Bald-faced hornet Bald-faced hornet Dolichovespula maculata is a eusocial wasp of the cosmopolitan family Vespidae. Its colloquial names include the bald-faced hornet, bald hornet, white-faced hornet, white-tailed hornet, spruce wasp, blackjacket, and bull wasp. This species is a yellowjacket wasp, not a true hornet (genus "Vespa"). Colonies contain 400 to 700 workers, the largest recorded colony size in its genus, "Dolichovespula". It builds a characteristic large hanging paper nest up to 58 centimetres (23 in) in length. Workers aggressively defend their nest by repeatedly stinging invaders. "Dolichovespula maculata" is distributed throughout the United States and southern Canada, but is most common in
Hornet Squadron during the First World War. It was followed by "Hornet's Sting" (1991) set in 1917. These Hornet Squadron novels became prequels to Robinson's first book, "Goshawk Squadron" (1971) which was set in 1918. Despite the different squadron names, there are common characters linking the books. The World War I books sees the squadron operating F.E.2 fighters. The final Hornet Squadron book was "A Good Clean Fight" (1993) which picks up the story of the squadron post-"Piece of Cake" when it was fighting with the Desert Air Force in 1942. Hornet Squadron Hornet Squadron is the name of a fictional Royal