Westland Whirlwind Mk. I

Allied Wings No. 4
By Alex Crawford & Phil H. Listemann
RAF in Combat, ©2008
ISBN 978-295263818-0
Softbound, 54 Pages

By Chris Banyai-Riepl

The Westland Whirlwind was of those neat looking aircraft that never really reached widespread acceptance. Problems with its engines masked the underlying issue of the inefficiency of twin-engined fighters in a single-engined world. Still, the Whirlwind was produced in some quantity, and did in fact reach squadron service. This latest title in the Allied Wings series examines those few aircraft in their usual thorough manner.

As per their format, this book begins with a brief introduction to the aircraft. By no means a thorough technical breakdown of the entire airframe, this introduction does highlight the various features and problems the Whirlwind possessed. Following this introduction is the section on the operational history. With so few Whirlwinds produced, it is no surprise that only two squadrons operated the type: 263 Squadron and 137 Squadron. Both of these are well covered in the text, with both squadron histories following the Whirlwind years chronologically. Following this are the tables covering victories and losses.

Of course, this book would be extremely dry and boring if it did not have photos showing the Whirlwind, and luckily this book has plenty of those. These include photos of prototypes and operational aircraft, including a couple in color. Complementing the photo record are several color profile illustrations showing some of the individual markings seen on the Whirlwind. While not many were produced, a surprising number of them carried presentation markings or personal markings.

While the Whirlwind never really amounted to much during the war, its appeal to aviation enthusiasts and modelers alike is high, so this book is quite welcome. My thanks to RAF in Combat for the review copy.