Fairey Swordfish (WPA 46)
Neil Robinson

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When you consider that the Swordfish entered service way back in 1936 and was still flying operationally at the end of WW2, with the same engine (!), you start to realise what a significant aircraft the Swordfish was.
It was very slow and lacked manoeuvrability, but it could deliver bombs, torpedoes, depth charges and rockets more accurately than most of its competitors and replacements! Indeed, by the end of the war, it had sunk a greater tonnage of shipping than any other Allied aircraft and had served in pretty much every theatre of operations.
We’re delighted therefore to finally include the Swordfish in the WPA series and equally delighted to welcome Neil Robinson back to write it. Neil has a broad knowledge of the colours and markings of 1930s/40s RAF/FAA aircraft which is crucial for this subject.
As with every WPA book, we’ve all learned something new about the subject, and corrected some common mistakes seen on the majority of model kits, pay particular attention to the landing lights for example!

…and of course, there are six full colour profiles along with the approx 120 original wartime photos.
About the Author
Growing up in the late 1950s/early 1960s, Neil Robinson had an interest in aeroplanes from an early age, which expressed itself by him spending most of his paper round money buying aviation magazines such as ‘Flying Review’ and ‘Aircraft Illustrated’ and Airfix and Frog kits. Hanging onto every word of W R ‘Bill’ Matthews’ ‘Model Talk’ in ‘Flying Review’ and Alan W Hall’s conversions in ‘Airfix Magazine’, he continued to have an interest in aeroplanes and model making throughout his teens and joined IPMS (UK) in 1969.
After several years of writing articles for aviation enthusiast and aircraft modelling magazines, he was appointed editor of IPMS Magazine in the mid-1980s, after which in the early 1990s he self-published his own magazines, ‘Quarter Scale Modeller’ (for 1/48 scale aircraft modellers) and ‘Seventy Second Scale Modeller’ (for 1/72 scale aircraft modellers), for two years, until his first proper ‘commercial’ editing job in 1995, editing ‘Military ModelCraft’, covering figure, AFV and vehicle modelling, despite all his interest and knowledge being in aviation topics.
Then in late 1998, he took over editorship of ‘Scale Aircraft Modelling’ from the (then) owner, Alan W Hall, during which time he also introduced and edited a new range of enthusiast titles for Guideline Publications – the ‘Camouflage & Markings’ and ‘Combat Colours’ ranges of books.
In the spring of 2003 he helped form a then brand new venture, called The Aviation Workshop. Unfortunately the company tried to grow and expand too quickly and couldn’t support all the creative team members, so he moved to SAM Publications, editing another relatively new magazine, ‘Model Aircraft Monthly’.
After five years with SAM Publications he temporarily re-joined The Aviation Workshop, in April 2010, as Book Production Editor for their range of ‘On Target’ books, before joining forces with a local printer and starting the AIRfile range of camouflage and markings books.
He is now a freelance author and editor, and enjoying his semi-retirement on the east coast of Yorkshire.
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