On a stormy night in June 1941, a Bristol Beaufort, the RAF’s first monoplane torpedo bomber, roared through black clouds on the kind of daring mission it was designed for, attacking the German heavy ...

Unlike its namesake, our flying fish was slow and plodding, and it looked downright ungainly, hence its unofficial nickname of “Stringbag,” taken after a style of women’s purse that was popular in ...