John Weal - все книги по циклам и сериям | Книги по порядку

Tracing its roots to Manfred, Freiherr von Richthofen's 'Flying Circus' of WWI, the Jagdgeschwader 'Richthofen' is arguably the most famous fighter unit of all time. Designated JG 1 during the Great War, then disbanded following defeat, the Jagdgeschwader reformed as JG 132. By September 1939 the unit had become JG 2, seeing much action during the Blitzkrieg and Battle of Britain. This first in a new series focusing on elite fighter and bomber units, charts the career of JG 2 from its first aerial kills in 1939 to the destruction of its own Fw 190s in the face of the Allied advance in 1945.

The Ju 87 Stuka was the most feared weapon in the German arsenal in the first year of World War 2, the Luftwaffe using it to deadly effect during the Blitzkrieg between September 1939 and June 1940. Although vulnerable to the enemy fighters due to its moderate speed in level flight and general lack of manoeuvrability, the Ju 87 nevertheless soon came to symbolise the might of Nazi Germany as the mere handful of Stukageschwader supporting the Wehrmacht rampaging out of the Fatherland took a heavy toll of the Allied forces.

Of all the fronts fought on by the Jagdflieger during World War 2, the Russian, or Eastern, was easily the most lucrative in terms of targets for the experten. Marry an abundance of targets with the Luftwaffe's best piston-engined fighter of the war - Focke-Wulf's Fw 190 'Butcher Bird' - and it quickly becomes apparent why so many Jagdflieger achieved kills that passed the 100 victories mark. Flying in variable weather on a battlefront that was constantly changing, the Fw 190 pilots fought virtually to extinction in both the pure fighter and the crucial Schlacht ground attack roles. Aircraft of the Aces 6 and 37 are also available in a…

One of the most successful of the high-scoring Luftwaffe Jagdgeschwader during World War 2, JG 54 ‘Grünherz' (Green Hearts) was formed from three disparate fighter 'Gruppen' immediately prior to the Battle of Britain. Having enjoyed immediate success over the Channel and South-east England during the summer of 1940, the unit was transferred to the Eastern Front in the spring of 1941 in preparation for Operation Barbarossa - the German invasion of the Soviet Union. JG 54 would remain a Jagdwaffe stalwart in the east, flying firstly Bf 109Fs and then the Fw 190. By war's end, the Geschwader's pilots had claimed over 9500 kills, and produced over 100 aces. Men like Hans Philipp, Walter Nowotny and Otto Kittel are profiled in this volume, which reveals the struggle in the face of overwhelming odds that was the lot of the Jagdflieger on the Eastern Front.

The 'terror weapon' of the invasion of Poland, the assault on Scandinavia and the Blitzkrieg through western Europe, the Ju 87 Stuka had had its reputation severely dented during the Battle of Britain, where its vulnerability to fighter aircraft in hostile skies was savagely exposed. Licking their wounds, the Stukageschwader were sent south-east from their bases in France to the warmer climes of the Balkans in early 1941. In mid-1941, again frustrated at the inability of the Italians to defeat numerically inferior Allied forces, the Germans arrived in North Africa. Included in the force were Ju 87s. However, like operations on the African…

The Fw 190 was the scourge of Fighter Command from the moment it appeared on the Western Front at Abbeville in August 1941 with II./JG 26. A nimble, speedy and well-armed adversary, the 'Butcher Bird' quickly proved superior to all Allied fighters of the time, particularly at medium to low altitude. Led by Experten of the calibre of 'Pips' Priller, Heinz Bar and Walter Oesau, the handful of Fw 190-equipped Jagdgeschwader flew against overwhelming odds, firstly on the Channel coast, and then in direct defence of the Reich when the Jagdflieger took on the might of the USAAF's Eighth and Ninth Air Forces. This is their story.

The period covered in this volume was considered to be the 'glory years' for the Jagdwaffe fresh from the experience gained in the Spanish Civil War and for the Bf 109 in particular. Many famous pilots scored their first kills in the classic dogfights staged over Poland, Western Europe, the Channel and finally southern England. Some 40 Knight's Crosses were awarded in 1940 alone. However, after sweeping all before them in support of the Blitzkrieg across continental Europe, the Bf 109E pilots were to suffer badly during the Battle of Britain, the result of poor tactics inflicted upon them by the Luftwaffe High Command, and their mount's…

Synonymous with the Afrika Korps and the campaign in North Africa, JG 27 provided Rommel's army with fighter protection for virtually the whole 'roller coaster ride that was the war in the Western Desert from 1941-43. Formed in Germany on 1 October 1939 (with Adolf Galland as CO of I.Gruppe), JG 27 saw considerable action both during the Battles of France and Britain, downing 146 aircraft in the latter campaign alone. Sent to North Africa in April 1941, the geschwader had an immediate impact on the campaign, which had up until then been dominated by the Allies. The third volume in the Aviation Elite series on a German fighter geschwader, this book will once again prove popular with Luftwaffe enthusiasts and hobbyists alike.

One of the most important, and yet least publicised, components of the front-line Luftwaffe was the Schlacht, or ground attack, arm. This book details the Schlacht units who were in the thick of the fighting from the first day of the war until the last. They played a vital part in the heady successes of the early Blitzkrieg campaigns and went on to perform an equally essential role in the dark hours of last ditch defence and ultimate defeat. In between, they fought in all defensive battles: on the eastern front at Stalingrad, Kursk and Berlin; in the west, by night, over Normandy, the Ardennes and the Rhine.

Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) was the most successful and highest-scoring fighter unit, not just in Germany's World War 2 Luftwaffe, but in the entire annals of aviation history. No other fighter group has ever come close to matching its staggering total of around 9000 enemy aircraft shot down in combat. And yet, because much of that combat took place over the tractless wastes of the Russian front, very little has been written in English about the exploits of this charismatic unit. This book provides a full combat history of JG 52 and its members, including the three top-scoring aces of all time, who claimed a total of 900 victories between them.

The Third Reich's last ditch efforts to sweep the massed Allied bomber formations from the skies of Germany centred around the new crop of jet 'wonder weapons' that were issued to the Jagdwaffe from mid-1944 onwards. Far in advance of anything the Allies had even in the experimental phase, types like the Me 262, He 162, Me 163 and the Ar 234 could perform their combat sorties with relative impunity. However, paucity in numbers and unreliable jet engines eventually cancelled out any technological edge that these aircraft offered.

Undoubtedly the most versatile German aircraft of World War 2, the Junkers Ju 88 served as a fighter, bomber and patrol aircraft on every front on which the Luftwaffe fought. Blooded in action during the Blitzkrieg, the Ju 88 soon proved to be a formidable opponent for the beleaguered Allied air forces. This book is the first of three volumes which will cover the Ju 88's extensive wartime service in the bomber role, and it details the aircraft's early campaigns, through to its extensive use in the night Blitz of 1940-41.

The 'storm troopers' of the Luftwaffe, the elite Strumgruppen units comprised the most heavily armed and armoured fighter interceptors ever produced by the Germans. Their role was to smash like a mighty fist through the massed ranks of USAAF daylight bombers. Only volunteers could serve with these elite units, and each pilot was trained to close with the enemy and engage him in extremely short-range combat, attacking from the front and the rear in tight arrowhead formations. In exceptional circumstances pilots would even ram their enemy. This book chronicles the brief, but violent, career of the Sturmgruppen during the dark days of 1944-45, employing first-hand accounts and rare archival photography.

JG 51 were one of the Luftwaffe's top wartime fighter units, yet their story has never been told in English. The unit's history encapsulates the fortunes of the Luftwaffe's fighter arm as a whole - the heady successes of the early months, the steady attrition and the growing strength of the opposition during the mid-war years, and the final chaos and collapse of the last days. But it is perhaps the details of the pilots who served with the unit that sets JG 51 apart. During the course of the war it numbered more Knight's Cross winners among its ranks than any other. And it is their stories - their successes, exploits and eventual fates - which brings this history to life.

This volume is the first of its type to be devoted exclusively to the Zerstörer day fighter aces, spanning the war years from Poland to the defence of the Reich. Although Messerschmitt's single-engined Bf 109 has received most of the plaudits for achieving virtual air superiority over Europe in 1939-40, the exploits of the manufacturer's twin-engined Bf 110, the Ju 88 and the Me 410 Zerstörer in the first year of the war also make for very impressive reading. Indeed, on the eve of World War 2 a posting to a Bf 110 unit was considered to be the best career move available in the Luftwaffe.

Arguably the archetypal Luftwaffe fighter unit of World War 2, JG 53 aircraft were encountered on almost every fighting front from the first day of hostilities until the last. During almost six years of near-constant campaigning, JG 53 took a steady toll of Allied aircraft in every theatre it fought over. The variety of camouflage finishes worn by its machines -winter white, desert dapple and Reich's defence black - and the progression of variants are reflected in an eye-opening colour section. John Weal has spent several years researching in German archives and this, together with his personal contact with several veterans, results in an authoritative and human account of JG 53's long and eventful war.

The follow–on volume to Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 11 Bf 109D/E Aces 1939-41, this book charts the story of the myriad aces who flew the later marks of Messerschmitt fighter through to VE-Day. As good as the Emil had been during the opening 18 months of the war, the aircraft was being progressively bettered in virtually all aspects of aerial combat by the Spitfire come 1941, so Messerschmitt updated and improved the breed, firstly with the introduction of the Friedrich and then the multi-variant Gustav.

The highest scoring aces of any aerial conflict were the Luftwaffe pilots involved in the bloody combats on the Russian Front. The most common fighter used by these pilots was the Bf 109, which was involved in the action from Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, through to the doomed Defence of the Reich in 1945. Units like JGs 5, 52 and 54 all flew the Messerschmitt fighter, progressing from Emil to Gustav variants. This volume includes all the high-scoring aces, and explains just how difficult a job the Jagdwaffe faced on the Russian Front, and how its experts achieved such overwhelming scores. Aircraft of the Aces 6 and 37 are also available in a single volume as ‘German Aces of the Russian Front'.

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 - 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.