Messerschmitt Bf 109E: The Blitzkrieg Fighter
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Authors: Marek J Murawski & Jakub Plewka
Publisher: Kagero
ISBN: 978-83-62878-84-0
Binding: Softcover
Pages: 188
Few aircraft have garnered as much attention as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 has in recent years. For the modeler, this means there is no shortage of reference titles out there, and it can become somewhat daunting to figure out which ones to get. Sure, the easy answer is to just buy them all, but that can get expensive very fast. The answer might just be Kagero's latest series, their Special Edition Monographs. These are more in-depth than their standard monograph titles, at roughly double the page count. Their first one covered the Messerschmitt Bf 109F, and now we have the second one covering the earlier Bf 109E.
For those not familiar with the Kagero Monograph series, the books cover the subject matter as a kind of mid-range overview. The development and production of the subject are well covered, while the operational record tends to be complete but high level. This is understandable, as going into the day-to-day details of an operational history could easily triple the page count of any book. This one follows the same formula, although it does take advantage of the narrower subject range and increased page count to go a bit more in depth than usual.
Also present throughout the book are the photographs, and these aren't the usual recycled stuff we've seen time over time. As this focuses solely on the Bf 109E, the breadth of camouflage is impressive, as this plane saw some major camouflage changes during its life in the Luftwaffe. Also present are the ubiquitous scale drawings, which are very nicely done. I particularly like how Kagero presents the variant differences as a set of shaded drawings. This makes it very easy to see what changed where as the design progressed. Finally, the book ends with several pages of color profile illustrations that help further describe the colorful marking variations worn by the Bf 109E.
For those who have nothing on the Bf 109E, or are looking to replace several books with a single reference, this is a perfect book to pick up. My thanks to Casemate Publishing for the review copy.