During the years prior to WWII, it was felt that a single engine light bomber would be the way to go when it came to providing an aircraft that would be able to support ground forces and yet be able to outpace enemy fighters. When the enemy fighters were biplanes, this was actually pretty sound thinking. However, nothing stands still, especially when it comes to weapons of war, and by the time the Battle was in service, so were fast monoplane fighters.

Still, the type stayed in service as there was little to replace it. While there were some successes in its use in France, it was soon realized that these planes, like the German Ju-87, were little more than targets when it came to engagements with enemy fighters. As such, the type was fairly quickly removed from front line service and put into secondary roles, where it proved to be quite reliable and went on to train hundreds of pilots and gunners. The Battle was also exported to several countries and those who took them into combat had similar results to the British. 

This latest book by Valiant Wings not only provides a fair history of the type, but, thanks to a fair number of extant airframes, is able to give us a look at the details of this interesting aircraft that also included period photos and illustrations.  There is a very interesting color and markings section and the modeler is not forgotten. This isn't a modeler's book as other series will cover that. However, there are two build reviews. One is the 1/72 Azur/FRROM/Special Hobby into which the builder put a fair amount of scratch building. The other is the Trumpeter 1/48 kit which was built straight from the box.  In addition, there is information on kits, accessories, decals and books for those who want more. Finally, there is a brief rundown of units who operated the type.