Description

Large format paperback, staple bound in white pictorial covers. 36 pages plus covers. Profusely illustrated with rare archive black and white photographs, and with nearly 40 close-up images; 3 pages of detailed 1:48 and 1:72 scale drawings by Ian R. Stair and three color profiles by Ray Rimell on rear cover. “Colours and Markings” essay by Ray Rimell and Appendices round out this issue. First edition. The most succinct assessment of the BE2C was provided by Major Oliver Stewart (The Clouds Remember) and quoted as the lead-in to the introduction to this monograph: “most urgently and most frequently reviled of all wartime airplanes” was what he wrote. To be fair the machine was designed to be a stable platform for observation, as so it was, however by 1914, over the fields of France and with its manifold limited capabilities in other areas, it proved woefully inadequate. As a night-fighter it gained some success, downing five German airships, though its reputation was already indelibly cast and it continued to be produced long after it should have been withdrawn. A clean, fresh, unmarked and near as new copy. Fine.