Osprey Publishing Company

Osprey Aircraft of the Aces #91 Brewster F2A Buffalo Aces of World War 2

by  Kari Stenman and Andrew Thomas

Reviewed By  Kevin Iutzeler, IPMS# 32585

MSRP: $22.95 US ISBN: 978-1-84603-481-7 Website: www.ospreypublishing.com The Brewster F2A began as the Brewster's Model 39, and took first flight on December 2nd, 1937. Though few would ever see combat with the US Navy, it did have the honor of being the US Navy's first operational monoplane fighter when the order for it was placed on June 11th, 1938. The Brewster would be known to the early Navy aviators as the "Peanut Special". The Buffalo name was given to it by the British, when they took an interest and placed an order for the aircraft. But the British would soon find it unsuitable for European service, and most were then transferred to the Far East. In addition to the British Commonwealth, several other countries would fly the Buffalo, and in several different theaters of operation, with the Far East being the most common. But the F2A would gain notice that it also served against the Allies, in the service of the Finnish Air Force, against the invading Russians. The plane would be known as Brewster Model 239s, which were 1500lbs lighter than the F2A. The Finns would operate the Brewster in front line service till mid 1943, when replaced by BF-109Gs. Yet, they were still flying in the summer of 1944, when they would place their last claims on German Ju 87s. In all, 482 aerial victories would be claimed by the Finns, with over 35 pilots gaining ACE status, and the top scoring Brewster ACE claiming 39 kills in flying the Brewster 239. The book is broken down into 7 chapters: 1. The "Peanut Special" 2. Brewsters over Karelia 3. Finnish Stalemate 4. Over the Gulf of Finland 5. Malayan Campaign 6. Defenders of Burma 7. Finale Over Land and Sea Each chapter brings the history related to the title, and in covering the pilots and the planes, shows through pilot's recounts of their experiences, how effective or not the Brewster was in serving as a fighter. In most cases, especially in the Far East, the plane was overwhelmed by the Japanese large numbers of aircraft, and in the conditions on base that the plane would be subject to. Placed among the text, are black and white photos of pilots and planes that are well documented, along with 32 Colour Plates of the more significant aircraft, these being documented in the Appendices, along with the Bibliography, Index, and 1/48th scale line drawings of the F2A-1. The book was authored by Kari Stenman, an authority on the Finnish Air Force of WW2, and by Andrew Thomas, an authority on the RAF of WW2. The book's illustrations were created by Chris Davey, having illustrated more than 20 titles for Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces. I found this book to be very interesting, and very comprehensive. As an example, in the Far East chapters, the authors were able to correlate Allied kills with Japanese pilots shot down. In addition, the pilot recounts of their actions were highly regarded, as we are close to having lost most those people to age related demise, so to work those into the "story" of the Brewster was greatly appreciated. Though I don't as yet have a model of the Buffalo, I look forward to using this book as a great reference in building one. I highly recommend this book for those who would be interested in this plane. I would like to thank Kerry Serini of Osprey Publishing for providing this book to IPMS/USA, and to John Noack and Dave Morrissette of IPMS/USA for the doubled efforts to get this book to me for review.