from: Osprey Publishing
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Type of bind: Paperback
Brand: Osprey Publishing
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.544943
EAN num: 9781841768793
ISBN number: 1841768790
Label: Osprey Publishing
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 96
Printing Date: February 10, 2006
Publishing house: Osprey Publishing
Release Date: January 31, 2006
Sale Popularity Level: 671891
Studio: Osprey Publishing
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Product Description:
This volume tells the story of the daylight air battles over Germany through the eyes of the Bf 109 aces involved. It traces the development of the aerial defence of the Reich from its small beginnings to arguably the most savage and costliest campaign in the history of aerial warfare. The Luftwaffe pilots explain their tactics and relate their experiences â€' in the early days, waiting for short-ranged Allied fighters to turn back before attacking the bombers, the see-saw battle for aerial supremacy that followed, the advent of the P-51 and its devastating effect, the growing might of the heavy bomber streams and the final desperate measures against overwhelming odds. The story 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.
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Rated by buyers 
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..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' are starting to look a little amateurish - the colours especially are poorly printed. The text skips fluently 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 not the authors fault at all but like his 'Sturmgruppen' title you can only squeeze so much into the proverbial pint pot ...a potboiler then !
Rated by buyers 
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Book is a repeat of much of the same information other similar books contain. I found it really lacked the information/photographs of aircraft that appeared in the final days. Disappointing at best !
Rated by buyers 
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Noted author-illustrator John Weal examines the daylight air battles fought over Germany by Bf 109 pilots in this compact, comprehensive volume, #68 in the Osprey Aircraft of the Aces series.
The missions flown by Luftwaffe units in defense of their homeland have to rank as some of the most harrowing, vicious and pivotal missions of the war. Imagine having to scramble day after day with the prospect of facing hundreds of B-17s, each armed with 10-12 .50 caliber machine guns!
To their credit, Heinz Knoke, Hugo Frey, Gunther Specht, Walter Oesau and the other Bf 109 aces discussed in Weal's book almost took the measure of their American opponents. Continually experimenting with weapons and tactics such as head-on attacks, heavier armament and even air-to-air bombing, units such as JG 1, 3, 11 and 300 forced the Americans to pause in their air campaign. Fortunately the arrival of the P-51 allowed the campaign to continue and rendered all the Jadgfliegers' previous efforts moot. The 8th and 15th Air Forces would still face some hard missions but the initiative had passed to the Americans.
Though this subject has been written about many times, Weal does a good job of summarizing a huge topic - Defense of the Reich missions date from Septmber 1939! - in just 96 pages. He covers the exploits of various units and pilots, detailing missions flown, losses suffered and victories claimed and actually scored, tactics, etc.
The book features over 80 grey & white photos - I would have liked more - along with nine pages of colour profiles by Weal.
All in all, a good introduction to an immense subject and very reasonably priced.
***
p.s. You have to hand it to Osprey. Endlessly revisiting the world of fighter aces, they keep turning out 'new slant' accounts of those fabled few. What's next: an Osprey volume on LEFT-HANDED ACES OF WORLD WAR II?
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