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. That the Buffalo lost the battle against Japanese fighters was not to blame on the Brewster fighter, but on the vast area it had to defend in much too small numbers. The same applied to the Buffalo's used in British Commonwealth service in the same area. It suffered also at the U.S. Marines great losses, but here we may conclude the Buffalo version they used was definitely underpowered and no match for the Japanese Zero's. We must realise that the Grumman F4F Wildcat, a design grossly similar to the Brewster fighter, did not score much better during the early stage of the aerial war between the U.S.A. and Japan. This book presents an overview of the development and operational use of the Buffalo with many photo's including a number not published before.