About the Book
Developed to meet the RAF’s urgent need for a long-range fighter just before World War II, the Beaufighter was the most heavily armed aircraft of any type used in active service from 1940 until the late 1950s.
Drawing on numerous original sources and meticulous research, Chaz Bowyer traces the Beau’s origins from planning, design, and factory floor through test flights, adaptations to meet service needs, and its remarkable and widespread use throughout the war. Bowyer includes many first-hand accounts from those who flew the plane in action and from ground crew who maintained it, giving readers a sense of the genuine affection felt for this formidable fighting machine.
Ultimately, around 6,000 Beaufighters rolled off the production line, from where they were sent across the globe to serve in at least 77 squadrons of the RAF and Commonwealth air forces until they were finally retired from service in the 1960s. Bowyer recounts the aircraft’s many roles during the war—as a night and day fighter, reconnaissance vehicle, anti-shipping strike and torpedo bomber, ground strafer, and air-jungle rescue searcher, among many other uses. Through personal accounts and reminiscences, readers are brought vividly into the experience of piloting and supporting the Beau’s operations across vastly different theatres of war and environments, including Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Burma, the Mediterranean, UK coastal waters, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Though merely a machine, there are many who owed their lives to the strength and capability of the ‘Mighty Beau.’ Their stories serve as a reminder of the incredible sacrifice, bravery, heroism, and devotion to duty of those service men and women, and why this plane should be proudly remembered as one of the all-time classic British fighters.
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