These planes were oddities to me, little known in America, and I knew their names but not much more about them. Now I know quite a bit, because of this book. Great overview of their development and service, with many interesting quotes from participants. Lots of relevant photos scattered through the book, and a large section at the end with specs, close-up photos, a few color shots, and many excellent color profiles.

The Skua and Roc have reputations as outdated and rather useless, but the Skua, at least, was quite effective in some engagements, particularly as a dive-bomber. And you use what you have, as best you can, and they did reasonably well till (somewhat) more effective replacements came along. If you are at all interested in British aviation history, or World War 2 aviation, this is an invaluable book. And indeed, it's a bit hard to find so prices can be pretty high, but it's worth searching out. ( )

Another typically good monograph from Mushroom, with the particular importance of this machine being that it was the one specialized British naval dive bomber to go into service with the Royal Navy and that it has particular associations with the great aircraft carrier HMS "Ark Royal" and the desperate defense of Norway in 1940. ( )