Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in the Battle for Sicily

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in the Battle for Sicily PDF Author: Morten Jessen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788799335206
Category : Focke-Wulf Fw 190 (Fighter plane)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"A fascinating and thoroughly researched account of Focke-Wulf 190 units, personnel and operations in the Sicilian campaign of the summer of 1943. Based on a variety of primary sources, this book describes many of the very eventful missions flown by a handful of Luftwaffe Fw 190s against a multitude of British and American land and naval targets. The book features numerous firsthand accounts from German, British, American and Commonwealth personnel, along with a wide selection of photographs and maps, and color aircraft profiles by well-known aviation artist Claes Sundin. The reader is also given a good idea of daily life for the Fw 190 pilots and mechanics during what was a long, hot Mediterranean summer, as they battled Allied bombing raids, lack of supplies, malaria, and many other complications. This is the first time that the full story of the Fw 190 in the battle for Sicily has been told, and this book will serve as the definitive account of this aspect of aviation history." REVIEWS "There are plenty of books on the Focke-Wulf Fw 190; many volumes have been published on WWII s second-most famous German fighter in service in north-west Europe and the Eastern Front, but the battle for Sicily? To my memory, nothing in any depth has been issued on this particular campaign and that s what makes Danish and Australian authors Morten Jessen and Andrew Arthy s new title so fascinating and unique. The book is a follow-up to their 2004 volume Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in North Africa and is an imposing production; it s a large format, 224 page hardback and the highly photogenic (if fighter aircraft can be considered photogenic) full-bleed image on the cover is almost irresistible if you are addicted to WWII aviation. The book is clearly produced with an eye for visual impact; as I often seem to state in this section each month, the photographic reproduction is excellent and many of the images are printed large on the page, all grist-to-the-mill for the modeler, hungry for Luftwaffe eye-candy. There are no less than 137 b/w and three color photographs in the book, plus eleven color profiles (by distinguished artist Claes Sundin) as well as maps that clearly define the specific zones of Fw 190 operation. For the modeller, there is a great deal of interest in this book. Naturally, lashings of punchy wartime photos of Fw 190s are scattered throughout and they give tantalizing clues to camouflage schemes, markings and the inevitable weathering; great stuff. But what really impresses is the sheer attention to detail; those six years of research were well spent and the result is an exhaustive account of the infamous Butcher Bird and its exploits in the vicious battle for the island of Sicily. Very highly recommended." - Tamiya Model Magazine, Marcus Nicholls "In this book the eventful history of the Fw 190 units in the Mediterranean is described from 14 May to 2 September 1943, with special attention to the battle for Sicily. It is extremely well-researched and excellently illustrated, with the story focusing on, amongst other things, why the Fw 190 was so important there. Like everywhere in this book, facts and figures complement each other perfectly, with many eyewitness accounts from both sides. Although the presentation follows a chronological thread, it remains a varied and well told story and an easy read. This exemplary book provides an overall picture of what happened, and tops it off with no less than ten meticulously compiled appendices, i.e. detailed casualty lists, camouflage and markings etc., not to mention the eleven exceptional color profiles by Claes Sundin. Conclusion: one of the best new releases for a long time!" - Flugzeig Classic, Wolfgang Muhlbauer"

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in the Battle for Sicily

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in the Battle for Sicily PDF Author: Morten Jessen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788799335206
Category : Focke-Wulf Fw 190 (Fighter plane)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
"A fascinating and thoroughly researched account of Focke-Wulf 190 units, personnel and operations in the Sicilian campaign of the summer of 1943. Based on a variety of primary sources, this book describes many of the very eventful missions flown by a handful of Luftwaffe Fw 190s against a multitude of British and American land and naval targets. The book features numerous firsthand accounts from German, British, American and Commonwealth personnel, along with a wide selection of photographs and maps, and color aircraft profiles by well-known aviation artist Claes Sundin. The reader is also given a good idea of daily life for the Fw 190 pilots and mechanics during what was a long, hot Mediterranean summer, as they battled Allied bombing raids, lack of supplies, malaria, and many other complications. This is the first time that the full story of the Fw 190 in the battle for Sicily has been told, and this book will serve as the definitive account of this aspect of aviation history." REVIEWS "There are plenty of books on the Focke-Wulf Fw 190; many volumes have been published on WWII s second-most famous German fighter in service in north-west Europe and the Eastern Front, but the battle for Sicily? To my memory, nothing in any depth has been issued on this particular campaign and that s what makes Danish and Australian authors Morten Jessen and Andrew Arthy s new title so fascinating and unique. The book is a follow-up to their 2004 volume Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in North Africa and is an imposing production; it s a large format, 224 page hardback and the highly photogenic (if fighter aircraft can be considered photogenic) full-bleed image on the cover is almost irresistible if you are addicted to WWII aviation. The book is clearly produced with an eye for visual impact; as I often seem to state in this section each month, the photographic reproduction is excellent and many of the images are printed large on the page, all grist-to-the-mill for the modeler, hungry for Luftwaffe eye-candy. There are no less than 137 b/w and three color photographs in the book, plus eleven color profiles (by distinguished artist Claes Sundin) as well as maps that clearly define the specific zones of Fw 190 operation. For the modeller, there is a great deal of interest in this book. Naturally, lashings of punchy wartime photos of Fw 190s are scattered throughout and they give tantalizing clues to camouflage schemes, markings and the inevitable weathering; great stuff. But what really impresses is the sheer attention to detail; those six years of research were well spent and the result is an exhaustive account of the infamous Butcher Bird and its exploits in the vicious battle for the island of Sicily. Very highly recommended." - Tamiya Model Magazine, Marcus Nicholls "In this book the eventful history of the Fw 190 units in the Mediterranean is described from 14 May to 2 September 1943, with special attention to the battle for Sicily. It is extremely well-researched and excellently illustrated, with the story focusing on, amongst other things, why the Fw 190 was so important there. Like everywhere in this book, facts and figures complement each other perfectly, with many eyewitness accounts from both sides. Although the presentation follows a chronological thread, it remains a varied and well told story and an easy read. This exemplary book provides an overall picture of what happened, and tops it off with no less than ten meticulously compiled appendices, i.e. detailed casualty lists, camouflage and markings etc., not to mention the eleven exceptional color profiles by Claes Sundin. Conclusion: one of the best new releases for a long time!" - Flugzeig Classic, Wolfgang Muhlbauer"

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in North Africa

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in North Africa PDF Author: Andrew Arthy
Publisher: Ian Allan Publishing
ISBN: 9781903223451
Category : Focke-Wulfe Fw 190 (Fighter plane)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Using official German records, logbooks and personal accounts, the authors tell the little-known story of this rugged fighter's service in Tunisia in the fighter and ground-attack role and assess its technical and military performance.

La-5/7 vs Fw 190

La-5/7 vs Fw 190 PDF Author: Dmitriy Khazanov
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 184908873X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
Soviet fighter aviation suffered terribly at the hands of the Jagdwaffe in the first year of the war in the east and, with the arrival of JG 51 and its Fw 190s on the Stalingrad Front in September 1942, things only got worse. However, help was on its way in the form of the La-5. Tougher, faster, and with a greater rate of climb than its predecessors, most were flow by a new generation of better-trained pilots led by combat veterans. These new fighters soon found themselves pitted into action on the Central Sector against the equally new Fw 190As of JG 51. From then on, these two fighters would battle it out in the skies over the Eastern Front. This book tells the complete story of the battles between these two important fighters.

Luftwaffe Emergency Fighters

Luftwaffe Emergency Fighters PDF Author: Robert Forsyth
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472819969
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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Book Description
In late 1944, the German Air Ministry organised what it called an 'Emergency Fighter Competition' intended to produce designs for quick-to-build yet technically and tactically effective jet fighter aircraft capable of tackling the anticipated arrival of the B-29 Superfortress over Europe, as well as the British Mosquito and US P-38 Lightning which were appearing in ever greater numbers. Thus was born a cutting-edge, highly sophisticated series of aircraft including the futuristic and elegant Focke-Wulf Ta 183; the extraordinary Blohm und Voss P.212, and the state-of-the-art Messerschmitt P.1101 series. Armed with heavy cannon and the latest air-to-air rockets and missiles, these were designed to inflict carnage on American bomber formations at high speed. Using stunning three-view illustrations of each prototype along with full colour artwork, aviation expert Robert Forsyth traces the history of the extraordinary aircraft of the 'Emergency Fighter Competition', Hitler's last throw of the dice in the air war against the Allies.

Tempest V vs Fw 190D-9

Tempest V vs Fw 190D-9 PDF Author: Robert Forsyth
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472829271
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description
Arguably two of the finest piston-engined fighters ever built, the Tempest V and Fw 190D-9 raised the bar in terms of aircraft design and operational capability during World War II. The long-nosed 'Dora 9', designed by Kurt Tank, first appeared in the skies over the Western and Eastern Fronts in the late summer of 1944. Fast, and with an exceptional rate of climb, it quickly bettered almost every fighter that the RAF, USAAF and Soviet Red Air Force could field. The Hawker Tempest V entered service in early 1944, initially proving itself a stalwart performer when it was deployed to intercept V1 flying bombs over southern England. From the autumn of 1944, the Tempest V also equipped squadrons of the 2nd Tactical Air Force, operating in support of the Allied armies advancing across north-west Europe. It became a potent ground-attack aircraft, armed with underwing rockets, but also a first-class interceptor when pitted against the Luftwaffe's advanced Fw 190D-9 and Me 262. Featuring full colour artwork, this book describes in fascinating detail combats between the Tempest Vs of No 274 Sqn and the Fw 190D-9s of I. and III./JG 26 between February and April 1945.

Sicily 1943

Sicily 1943 PDF Author: Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1780961286
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
A detailed examination of Operation Husky, the US and British invasion and conquest of the Italian island of Sicily. Not only did the Sicily operation represent a watershed in tactical development of combined arms tactics, it was also an important test for future Allied joint operations. Senior British commanders left the North African theater with a jaundiced and dismissive view of the combat capabilities of the inexperienced US Army after the debacle at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in February 1943. Sicily was a demonstration that the US Army had rapidly learned its lessons and was now capable of fighting as a co-equal of the British Army. The Sicily campaign contained a measure of high drama as Patton took the reins of the Seventh US Army and bent the rules of the theater commander in a bold race to take Palermo on the northern Sicilian coast. When stiff German resistance halted Montgomery's main assault to Messina through the mountains, Patton was posed to be the first to reach the key Sicilian port and end the campaign. This richly-illustrated volume details the highs and lows of the Sicily campaign, including the disastrous problems with early airborne assaults and the Allied failure to seal the straits of Messina, allowing the Germans to withdraw many of their best forces.

Strategy For Defeat: The Luftwaffe, 1933-1945 [Illustrated Edition]

Strategy For Defeat: The Luftwaffe, 1933-1945 [Illustrated Edition] PDF Author: Williamson Murray
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 178625770X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 883

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Book Description
Includes the Aerial Warfare In Europe During World War II illustrations pack with over 200 maps, plans, and photos. This book is a comprehensive analysis of an air force, the Luftwaffe, in World War II. It follows the Germans from their prewar preparations to their final defeat. There are many disturbing parallels with our current situation. I urge every student of military science to read it carefully. The lessons of the nature of warfare and the application of airpower can provide the guidance to develop our fighting forces and employment concepts to meet the significant challenges we are certain to face in the future.

A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945. Volume 2

A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945. Volume 2 PDF Author: Christopher Shores
Publisher: Grub Street Publishing
ISBN: 191069097X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 736

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Book Description
This second volume in the seminal series on aerial combat, pilots, and tactics in Libya and Egypt in the middle of World War II. In volume two of this series, historian Christopher Shores begins by exploring the 8th Army’s movements after Operation Crusader when they were forced back to the Gazala area in northeastern Libya, as well as their defeat in June, 1942, the loss of Tobruk, and the efforts of Allied air forces to protect their retreating troops. Shores continues with the heavy fighting that followed in the El Alamein region. This features the Western Desert Air Force and the arrival of the first Spitfires. The buildup of both army and air forces and the addition of new commanders on the ground aided the defeat of Rommel’s Deutsche Afrika Korps at Alam el Halfa, after which came the Second Battle of El Alamein. With the arrival of the United States Army Air Force, the Allied air forces gained dominance over the Axis. Shores recounts the lengthy pursuit of the Italo-German forces right across Libya, including the capture of Tripoli and the breakthrough into Southern Tunisia. This allowed a linkup with other Allied forces in Tunisia (whose story appears in Volume 3). Included with the action are stories of some of the great fighter aces of the Desert campaign such as Jochen Marseille and Otto Schulz of the Luftwaffe, Franco Bordoni-Bisleri of the Regia Aeronautica and Neville Duke, Billy Drake, and “Eddie” Edwards of the Commonwealth air forces. Finally, Shores touches on the Allied and Axis night bombing offensives and the activities of the squadrons cooperating with the naval forces in the Mediterranean.

Eagles over the Sea, 1943–45

Eagles over the Sea, 1943–45 PDF Author: Lawrence Paterson
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 1526777681
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
This is the second volume of Lawrence Paterson’s detailed account of all the Luftwaffe’s naval operations during World War II. The first volume took the story up to 1942, and by the end of that year Hermann Göring’s Reich Air Ministry had subsumed nearly every aspect of Wehrmacht maritime aviation. Kriegsmarine attempts to develop an independent Fleet Air Arm had been perpetually frustrated, reflecting the chaotic nature of the Third Reich’s internal military and political mechanics. Driven more by vanity than operational prudence, the Luftwaffe had continually thwarted the advancement of maritime aviation, and by 1942 began to reap the whirlwind it had created. The U-boat war hung precariously in the balance, the lack of well trained and properly equipped aerial reconnaissance suddenly assuming greater importance than ever before. During 1943 the nature of Germany’s war mutated and by its close the Allies were on the offensive in nearly all theatres. This volume resumes the story with Operation Torch in November 1942, when Germany faced an Allied seaborne invasion of North Africa that it was ill-equipped to counter by land, sea or air; and the spectre of even greater invasion armadas loomed on both the southern and western fronts during the months that followed. Facing the Russians, maritime air units were stripped to the bone, those precious few formations available shunted rapidly between military crisis points until barely able to function. The rise of Luftwaffe maritime operations described in the author’s first volume now became, from 1942 onwards, a fall of catastrophic proportions as frequently undertrained crews flew increasingly obsolete aircraft against odds that had become overwhelming. The Luftwaffe was paying the price for its pre-war lack of cohesive strategic planning, none more so than its beleaguered maritime specialists. The author covers this story across all the theatres of the war and in doing so gives the reader a complete and coherent picture of all the Luftwaffe’s naval operations. Heavily illustrated throughout, this detailed and exciting narrative will be of huge appeal to both naval and aviation historians and enthusiasts.

Bf 109 Aces of North Africa and the Mediterranean

Bf 109 Aces of North Africa and the Mediterranean PDF Author: Jerry Scutts
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782006761
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
Totally outnumbered throughout their short two-year sojourn in the Western Desert, the crack fighter pilots of the handful of Jagdgeschwader in-theatre fought an effective campaign in support of Rommel's Afrika Korps against the British and American forces. Relying almost exclusively on the Luftwaffe's staple fighter of World War 2, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the battle-hardened aces used the aircraft's superior performance to achieve incredible scores against the Allies. Similarly, once pushed out of North Africa, these units continued to take the fight to the RAF and USAAF from makeshift bases in northern Italy.