The Bristol Beaufighter
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Author: Richard A. Franks
Publisher: Valiant Wings Publications
ISBN: 9781912932467
Binding: Softcover
Pages: 264
Bristol can be considered the king of twin-engined aircraft during the Second World War, starting with the Blenheim bomber that was faster than the fighters of the time. They followed that up with the Beaufort, an effective torpedo bomber. Not finished with twin engined aircraft, they next took on the long range heavy fighter role with the Beaufighter, the subject of this book in the Valiant Wings Airframe & Miniature series. This series provides a variant history of a subject, a scale model section, some useful appendices, and detailed scale drawings.
The Airframe chapters break it down by the origin Beaufighters, the getting there Beaufighters, and the ultimate Beaufighters, with a separate chapter on the Australian Mk 21 production. The origin chapter covers the prototypes and the Mk I, the getting there chapter covers those variants where they were fine tuning things, the Mk II to Mk V, while the ultimate chapter covers the Mk VI to Mk XII. These are logical breaks and really help tell the story of the Beaufighter evolution, both in design and in mission. This section wraps up with a color and markings section that includes photos and color profiles that show off some of the basic marking as well as some of the more interesting artwork worn by some Beaufighters over the years.
The model section starts out with a list of kits, which then feeds into the next chapter that features a couple of step-by-step build articles, one on the Airfix 1/72 kit and one on the Revell 1/48 kit. Following that is one of the most useful chapters, the Building a Collection chapter. This shows drawings of every variant with callouts highlighting the differences from the previous variant. This makes it super easy to figure out just what your model needs for the specific variant you’re wanting to build. This section finishes up with a detail section, with close-up photos and maintenance diagrams that show interior and exterior features.
Completing the book are the appendices, and these are broken out into kits, accessories and masks, and decals, with a final one for the bibliography. The scale drawings at the end are in 1/48 scale and are fold-out, allowing you to lay them flat. Overall, this is a must-have reference for the Beaufighter and in my case, a timely release as I am working on a DAP Mk 21 Beaufighter from the Airfix 1/72 kit. It has already been quite useful, showing details I had not known about. My thanks to Valiant Wings for the review copy.