Matthew Willis

An illustrated study of RAF Coastal Command’s deployment of the Beaufighter against German supply lines in 1941 and the long-running ‘arms race’ with Kriegsmarine Flak ships that followed. Crucial German shipping lines faced a new threat in 1941 when RAF Coastal Command debuted the iconic long-range Beaufighter. The aircraft and its subsequent Mk VIC and Mk X versions gave the Allies a tough, relatively fast and very hard-hitting platform for air attack on German convoys, and so it became essential for the Kriegsmarine to fit ever-heavier anti-aircraft batteries to its escort vessels, and even to develop specialist Flak vessels. In this compelling study, naval aviation historian Matthew Willis chronicles the little-explored arms race that saw RAF Coastal Command and the Kriegsmarine engaged in a fierce battle of one-upmanship until war’s end. New artwork, rare archive photography and contemporary records of Beaufighter operations add depth to fascinating historical accounts, including the actions of the famous North Coates Strike Wing against shipping in the North Sea and the exploits of Beaufighter units tasked with severing Rommel’s all-important supply lines.

A fully illustrated account of the World War 2 combat career of the Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bomber, one of the Royal Navy''s most resilient and effective aircraft of the period. During the 1930s, the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm sought an aircraft to combine the functions of torpedo attack, reconnaissance and gunnery spotting, eventually realising this goal with the Swordfish biplane. Despite competition from more modern types like the Blackburn Shark and Barracuda, the Swordfish made a key contribution to some of Britain’s greatest naval successes of World War 2, helping to tip the balance during operations such as the raid on the Italian battle fleet at Taranto in November 1940, and the attacks on the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941. Elsewhere, it assumed an anti-submarine role both in the Battle of the Atlantic and when escorting Arctic convoys, and was used by the RAF for anti-shipping work during the D-Day landings and the final stages of the European war. With this fascinating study, historian Matthew Willis draws on Admiralty files, operational records and interviews with Fleet Air Arm aircrew to assemble a wide-ranging history of one of the Royal Navy’s most important aircraft. Archival photographs and 22 newly commissioned colour profiles help to chart the development of the Swordfish, detailing the aircraft’s resilience and adaptability through both its many victories and its equally eventful defeats.