By Tommy H. Thomason

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Brewster F2A Buffalo

I have a soft spot for unappreciated or much maligned aircraft as you could tell from the subjects of most of my monographs, i.e. soft-cover books (see http://tommythomason.com/). I might have written one about the F2A Buffalo except that it was built in some numbers and saw service use, which requires a lot more research and insuring that the expected "war stories" are accurate and representative.

Fortunately, Captain Dann is more ambitious and industrious than I and Steve Ginter continues to be open to publishing monographs on lesser known aircraft. The result is an excellent history of the Buffalo, both the airplane itself and its service life in not only the U.S. Navy but other countries.

As importantly, they had the full support of Jim Maas, who is the go-to guy for Buffalo pictures, drawings, useage, etc.

The result is the most in-depth and complete book on the F2A that we are likely to ever have. The various types are described in detail with copious pictures and illustrations, including development and proposed modifications/improvements. Their usage is summarized by country and squadron and includes first-person commentary. Regardless of the extent of your knowledge of the type, I can all but guarantee that there will be pictures that you have not seen before and information that you did not know. (I was unaware of the one-off "XF2A-4", for example.)

As is customary in Ginter publications on specific types (see http://www.ginterbooks.com/), it concludes with a summary of model kits available. Note that you can buy them directly from him, which will help keep these histories of esoteric subjects coming.

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