Customer Reviews

F2A Buffalo in Action - Aircraft No. 81

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The Squadron/Signal series has always been good value for money and this one is no exception. The Brewster Buffalo was deservedly much-maligned due to indifferent performance, stability issues and manufacturing defects, making it dog meat for any Zero pilot. It was, however, an important factor in the early battles of WWII. The book gives little indication of the general feeling of allied pilots towards the F2A; only the Finns were able to make it work at all and much is made of that, which gives the reader cause to ask why. Otherwise, this little book covers the brief history of the aircraft quite well. The illustrations have always been a strong suit of this series and this one is among their best. Good value for money is the key here.

This is one of the best works produced in the series of "in action" books produced by Squadron./signal publications. The Brewster Buffalo aircraft has had a bad press, due to its perceived contribution to the Fall of Singapore in 1942 and its failure at the battle of Midway, and this work goes some way in correcting this view.
This work covers all of the operators (US Navy, USAAF, Finland, Belgium, RAF, RAAF, Royal Navy and Dutch East Indies) as well as captured aircraft flown in Japan and Germany, and the development of the Buffalo.

This book is good value, highly informative and is the best book on this aircraft so far produced. I recomend it highly.

Americans love an underdog, which is why there is a lot of interest in this pre-WW2 designed fighter plane. The front cover shows a Buffalo shooting down a Zero, which makes you wonder if this is going to be a comedic book.

Actually the Buffalo did shoot down a Zero or two. The Finnish used it with some degree of success against the Russians in WW2. Of interest, it used the exact same engine as the Grumman Wildcat F4 and had pretty much the same dimensions and weight. This is not to say it was a good fighter. It was outdated by 1941, only about 500 were made and they are most famous for how quickly they got shot down in the Battle of Midway.

This In Action book is very well done, the publishers have not tinkered with their successful formula of 48 pages, great line drawings, B&W photos with helpful captions and 2 pages of color plates to show the paint scheme used. I absolutely recommend this for modelers, anyone who wants to know a bit more about pre WW2 fighter design, Naval Aircraft, early stages of the Pacific war.

Those who are familiar with the Squadron series should be happy with the degree of information included in this book. This book, as are most of the Squadron publications, were a great overall review for the budget minded aviation buff and plastic modeler. Lots of great pictures and accurate info about a much maligned but important aircraft. A good deal of valuable photographs for plastic modelers are included. This was a typical Squadron publication that supplied enough information to make the reader feel that they had learned something valuable about this airplane. If you are a hard core modeler, or are looking for info about unit actions then this might not be exactly what you are looking for. Regardless, for the price this book was well worth the expenditure. I have been collecting these Squadron books for years and have come back to them again and again, as have my sons, for important information. This one is well worth putting in your collection.

I am interested in historical design evolution of aircraft. The P26, Brewster Buffalo, Grumman Wildcat and Hellcat, as well as the North American T-28 have general design features that are similar and likely driven by aerodynamic and structural limitations and advances of their day. The "F2A Buffalo in Action - Aircraft No 81" provided me with good comparative data and insight of Buffalo construction, variants, usage and obvious successes in certain war theaters, as well as its dismissal as a fighter in others. I am pleased to add it to my reference library.

Otis V. Goodwin