Customer Reviews

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Aces of the Russian Front (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces, No 6)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Osprey has produced a first-class book on what was, arguably, one of the finest, most versatile fighter planes to see combat in the Second World War. The Focke-Wulf 190 was rugged, capable of taking enormous punishment in combat (the chapter describing the service of FW-190s in the Schlachtgruppen bears this out), and excelled at low to medium-level altitudes, which was typical of aerial combat on the Ostfront.

This book offers an excellent overview of the operating and handling characteristics of the FW-190. And it also provides interesting accounts by some of the pilots who flew the FW-190 on the Ostfront.

The sixth in the outstanding Osprey "Aircraft of the Aces" series, "Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Aces of the Eastern Front" details the ilustrious service and operational record of Kurt Tank's "butcher bird" in the East, from its combat debut with I./JG 51 in the autumn of '42 to the the final (?) 190 "kill" on the Eastern Front (8 May 1945) by a II./JG 54 pilot escaping to the West with his mechanic tucked away in the tiny fuselage compartment!
Stylishly, the book, another of John Weal's brilliant servings, begins with this astonishing incident and closes with a crafty re-working of it. In between is a well-documented history accompanied by expertly collated photographs, colour plates and planforms of this magnificent thoroughbred of Goering's Luftwaffe.
Early in the text, the reader is introduced to the handling characteristics of the 190 alongside I./JG 51 whose task it was to take the new fighter into battle against a resurgent VVS on the Northern and Central sectors of the Eastern Front. From this chapter, the reader gets some very interesting insights into what those hectic days of familiarisation were like as the entire text is awash with the personal anecdotes and eye-witness accounts of those pilots who undertook the training course. This is exactly what makes the book such a compelling read: the author does not allow you a moment's respite, but keeps you strapped and bound in the cockpit. You are there, in your JG 54 mount, scanning the skies of Mother Russia for that Soviet La-5FN or Yak-9D that is also stalking you somewhere in the billowing cunulus. Or you are with a tank-busting "Schlachtgeswader" - the "Slaughter Wings" - above the chaos of Prokhorovka in the high summer of '43, selecting your next victim among the massed formations of T-34s of 5th Guards Tank Army as they hurtle towards II SS Panzer Corps and eternity.
I have read some scathing critiques of the Osprey aviation/military series, however I could find little to fault this title except a dearth of information on the Fw 190D's record viz-a viz the VVS.
Whatever your opinion is of the books of this series, give this one a read if you are a military aviation enthusiast.
Believe me, you will be glad you did!

This book gives a general idea of the situation German pilots had to face every day on the Russian Front and highlights the best German propeller-driven fighter of the war. The author deserves congratulation in writing a book about a subject that is hard to find. We all know tha the wiiners tak it all, and to find good boks about the other side is difficult. I

another excellent book covering the luftwaffe aces over russia. the book features excellent photos, some brilliant colour plates of different paint schemes and lots of detail on the men who flew there. the costs in men and machines was huge and there are many tragic tales within the pages of this book.

I have quite a collection of these Osprey series books. I am not disappointed in the historical content of the topic. All the "Aces" book series heve been satisfying both the historian on the men who flew them and modeler with nice color profiles of the aircraft. It's nice to put a visual man and machine together. I sent to Amazon for this book without question expecting the same content, and was taken by surprise when I received it. At first I thought maybe the book was missing all the color profiles. I went back to the book reviews to see if anyone made a comment about it and no one did.
As an equal historian and model builder, I would not have purchased this book at the $16.00 discount price if I knew it lacked the color profiles. I have other book references about these Aces in greater detail including black & white pictures. Two star loss for me without color profiles, what could have been a paperback book at $8.

Using the Bf-109 against the Russians early in the war in the eastern front, pilots scored heavily. But when the Fw-190 came along then the scores really started to mount. The only real drawback to the Fw-190 was the horrible spin characteristic when turning too tightly and it's ability to 'glide like a brick'. Aces such as Erich Rudorffer, Joachim Brendel, Heinz Lange and many more used the Fw-190 well against the Russians.

This is the first of John Weals' books on German aviation--and he has done a good job! I was pleased on the in-depth information and firsthand accounts about/by the aces. Color plates are well drawn and plentiful of the Fw-190 types, (plus 6 aces). At 85 pages (minus appendices) this book is not small, so you will have plenty of facts and knowledge by the time you are done with this book. Lots of pictures of aces--even Hans-Ulrich Rudel (downed 11 aircraft, destroyed 519 tanks, 70 landing craft, 2 cruisers, 1 destroyer and the Russian battleship `Marat'!!). Also a lot of information and firsthand accounts of/by top Austrian ace Walter Nowotny!

This was interesting in a historical aspect and helpful in the modelling aspect.

I don't know why there is a separate chapter on lesser known FW-190 Aces of the Russian Front just like the one that exists in the book Spitfire Mark V Aces, 1941-1945. Grant, there are too many German Focke Wulf Aces but there is still a number of them that achieve of all or most of their victories flying the Focke Wulf 190. The book should have a list of German aces who score their victories while flying the Focke-Wulf 190 just like the Hurricane Aces series plus have more aircraft plates of the lesser Focke-Wolf aces with 50 victories or less, survive the war and did not die in the postwar so quickly. Mr. Tony Holmes of the Hurricane Aces series should have been the writer of this book. He would have done a superb job.

The subject is cool, but like other books written by John Weal is very boring. I deeply regret to buy.