Old and Interesting Books

[ChrisHunt]

My wife runs the local library and gets a fair few of the older generation in. One old chap knows of my interest in aviation and has loaned a couple of quite old and very interesting books...

Aircraft Identification Friend or Foe (American Types for the RAF) - published by Temple Press Ltd (publishers and printers of the "Aeroplane") in 1941, and

Fleet Air Arm (The Admiralty Account of Naval Air Operations) - published by His Majesty's Stationary Office in 1943.

As you can imagine both books are fascinating but I was surprised by the number and variety (some very odd) of American aircraft adopted by the RAF (in 1941) - 10 fighters, 12 bombers, 5 flying boats, 3 trainers and 6 listed as "new types". A quick rundown of some of the less well known types include:

Curtiss Mohawk (fighter)
Republic Lancer (fighter)
Curtiss Cleveland (bomber)
Douglas Digby (bomber)
Martin Maryland (bomber)
Vought-Sikorsky Chesapeake (bomber)
Brewster Bermuda (new type)
Martin Baltimore (new type)

It was also interesting to note that the Catalina started life as a true flying boat and only later became an amphibian - possibly through the adoption of the Catalina name by the Consolidated Model 28-5A. Also interesting that the book contains performance data as well as notes on armament. The Fleet Air Arm book, as you would expect, is largely propaganda but no less interesting because of it.

I don't have the books for very long so if you have any questions now is the time to ask!

Regards,
Chris

[ianhind]

Didn't recognise some of those RAF types. Googling them indicates they were mostly not the most successful examples of their type.

Several types were diverted to the RAF as a result of the fall of France but after evaluation did not see front-line service.

Ian

[Airspeed]

Hi Chris
I have bid on a couple of identification books on ebay, without success. They are not that common.
For your own reference, may I suggest that you scan the entire book. You could then put it on CD/DVD. Then you can look it up whenever you want.