Brewster B-339 Buffalo – Pacific Theater Tamiya-61094

Description

The British, in anticipation of what could be a shortage of aircraft due to the situation in the early stages of World War II against Germany, decided to establish a commission to purchase aircraft from the United States and thus complete their domestic production.

Among the models that caught the commission’s attention were. the Brewster Buffalo fighterdeveloped in the mid-1930s as a modern single-seat fighter with retractable landing gear, it was equipped with a 1,100 hp Wright Cyclone engine power that allowed it to achieve a maximum operating speed of 516Km/h. It was armed with four 12.7 mm machine guns (two in the nose and the other two, one in each wing), it could also carry two bombs of 45 kg each.

Many Brewster Buffalo B-339Es were sent to Southeast Asia where they were used by British, Australian and New Zealand pilots in Malaysia, Singapore and Burma where they faced the more agile and maneuverable Japanese Zeroes and suffered heavy losses.