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ESCORT  Issue 88                         June 2010
BRITISH MOTOR GUNBOATS
 By Angus Konstam
 Published by Osprey Publishing
 ISBN 978-1-84908-077-4
The release of No.166 in the New Vanguard series completes a trio of books describing Allied Coastal Forces in WWII – British Motor Torpedo Boat, 1939-45 (New Vanguard 74) by the same author and US Patrol Torpedo Boats (New Vanguard 148) by Gordon Rottman - and complements a single volume on enemy craft – German E-boats, 1939-45 (New Vanguard 59) by Gordon Williamson. Maybe a volume on the Italian MAS boats may appear in the future? – hint! hint!
These are only small paperback books at a reasonable cost (RRP £9.99 at present, but usually available at £7.99) and so the reader should not expect a detailed account, just an introduction. And these books do give a very good introduction – and very readable! For those who wish to delve further, the books from Conway by John Lambert and Al Ross are a must – although here we only have two hard back volumes published some years ago (at a much higher price) and still await the third.
Unfortunately, the paper used in these books is not the best for reproducing photographs and many of the photographs are rather small – although generally very interesting. The text is logical, in this case starting with the British Power Boat Company and their ‘short’ MGBs (and MA/SBs) and then moving on to the four Fairmile designs, not forgetting the larger Denny steam gunboat and a few others.
The strength of this series of books is in their colour artwork – in this book by Tony Bryan. In this volume we have profiles of the BPB 70ft and 71ft 9in MGBs - unfortunately just plain grey, no camouflage – and then the Fairmile A and B designs – this time the Fairmile B is shown in camouflage. Thirdly we have the Fairmile C and the Denny SGB, both in camouflage, and then two variants of the Fairmile D, just plain grey again. A two page spread gives an isometric view of the Fairmile D, MGB658, which identifies different parts of the craft as well as the armament. There are two ‘atmospheric’ drawings of the craft in action – MGB314 during the raid on St Nazaire and MGB655 during a convoy battle off Italy.
Technical details of the different designs are given, followed by a table of losses and a complete list of MGBs, given by Pennant Number.
A good, low cost book which will wet the appetite of many modellers – and naval historians who may have ignored the small craft in favour of the more famous battleships and cruisers. Unfortunately there do not appear to be many kits of these interesting craft available – some 1:350 resin models from White Ensign Models and, for those prepared to tackle card modelling, some larger scale ones from our very own Coastal Forces in Paper (see the ‘Links’ page on the website). Those working in larger scales (e.g. 1:24 as used for many R/C models) do have a number of options – and of course there’s always scratchbuilding! Many years ago here was a superb 1:96 scale resin and white metal model of the SGB from John Piper, but these are rare (and expensive when they do become available). Perhaps Revell or Airfix could produce a 1:72 scale Fairmle D or SGB, or even Italeri produce a British vessel (an MTB would be acceptable) at 1:35 scale?