beaufighter by Fighter & Coastal Commands and the FAA, as well as those by the USAAF and supplied to other nations.

1. Technical Description

Detailed coverage of construction and equipment

2. Evolution – Prototype, Production and Projected Variants

3D isometrics illustrating differences between variants

3. Camouflage and Markings

Colour side profiles, notes and photographs

4. Models

A build of the 1:72nd scale TF.Mk.X from Airfix by Libor Jekl and the all-new 1:48th scale TF.X from Revell by Steve A Evans.

Appendices

I Beaufighter Kit List

II Beaufighter Accessory, Mask & Decal List

III Bibliography

 

 

As usual with Valiant's books, the pictures are both high quality and unusual, with lots of "behind the scenes" shots of production, testing and their ultimate capture by the Allies, plus plenty more pictures of museum examples for those needing reference pictures.   I always find the 3D Isometrics very interesting to discern the differences between variants, especially as I have the memory of a goldfish.  I particularly enjoyed the teaching installations that consisted of the front end of a Beaufighter, inner wings and nacelles, and behind the wing a scabbed on shed (yes – a garden variety shed) that was used as a classroom.  What a brilliant diorama that would make!

 

 

 

Conclusion

Valiant Wings publish a good book about interesting subjects, and this is another one that tweaked mine right away.  If you're a modeller, aviation buff or even just interested in engineering, this will make an interesting read, which you'll come back to again when you need it for references.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of