Product Description

Luftwaffe aces explain their tactics and relate their experiences during the bloody campaign known as the Defence of the Reich. Their missions changed from waiting for the short-range Allied fighter escorts to turn back before attacking the bomber formations, to see-saw battles for aerial supremacy against long-range P-51s defending US heavy bomber streams. The story - based on personal accounts and official records from both sides - is predominantly that of the Bf 109's struggle to defeat the US Eighth Air Force (although latterly both the 'mediums' of the US Ninth Air Force and the 'heavies' of RAF Bomber Command were also active by day over Germany).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #348076 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
Arguably the finest profile artist in the business, John Weal's love of German aircraft makes his work a treat for students of the subject. He has written several Aircraft of the Aces volumes, and two books on the Ju 87 in the companion series Combat Aircraft.

Customer Reviews

you know what's coming by now !
..another Weal title in the aces series .. While Mr Weal continues to write with a fluency (& a productivity) that I can only marvel at, Osprey production quality appears to be going downhill slightly - I didn't like the paper quality, indifferent and sometimes dark photo reproduction and in this age of superlative computer profile artwork renderings, Mr Weal's 'paintings' look a little amateurish - the colours especially are poorly printed. The text skips through major events and personalities with mere paragraphs being devoted to events that otherwise fill entire books and relies a touch too heavily on Knoke's oft-cited account - at least four of this volume's 96 pages are directly extracted from Knoke's book - no credit, no footnote. The story ends prematurely with Bodenplatte and mentions the biggest Reich's defence battle of the war over Berlin on 14 January 1945 in a couple of sentences...This is probably not the authors fault but like his 'Sturmgruppen' title this volume could have been better

A thought provoking coverage
John Weal has written a clear history of the plight of Messerschmidt pilots in defence of their home territory. Imagine being a 19 or even 23 year old with only a few hours flight experience having to take off with thirty colleagues to take on a thousand well trained and well armed opponents. The narrative gives you food for thought. It is the first book I have read which points out that most victories were scored by the novices who only survived very few missions.