Comments: Softcover, 176 pages, 391 black-and-white photos and illustrations


ISBN: 978-0-9968258-6-3


Price: $39.95


Publisher: Osprey Publishing

From the publisher: This comprehensive monograph covers the entire history of Brewster’s much maligned Buffalo fighter aircraft. The book starts out with the background of the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation and the events that led to the selection of the F2A as the Navy’s first monoplane fighter. Following this, each variant of the aircraft is covered in detail, including all three major variants purchased by the U.S. Navy as well as the versions purchased by Belgium, Finland, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. Individual squadron histories are also included as they relate to the F2A.

Many interviews are included with pilots who flew the Buffalo — some give glowing accounts of its performance, while others cast the pudgy plane in a less stellar light. It is up to the reader to judge the F2A’s place in the history of modern aerial warfare. It is interesting to note that the Brewster 239, as used by the Finnish Air Force 1939-1945, achieved the highest kill ratio of any fighter plane of the war with an impressive 26-1 score. Finland produced many aces flying the Buffalo, including the all-time high-scoring Buffalo ace, Hans Wind, with 39 aerial victories, and followed closely by Ilmari Juutilainen with 34. This is the ultimate history of the Brewster Buffalo.

FSM says: Compiled with modelers in mind, showing Buffalos in great detail from the factory floor on Long Island to far-flung fields in Australia and Finland. A 20-page section at the end of the book shows available scale model kits and builds of them, providing inspiration modelers who might not have a Buffalo to build.