Fw 190 Sturmbocke vs B-17 Flying Fortress: Europe 1944-45 (Duel) [Paperback]

Robert Forsyth (Author), Jim Laurier (Illustrator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 184603941X | ISBN-13: 978-1846039416 | Publication Date: November 24, 2009 | Edition: First Edition

For the first time in the best-selling Duel series, Osprey Publishing presents the horrifying aerial clash between a fighter and a bomber. The Fw 190 was one of the best air superiority aircraft of World War II. When it first appeared over the Channel in 1941 it sent shockwaves through the Allied air commands. By 1944, these fighters had been up-gunned to serve as the front line of defence against the Allied bombing campaign. Although the Fw 190s were responsible for shooting down hundreds of Allied bombers, they met their match against the United States Air-Force B-17 'Flying Fortress.' Capable of carry 4,000 lbs of bombs and bristling with .50-cal machine guns, the B-17 could sow death in every direction. Using brand-new artwork and first-hand accounts, this book recreates the deadly drama in the skies above Germany in 1944.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Forsyth has studied the history and operations of the Luftwaffe for many years and has amassed a large archive of documents and reports on Luftwaffe operations gathered from archives and private sources all over the world. He has also met and interviewed numerous former German aircrew. He works full time in publishing and is the author of two titles in the Osprey Aviation Elite Units series - Jagdverband 44 'Squadron of Experten' and Jagdgeschwader 7 'Nowotny' (both 2008). The author lives in Tunbridge Wells, England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing; First Edition edition (November 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 184603941X
• ISBN-13: 978-1846039416
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.2 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fw 190/ B-17 Match-Up!, December 14, 2009

By 

Michael OConnor "Wordsmith" (Wausau, WI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fw 190 Sturmbocke vs B-17 Flying Fortress: Europe 1944-45 (Duel) (Paperback)

The heavily armed and rugged Fw 190 was a B-17 crewman's worst nightmare. Moreso than its Bf 109 stablemate, the 'Butcher Bird' had the firepower and staying power to decimate 8th AF B-17 and B-24 units especially those lacking fighter escort. The combats fought between Fw 190s and B-17s are the subject of this 2009 Osprey release, the latest in their 'Duel' series. Over the years Robert Forsyth has written several wonderful Luftwaffe histories; unfortunately his latest effort misses the mark.

Though the idea of pitting the Fw 190 against the B-17 appealed to me initally, I had misgivings about the appropriateness of the match-up. Pitting a P-51 against a Bf 109, for instance, is valid, both aircraft having pluses and minuses in a dogfight. In a Fw 190/B-17 combat however, there was/is no comparison. The Fort always functioned as a clay pigeon albeit a well-armed clay pigeon!

While Forsyth checked off all the squares in the established Duel format, the book doesn't jell into a comprehensive, cohesive whole. He does detail each aircraft's development and design, the training received by its pilot/aircrew, tech specs and so on.

My problem lies in the 'Stategic Situation,' 'Combat,' 'Statistics and Analysis' and 'Aftermath' sections. Some of the material in the first section seemed to fit better in the second and vice versa. As regards the Combat section, there were a number of engagements where Fw 190s caught unescorted B-17 units and did great execution: 6 March 1944, Berlin; 12 May 1944, Brux; 28 Sept. 1944, Magdeburg; 2 Nov. 1944, Merseburg; etc. Had Forsyth used a straight chronological approach focusing on some/all of those combats, his narrative would have been more apropos to the Duel 'who won?' bottom line. Then too, the Stats/Analysis section was too confusing for my simple mind; too much 1:8 of this and 3.6 of that. The Aftermath coda wasted space on Bodenplate, Kommando Elbe and YB-40s, all of which added little to the main topic.

The book's artwork though was a definite plus. The colorful cockpit and tail turret diagrams, armament views and attack formations were interesting and helpful. Gareth Hector's combat scene of JG 300 '190s closing in on 303rd BG Forts was eye-catching. And Jim Laurier's cover artwork, especially the JG 4 scene, was simply magnificent.

So, while the Fw 190/B-17 idea sounds good, for it to succeed, you really need a sharply focused narrative that separates air combats from air campaigns. And, to do justice to such a match-up probably required more than the standard Duel 80-page format. As is, Fw 190 STURMBOCKE VS B-17 FLYING FORTRESS, EUROPE 1944-45 has an unfinished, or perhaps more accurately, a poorly focused feel to it. Great cover art though!

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Amazon discount makes this worth getting.., November 25, 2009

By 

N. Page (UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fw 190 Sturmbocke vs B-17 Flying Fortress: Europe 1944-45 (Duel) (Paperback)

My discounted copy of this new 'Duel' title arrived today - at this price these titles are worth getting. The Osprey 'preview' image from this volume depicting JG 300 pilots Loos & Dahl boring in on the 303rd BG over Bitburg, 15 Aug 44 appaeared on a number of web-sites pre-publication and my 11-year old thinks its pretty decent - I have to agree this type of computer-art beats the usual dreary battle scene 'painting' in these titles even if the Fw 190's are too close together and the rear B-17 gunner wouldn't be firing a stream of tracer. Whether I can actually persuade my son to read any of the text will be another matter altogether. There seems to be rather more words here than in previous 'Duel' titles starting with a chronology that curiously ends on 2 December 1944. The themes of FW 190 as 'bomber killer' over Germany are explored and there are chapters on the design and devlopment of both types with technical specifications and cutaway artworks, before the author moves on to outline the strategic situation in the European air war. Again. This is a 'Duel' volume - author & publisher should have looked at presenting a couple of the larger air battles over Germany in detail - rather than devoting pages to a strategic overview. There is no chronological account - there isn't the space in this book's 80 pages for anything more than a cursory overview. I particularly liked the B-17 artwork illustrating the various fighting compartments and there are some personal accounts of coming under fire from German fighters. There is a full page colour artwork of the FW 190 cockpit and more artwork depicting the Sturm fighter closing on a bomber Pulk from astern. Photos are small and a little dark and have all been published elsewhere, which is disappointing. Bizarrely the text goes on to discuss the Sonderkommando Elbe ramming Bf 109s of April 1945. There is no detail at all on the huge bomber battles that took place over Germany during late December 1944 and early January 1945.

Some of the text I've read seems curiously to focus on Walther Dahl of JG 300 - there are several pictures of him and his Fw 190s and a full page profile. While acknowledging that his autobiography "Rammjäger" was 'colourful' the book repeats all the old chestnuts regarding his supposed 128 victories and his huge accumulation of bomber kills - for which the authors of the two volume JG 300 history quoted in this book's bibliography found little or no evidence of course. There is a full page given over to a listing of leading Luftwaffe B-17 'killers'. There are two pages devoted to a bibliography entitled 'Further Reading' which includes German-language titles that I somehow doubt will be of interest to the average Duel -series purchaser.

As for the timeline ending on 2 December as already mentioned, that has to be a typo, and should read 24 December, which was the date of IV.(Sturm)/JG3's last big success in the West. Otherwise the book itself is a very selective look at various aspects of the daylight bombing campaign focusing on training, the machines, the men. Nothing to do with the author I doubt, but this is a title assembled to fit a tightly outlined format and as such doesn't work very well at all for me.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The cost of the air war over Europe, January 7, 2011

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Theodore A. Rushton (PHOENIX, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fw 190 Sturmbocke vs B-17 Flying Fortress: Europe 1944-45 (Duel) (Paperback)

The US Eighth Air Force lost 3,339 heavy bombers from the time of its first mission in August 1942 to the end of September 1944, by which time the Luftwaffe was reduced to a token remnant of its original "blitzkrieg" force.

That's 33,390 Americans dead or prisoners of war, an average of 43 losses every day for 26 months. Add the British, Canadian and other Allied losses, and the scope of the air war over western Europe becomes real. Many of those losses were due to the Fw 190, one of the finest fighters of World War II.

Early in the war, the British tried strategic bombing of German naval bases. Almost all bombers were lost; so they switched to night bombing. The B-17, which carried a bomb load equal to the twin-engine Mosquito, was used to confront and crush the Luftwaffe in daylight. It took just over two years; without victory in the air, the ground war would have been horrendous if not impossible.

Ironically, the B-17 was intended for coastal patrol; it took nine years to perfect as a heavy bomber. The plane is typified by Rosie the Riveter; it truly reflects the American ability to develop, mass produce and effectively use massive projects.

The Fw 190 was meant to defeat other fighters; the blunt reality is Germany never created an effective bomber defence. As this book makes clear, they tried dozens of expedients without ever finding the perfect weapon. For example; it took 20 hits of 20 mm cannon shells to down a B-17; the Fw 190 carried 60 rounds each for its four cannons. An estimated 2 percent of shots hit their target; that translates to 1,000 rounds fired by four Fw 190s to down one B-17.

As was said in another context, "We ran out of shells before you ran out of aircraft."

The ultimate German desperation came April 7, 1945, when the Fw 190 was used by the 'Rammkommando Elbe' to ram US bombers. The loss ratio of German pilots was 33 percent, the loss ratio of American bombers was one tenth of one percent, just 12 lost of 1,261 bombers.

This book succinctly sums up a deadly, but truly lopsided, battle.