I was intrigued by your news item  mentioning Westland Whirlwind  fight­­ers.

Living in Bristol, I  well remember  a squadron of these fearsome looking fighters arriving at Filton  circa 1941. With twin Rolls Royce engines and di-hedral wings they looked  just the thing to see off the Luftwaffe. Unfortunately, however, appearances were decept­ive.

Their engines had problems (as your article mentioned) and they had  very high landing speeds. Many crashed on landing, and soon it appeared only one or two  remained airworthy.

Meanwhile however, our local achievement, the Bristol Beaufighter, had passed all its tests and went into squadron service. I well recall the excitement of seeing the propotype put through screaming vertical climbs and dizzy vertical  dives.

Powered by two Bristol Hercules engines and heavily armed with cannon and machine  guns, the Beaufighter was a formidable  night fighter, and accounted for many Heinkels. It gave valuable service with Coastal  Command, attacking U boats , and in the  Far East the Australian version greatly helped to force the Japanese to retreat.

They are said to have called it "Whispering Death."

– David  Datta, Bicknor Street, Joyford.