Many aircraft, some famous and some rare, gained a reputation for being difficult to fly and sometimes downright dangerous. This book looks at some of the worst culprits over a period spanning World War One to the age of supersonic flight. The following aircraft are included. BE.2 - The RFC went to war in it in 1914. The BE was easy to fly and very stable - but it was difficult to manoeuvre and very easy to shoot down. Tarrant Tabor - The Tabor was grotesque, a massive misfit of an experimental bomber that predictably came to grief on its first flight. Avro Manchester - The twin-engined Manchester would fly all the way to Berlin and back - only to burst into flames over its own base. Messerschmitt Me 210 - The Me 210 was developed as a successor to Goering's Destroyer, the Bf110. It was a disaster with a phenomenal accident rate. Martin B-26 Marauder - They called the B-26 the Widow-maker, fast and powerful, with some savage characteristics. Reichenberg IV - a manned version of the V-1 flying bomb, was a desperation weapon, its pilots intended to fly suicide missions against Allied shipping. Tu-144 - Rushed prematurely into its test programme to beat the Anglo-French Concorde, the TU-144 was intended to be Russia's supersonic dream. AUTHOR: Robert Jackson is the author of over 80 books on military, aviation, naval and scientific subjects, in addition to twenty works of fiction. He was defence and science correspondent for a major British newspaper publishing group. His expertise has led to books covering major studies of all aspects of individual campaigns and wars, for example Arnhem: The Battle Remembered and Suez: The Forgotten Invasion, and also books that examine the operational histories of particular subjects such as the Battleship Bismarck and individual aircraft types like the Hurricane. A former pilot and navigation instructor, he was a squadron leader in the RAF Volunteer Reserve. ILLUSTRATIONS: 40 b/w photographs
