Beaufighter Boys

Book excerpt: The author of Shot Down in the Drink shares photos and anecdotes detailing the history of the World War II fighter plane and its crews across the globe. Researched many years ago by Graham Patrick for a project that did not come to fruition, Beaufighter air and ground crew gave freely of their stories, which ranged from complete memoirs to brief anecdotes. And there were a plethora of original photographs for him to choose from. He has built on these tales to trace the roles of Beaufighter squadrons spread across all the theatres of World War II operations. From home bases, through northwest Europe, North Africa, Malta and the Mediterranean, to the Far East and southwest Pacific, the Beaufighter served far and wide, as did the crews of the RAF, RAAF, SAAF, and New Zealand and Canadian squadrons. All are covered in this quite unique book to be savored by all those interested in the war in the air from 1939–1945.