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Aircraft of the Aces 101 While much has been written about Luftwaffe aces, those books have tended to either focus on specific individuals or specific units. In fact, in the various Osprey series, there are over twenty books devoted to the Luftwaffe, spread across the Elite Units, Aircraft of the Aces, and Duel series. This book examines those Luftwaffe aces based not on the individuals or their units, but on their targets: the heavily defended four-engined bombers. The book begins with the beginnings of the USAAF bomber missions over Europe in 1942 and progresses through to the end of the war. A more detailed breakdown shows the book beginning with the initial air raids and interceptions in 1942 and 1943 that led to the development of tactics against the bombers. Following that is a chapter devoted to one Gruppe, that of II./JG 1, as an example of operations during 1944 when the unit was at full strength. The remaining chapters of the book cover the specialized aircraft, from the twin-engined Zerstörer aircraft to the heavily armored Sturmgruppen aircraft, and finishing with the jet-powered Me 262. In addition to the text, the book is amply illustrated with plenty of photographs. Some of these photos are uncommon and show some interesting markings. Further accenting the photographs are the color profile illustrations in the center section, which cover all the types described in the text. This helps show how the aircraft appeared and how similar/different they were from each other. Finally, the appendices summarize the aces and provide a couple of period illustrations on tactics. This is a nice addition to the Osprey line that will complement the already extensive coverage of Luftwaffe subjects in their series. My thanks to Osprey Publishing for the review copy. |
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