Product Description

Entering service at the end of the Battle of Britain, the pugnacious Bristol Beaufighter was deployed in numbers by Fighter Command just in time for the start of the Luftwaffe’s night ‘Blitz’ on Britain. Flown by specialised nightfighter squadrons â€" several of them elite pre-war Auxiliary Air Force units â€" it was the first nightfighter to be equipped with an airborne radar as standard. Thus equipped, it combined the ability to ‘see’ the enemy at night with the devastating hitting power of four cannon and six machine guns. This book covers the exploits of the men who made ace in the Beaufighter and includes stunning original artwork together with first hand accounts of the action.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #320335 in Books
• Brand: Osprey Publishing
• Published on: 2005-03-10
• Released on: 2005-03-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Review
"Andrew Thomas does the plane and its crews justice on all fronts, backed by the usual wealth of photographs and 30 color profiles that reflect the many varied environments under which it fought." -Jon Guttman, Military History

From the Publisher
Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces series combines full colour artwork, the best archival contemporary photography, and first hand accounts from aces to bring history's greatest airborne conflicts to life.

About the Author
Andrew Thomas is one of Britain's pre-eminent RAF researchers, having published numerous squadron histories. He is presently a serving officer in the RAF.

Customer Reviews

Beau Aces Stalk the Night Skies!
The physical appearance of some military aircraft just broadcast their raison d'etre. Big, brutish and pugnacious, the Bristol Beaufighter, a twin-engine RAF night fighter armed with four 20mm cannons and four .303-in. machine guns, always struck me as a born killer. Grace and styling be damned; it existed solely to make things burn, bleed and blow up. The Beaufighter's record in the skies over England, Europe, the Med and tropical climes is nicely related by Andrew Thomas in this, the 65th in Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces series.

Developed from the Beaufort torpedo bomber, the Beau arrived just in time to help defeat the Luftwaffe's night blitz on England. Aces like John Cunnigham, Bob Braham and "Zulu" Morris took an increasing toll of Luftwaffe bombers. As the tide turned, Beaufighter crews began intruder ops over Europe, flew bomber support missions and coastal strikes and were active in every theater of war. By war's end over 70 pilots including Michael Constable-Maxwell, "Moose" Fumerton and "Butch" Gordon,had made ace flying Bristol's beefy fighter.

Thomas does a good job of relating the multitude of missions the Beaufighter flew worldwide, sprinkling the text with combat reports from pilots and navigators along with dozens of photos of crews and aircraft. John Weal does his usual marvelous job with color profiles of 30 Beaufighter aircraft.

Though overshadowed by the Mosquito, the Beaufighter made a great contribution to the Allied victory and its story is nicely summarized in Thomas' book. Recommended!