Both during and after the Second World War, many countries have had B-25s in their armed forces’ inventories. This Volume 2 describes the history of the North American B-25 Mitchell in service of the armed forces outside the U.S.A. It is a never before published overview of the various units and paint schemes of the B-25s which have flown in many different countries all over the world. During the war, especially the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were the major users of the B-25. Durin...

Built by Boeing, designated as B-47 and named the Stratojet it was a quantum leap in aircraft development. Initially Boeing entered the unknown when they started this project, but soon it would be evident that Strategic Air Command would have its multi-engine jet bomber with a speed performance similar to the latest jet fighters...

The most successful British jet fighter produced was without doubt the sleek and graceful Hawker Hunter. As usual for every new aircraft type it had its share of teething problems, but when these were all adequately solved in the U.K. had at that time one of the best jet fighters available. It was build in large numbers and exported to many countries.

The Blackburn Buccaneer was the first jet aircraft specially designed for flying very low under the radar at high subsonic speeds. It was developed in the fifties and entered service at the Royal Navy in 1962. Later it also flew as an attack bomber at the R.A.F. and it even played a role in the Gulf War in 1991 before being retired in 1994 after an operational career that spanned three decades...

The Fiat G.91 was an Italian jet fighter aircraft. It was the winner of the NATO competition in 1953 for a light fighter as standard equipment for Allied air forces. It entered in operational service with the Italian Air Force in 1961, with the West German Luftwaffe, in 1962,[and later with the Portuguese Air Force.

It was in production for 19 years. 756 aircraft were completed, including the prototypes and pre-production models. The assembly lines were finally closed in 1977. The Fiat G.91 ...

... the Glen Martin company started in 1937 the design of the model I62. This was a design for a twin engine high-wing monoplane flying boat with an inverted gull wing. As power plant one of the most powerful air-cooled radial engine then available was selected: the Wright R-200-6 Cyclone of 1600 hp maximuum take-off power ...

One of the lesser known fighter aircraft of World War 2 was the Brewster Buffalo, or, using the U.S. Navy designation system, the F2A. By some historians the Buffalo is regarded as an outright failure but this is a rating this stubby little fighter definitely did not deserve.

In the hands of well-trained pilots of the Finnish air force it was used with great success against invading Russian forces. Also at the Dutch ML-KNIL in the Netherlands East Indies it was the best fighter they used. Tha...

A-17 (Douglas Model 8)

The complete history of the Northrop attack planes and its export derivatives

The Northrop Corporation offered the single engined Gamma 2F attack plane to the US Army Air Corps in October 1934. After modification work this type evolved into the highly innovative A-17 attack aircraft of which 110 aircraft were ordered. Northrop integrated all modern aircraft technologies of the day, such as all metal monococque construction, two pitch propeller, flaps and dive brakes in...

Designed in 1933, the elegant looking Fokker C.X was outdated from the start. The type was intended as strategic reconnaissance plane, but was not suited for this task. More modern, twin engined types had claimed this specialised role. Instead, the biplane served well as short range scout and light bomber. The C.X is a little known member of the Dutch Fokker stable. Just like the D.XXI this biplane served in the airforces of two little neutral countries on the eve of world war two. Both fough...

When Hungary got involved in the second world war, the WM-21 Sólyom (Falcon) was the only Hungarian designed and manufactured plane in service with the Hungarian Royal Airforce. It was in widespread service as reconnaissance plane starting from 1938 onwards. In June of 1941, the machines failed to make in impression, mainly because of accidents and technical issues. The planes were diverted to the training role and were still used as such by May 1945.

The Sólyom story starts in 1927, with t...