Beaufighter Aces of World War 2 (Aircraft of the Aces) (ISBN 1841768464)

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!