Customer Reviews

Kampfflieger Bombers Vol. 4 (Luftwaffe Colours)

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

 

 

I began collecting the Jagdwaffe series when that first came out several years ago. They were a wonderful followup to the earlier generations of Luftwaffe camouflage and markings books, featured excellent pilot biographies, contained carefully selected and unique photos, and had amazingly well executed and interpreted artwork.
Circumstances took me away from these books for the intervening years, and I am just now catching up, picking and choosing the volumes that I hoped would provide the most interesting new information.
Kampfflieger Volume Four, Bombers of the Luftwaffe Summer 1943 - May 1945 by Nick Beale (despite the better known authors whose names appear on the cover mock-up in Amazon's description) is nothing like the early volumes in the Jagdwaffe series. The writing is only about unit dispositions and combat operations, with almost nothing about the participants. There is nothing about camouflage and markings beyond the artwork and its captions, which contain many errors.
The photo captions are a disaster. Whoever wrote them simply did not know the difference between the three common versions of the Ju 88 (A-1, A-5, and A-4) or didn't care to look for the distinguishing features. Reaching into esoterica, a Ju 88 A-4 is called an A-15 because the caption writer ignored the plainly visible gondola. This confusion is compounded by artwork that relies on one late Ju 88 A-4 outline template, apparently repeated from earlier volumes, for all Ju-88 versions. Any squiggle upper surface camouflage pattern is called color 76, even when it's clearly a lighter color, probably white or 99 primer. The captions assign the cloud-spotted He 177s of KG 100 to KG 40, repeating an error that was cleared up nearly a decade ago. In short, none of the photo or artwork captions can be taken at face value; all must be evaluated with information from more reliable sources.
This volume contains many photos, some new and interesting, of the usual cast of Luftwaffe bombers, but only one (yes, just one each) Me 410 and Ju 88 S. The jet bombers are represented by a few of the same photos that everyone else uses. The artwork for the Ar 234 is prosaic beyond excuse.
If you are collecting this series, I suppose you'll want this volume to complete the set, but there is really no other reason to buy it. There are many more books available that cover the aircraft and their crews in more detail, have more accurate descriptions of camouflage and markings, and are more interesting at less expense.

Author Nick Beale wraps up the four-volume 'Kampfflieger' set with this nicely done history of Luftwaffe bomber ops from mid-1943 to war's end. In this case, Ian Allan Publishing saved the best for last and that's saying something given the high quality of the first three volumes.

After years of triumphant combat, 1943 saw the first steps in the eventual decline of the German bomber force. Committed to action on all fronts, Luftwaffe bombers were stretched to the breaking point. During the last two years of war, irreplaceable losses of aircrew coupled with growing demands for more fighters and ground-support aircraft, dwindling fuel stocks and other factors eventually reduced the once-deadly Kampfflieger to a shell of its former self. Though new aircraft and weapons such as the Arado 234, Messerschmitt 262 and Mistel pick-a-backs were introduced during this period, many units labored on flying hoary old warhorses like Heinkel 111s.

Beale's book deserves a rating higher than 5 stars. Since German bombers were active on all fronts, Beale had a lot of history to cover. However he does a marvelous job of covering all fronts, summarizing the major actions, aircraft and weapons developments along with little-known ops and units.

And the book is a visual treat depicting, as it does, the wide range of of aircraft flown during this period. Among the 14 color profiles by Tim Brown, Tom Tullis and Dennis Davison are artworks depicting He 111s and 177s, Focke Wulf 190s, Junkers 88s and 188s, Ar 234s, Me 262s and two profiles of Mistel combinations - talk about variety! The book also features 170 black & white and color photos of aircrew, aircraft, unit badges, maps and combat scenes.

Pick this one up asap - it's a delight!

This book lets the reader look into the deperate last war years of the Luftwaffe Kampflieger, very informative and interesting reading. Excellent profiles and many previously unpublished photographs. Highly recommended to any Luftwaffe enthusiast and/or modeler.