Warpaint Books – serie

The de Havilland Dragon Rapide has been a much-loved twin-engined bi-plane icon of the 1930s British aviation industry and even today there are currently seven airworthy in the UK, and many countries have at least one airworthy across the world, giving pleasure to those that enjoy a flight in them. Many major aviation museums have a Dragon Rapide on display in them across the world and there are others 'waiting in the wings' to be restored to fly again. This Warpaint is yet another comprehensive title by Adrian Balch, which covers all the military and civil operators of the Dragon Rapide and Dominie from the 1930s to date, with nearly 100 photographs, many in colour, and colour profiles by artist Sam Pearson.

With more than 8,750 built the Oxford was a well-thought-out design that was based on their Airspeed Envoy, a similar shaped twin-engine executive aircraft that was used in the early 1930s but the more advanced design of the Oxford suited the military requirement for a three-seat training aircraft. The Oxford was a low-wing cantilever monoplane of advanced design and was produced for the training of pilots in handling modern, multi-engine bomber aircraft. Wooden construction was employed throughout making for a simpler design and easier repairs. Provision was made for instruction in pilot training, aerial photography, navigation, aerial photography, and bombing training. An Armstrong-Whitworth gun turret could be installed for training in aerial gunnery. After the War the Consul was conceived as a small airliner, chiefly converted from ex-military Oxfords with more than 160 rebuilt. These quickly sold to potential airline operators and were eventually used in many countries, some changing hands four or five times. The Oxford and the Consul were relatively safe flying machines and with thousands of bomber pilots undertaking their flying training in the type it played a major part in the RAF's war effort, and is widely regarded as a design the manufacturers could be proud of.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless earned itself a reputation as a great dive bomber even though its antecedents were very much of pre-war origin. Many nicknames were given to the SBD during its time in frontline service, my own personal favourite is 'slow but deadly'. The original concept was developed by Jack Northrop with some help from Ed Heinemann. The resultant aircraft, the BT-1, had quite a few faults that would be rectified when the SBD-1 appeared. Very much a pre-production model the remainder of this first contract was completed as the SBD-2 and had few improvements over the earlier machines. It took the appearance of the SBD-3 to create a more warlike machine that incorporated self-sealing fuel tanks, armour plating and improved armament. Each version thereafter showed some improvement, the final version, the SBD-6, being the best of all. The USAAF also used a version of the Dauntless, this being the A-24 Banshee. The only difference between the two models was the lack of naval equipment for carrier operation otherwise it was the same. Unfortunately by the time the SBD-6 appeared the frontline career of the Dauntless was over. However, the Dauntless and its land equivalent the Banshee had other careers with the Royal Navy, the French Air Force and Navy, Chile and Mexico. 104 pages

Designed with both the aircraft enthusiast and the modeller in mind, this series offers a comprehensive and accurate account of a single aircraft type within each issue. Drawings provided in both colour side and plan view with 1:72 scale plans, kit decal and accessory lists, squadrons, units and individual aircraft serials in codes.

Designed with both the aircraft enthusiast and the modeller in mind, this series offers a comprehensive and accurate account of a single aircraft type within each issue. Drawings provided in both colour side and plan view with 1:72 scale plans, kit decal and accessory lists, squadrons, units and individual aircraft serials in codes.