Chris Goss

All books in the so-called "Classic" series are never less than good, and are often great: As pricey as they are they had better be! That said, this work is more on the good side of the spectrum, as you're promised a history of the type in German service, and that's what you get. What I would have liked to have seen is a little more development history, to get a sense of how Dornier went from producing corrugated metal boxes that just happened to fly, to this elegant machine.

Apart from that, Goss does have something of a higher theme that conditions his narrative. That is, as highly touted as the Do 17 was in its prime, that prime was very short, and in the peak of the air war in 1940 it was found very wanting. This is comparable to the fate of aircraft such as the Bristol Blenheim and the Potez 63; other nominally modern machines that simply didn't pack enough punch.… (altro)

This is the first of two volumes in this photo series by Chris Goss that will be devoted to the 'work-horse' of the Luftwaffe - the Fw 190. The book comprises a 12 page Preface, Introduction and Glossary and 172 pages of well-captioned photographs. Some of these are pilot portraits or group personnel images but the majority cover the aircraft. Subtitled 'The Early Years - Operations in the West' there are seven 'chapter' headings. After 'Training' chapter 2 is entitled 'The Pembrey 190' and comprises some 22 pages of images of Oblt. Faber's JG 2 machine- both inside and out. Rather curiously the author appears to assume that you know all about the circumstances surrounding this aircraft and how and why the pilot put down in south-Wales because there is no text describing the event itself. Some pages have a single image, others feature two photos - some are a little dark and blurry - while the images showing the machine being tested by the RAF over five pages are clear and sharp. Chapter 3 is simply entitled 'Jagdgeschwader 2' and obviously covers all the aces, Wurmheller, Hahn, Schnell, Mayer etc and their machines - or more especially their rudder scoreboards. There are four pages of images of Bruno Stolle Staffelkapitän 8./JG 2 preparing for a sortie in his 'white 24'. Stolle took over from Egon Mayer as Kommandeur III./JG 2 in June 1943 - at the height of what was the 'Focke Wulf summer' over the Channel Front. While the Focke Wulfs of III./JG 2 racked up large numbers of Spitfire 'kills' a new adversary was increasingly appearing in the skies of France - massed formations of heavily defended four-engine bombers that the Jagdflieger would find a much more difficult proposition. One of the 'unidentified' 8./JG 2 pilots on page 54 is Uffz. Friedrich May. May returned his first victory on 10 June 1942 when he claimed a Boston. His 6th was a B-17 on 30 December 1942 during a raid by 1st Bomb Wing B-17s on the U-boat pens at Lorient. He was KIA on 20 October 1943 in the vicinity of Rouen in combat with Spitfires (Fw 190 A-6 470047) as an Ofw. with 3./JG 2. With at least 21 victories on his scoreboard May was awarded a posthumous DKiG. On page 73 there is a nice photo of Fähnrich Heinz Liebick of 9./JG 2 who had his Fw 190 shot-up on the ground on 17 March 1944 at Chartres by marauding P-51s but recovered from his injuries and went on to make two claims on 5 and 11 July 1944. There are a mere 25 pages in Chapter 4 devoted to 'Other Jagdgeschwader in north-west Europe' which is mostly JG 26 and JG 5. This chapter also includes views of the Melsbroeck 'blue 6' over a number of pages from 1944. Chapter 5 entitled 'Jabo' features around fifty pages devoted to the Jabo Staffeln of JG 2 and JG 26. Content here is heavily weighted towards the Schnellkampfgeschwader and includes the well-known West Malling and Manston machines in detail. These units featured heavily in the Luftwaffe's so-called 'tip and run' campaign against southern England and London during 1942-43. On 20 January 1943 during a massed daylight raid on London Lt. Hermann Hoch flying Fw 190 A-4 WNr. 2409 'black 2 +' was hit by anti-aircraft fire as he approached the south coast and brought down near Capel. As he crash-landed he hit the top of a hill, somersaulted some 200 yards ploughing through a coppice before coming to rest. Although injured (!) the pilot was able to evacuate the aircraft and set off the demolition charge. Unfortunately the author does not tell us what became of the pilot - but there is not much left of his aircraft ! The last two chapters cover over thirty pages those Fw 190 units performing short-range recce, with good coverage of Nahaufklärungsgruppe 13, while there is a small section on the Fw 190 in the Mediterranean. As the author explains in his Foreword many of these images come from Alfred Price's archive and have been specially scanned for this series. However it does not appear that they have been 'tidied-up' in any way and some are reproduced a little too large and might be a little indistinct as a consequence. But if you are looking to add a good quality and inexpensive Fw 190 title to your library then this is it. Volume 2 should be equally as good.… (altro)

This is an excellent volume on the Junkers Ju 88, presenting an overview of the aircraft and the men who flew it in most of the roles it undertook; bomber, intruder, long-range day fighter and reconnaissance. Night fighters are not covered. While Volume one focused on the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, Volume two, "the Twilight years- Biscay to the Fall of Germany" provides good coverage of the activities of the Ju 88 Gruppen in Russia and the Mediterranean and looks at reconnaissance and torpedo operations. Many of the more 'famous' Ju 88 pilots appear in this great collection of images such as Baumbach, Helbig, Herrmann and Hogeback along with some of the lesser known, such as the Eichenlaub winner Gruppenkommandeur III./KG 76 Hptm. Heinrich Schweickhardt. Schweickhardt and his crew went missing during a flight from Catania to Athen-Tatoi on 9 January 1943 after a radio message saying he was having engine trouble. This was after combat about 100 km west of Zakynthos. The aircraft was Ju 88 A-4 WNr. 142338 coded 'F1+GS'. Posthumously promoted to Major, he had flown around 400 missions. Hogeback qualifies as the Ju 88 bomber "aces of aces" with 500+ operational sorties and being one of only three Ju 88 pilots to receive the Knights Cross with Swords - we see him here in Russia with III./Lehrgeschwader 1 and later in as Kommandeur of III./KG 6. Captions are for the most part informative and extensive with mostly one picture reproduced per page - occasionally two. The title also features torpedo-carrying Ju 88s of KG 26 and the dive bombers of LG 1. Deployed early on in the Mediterranean, LG 1 would soon prove to be one of the most formidable and feared opponents of the Royal Navy. Under the orders of Kommandeur Helbig, the "Helbig flyers" of I./LG 1 as they were dubbed were responsible for sending a number of Allied ships to the bottom while KG 26 used Schiffssuchradar - shipping search radar FuG 200 Hohentwiel - to attack the Murmansk convoys in the Far North. Heavy fighters also receive a chapter - 'Battle over the Bay' covers both the well-known V./KG 40 and the little-known ZG 1 - and there is a small section at the end on the Misteln 'piggy-back' aircraft. Well worth adding to your library at 198 pages, slightly bigger than A-5 format softback..good value at the RRP… (altro)

The author is an acknowledged expert on the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War, and this book adds to his library. It follows on from a similar book about the Ju 88 in the early years of the war. The Ju 88 was one of the most versatile and widely used German aircraft of the war, and this book covers a range of its operations. These include over the Soviet Union, the Mediterranean, Reconnaissance aircraft, Torpedo operations, sorties over the Bay of Biscay, the latter years from 1943 until 1945, and the Ju 88 Mistel.

What makes this book stand out is the quality and rarity of the photographs. This is not an area of military history that I claim to know much about, so I found it both interesting and moving looking through the photographs the author has included. There are useful captions to the photographs, but I admit I would like to have seen a little more information provided about the aircraft and the units that operated it. I accept there are other publications that cover the technical and operational detail of this aircraft, which may be why this is not included in this book.

In conclusion, the main focus of this book are the photographs, and rightly so. They are superb and well-presented by the publishers. A welcome addition to my library, and highly recommended to anyone interested in this aircraft, or the air campaigns in the Second World War in general.… (altro)