Model Aircraft – August 2019

Vultee Vengeance

in Battle

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Author: Peter C Smith

ISBN: 9781526704566

Format: Hardback

Price: £25.00

T

his book describes the

extraordinary combat career

of the American-built Vultee

Vengeance dive-bomber in both the

Royal Air Force and Indian Air Force

service during the Burma Campaigns

of 1942-45. This single-engine,

all-metal aircraft was ordered by the

Ministry of Supply during the darkest

days of World War II when the lethal

German combination of Junkers

Ju.87 Stuka and Panzer tank forces

had conquered most of Europe in

a campaign that lasted a mere few

weeks and the invasion of Britain was

considered imminent. The RAF had

invented the dive-bomber concept

in 1917 but had consistently rejected

it in the inter-war period with the

obsession of heavy bombing

predominating oicial thinking

almost exclusively. By the time the

Vengeance arrived a still-reluctant

RAF was seeking a precision

bomber to prevent a repeat of

the Japanese Naval attacks in the

Indian Ocean and six squadrons

were set up to counter this threat.

With the Japanese on the borders of

Burma and India, these aircraft, no

longer required for the original role,

proved by far and away the most

accurate bomber aircraft operated

by the British up to that time.

The Allied Armies on the ground,

including Orde Wingate’s Chindits,

clamoured for their continued use

and considered them essential, but

in vain, and by 1945 all had been

replaced. Their achievements have

been ignored, falsiied or scorned

ever since but here, from eyewitness

accounts and oicial records, is their

full and true story.

http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Reich Intruders

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Author: Martin W Bowman

ISBN:  9781526760838

Format: Softback

Price: £14.99

T

his is the story of 2 Group

RAF during World War II.

Much of it is told by the

men who lew the Blenheim,

Boston, Mitchell and Mosquito

aircraft that carried out many

daring daylight and night-time

raids on vitally important targets

in Nazi occupied Europe and

Germany. These were not the

famous thousand bomber raids

that hit the wartime headlines,

but low-level, fast-moving

surprise raids lown by small

formations of leet-footed and

skilfully piloted twin-engine light

bombers. Their targets were

usually diicult to locate and

heavily defended because of

their strategic importance to the

Nazis. 2 Group also played a vital

part in the invasion of Europe

both before and after D-Day.

Often, they would ly at wave-top

height across the English Channel

or North Sea to avoid detection

and then hedge-hop deep into

enemy territory to deliver their

precision attack. Enemy ighters

and anti-aircraft ire were a

constant risk. This is a remarkable

story of skill and bravery by a

little-known branch of the RAF.

http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

British Military Test and

Evaluation Aircraft

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Author: Malcolm V Lowe

ISBN:  9781526746719

Format: Softback

Price: £16.99

I

t could be argued that the

heyday of British military

aircraft light testing began

in the 1940s, and continued

throughout the three decades

that followed, during the

so-called Cold War period,

and as such, the authors have

purposely chosen the irst 30

years, The Golden Years, 1945

to 1975, from the end of World

War Two until the mid-1970s,

as this was arguably the most

exciting period with many

wonderful and new types

rubbing shoulders with wartime

and immediate post-war

designs that were utilised for

development purposes, making

for an eclectic mix of shapes

and colour schemes. Alongside

the technical aspects of military

testing and development, are

the many and varied colour

schemes and markings carried

by the aircraft themselves –

not only by the brand-new

experimental designs, but by

existing production machines,

suitably modiied, to greater or

lesser degrees, to develop the

technical advances in systems

and weaponry. Compiled by

Neil Robinson and Martin

Derry, who have authored

several other Flight Craft books,

with informative background

text by well-known aviation

historian Malcolm V Lowe and

superbly executed illustrations

by Mark Rolfe. As with other

books in the Flight Craft series,

although published with aircraft

modellers in mind, it is hoped

that most aviation enthusiasts

will ind something of interest

here too.

http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

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