Customer Reviews

Messerschmitt Me 109, Vol. 1: From 1936 to 1942 (Aircraft and Pilots)

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

 

 

This is by far the most comprehensive guide on the markings and colour schemes of the famous Messerschmitt Me 109. I was breathless when I first opened this book. It is filled with many very beautiful colour-plates profiles of this WWII fighter. This Volume I covers the period between 1936 to 1942 and Volume II will cover 1943 to end of WWII. Messerschmitt fans and modelling enthusiasts, don't hesitate. You won't regret getting this one.

For the price, you get 51 profile pages, that's 205 aircraft! 109s, starting with prototypes, B-C-D models, into the E-series warhorses, to include foreign service. There's also a brief dip into early F-models (12 examples). A goodly number of examples are not often illustrated. Color art is rendered in the "scale effect" approach, so the appearance is toward the realistic while color differences are easier to distinguish (compared to the use of full strength colors from RLM paint chips favored by some illustrators).

Other pages present pertinent details graphically. Examples of this are stencil placement, standard camo schemes, experten kill markings, 109 subtype differences, and more, some 16 pages worth. So, this volume is nothing but colorful and pleasing to the eye.

At the price, for color art, this one is unbeatable. However, there are flaws.

Maps purporting to show unit locations for major campaigns are incomplete; not explained, this good idea is close to worthless. Unit badge pages are spectacularly colorful but captions are poor and can mislead. Some captions are transposed on the page for E-model camo schemes (albeit, no special knowledge is required to sort this out). These examples suggest insufficient care by the publisher.

So, when examining captions for the profiles, some problems arise. Unit designations may not be 100% accurate and the dates are loose. So confusion can arise, especially when more than one a/c profile is shown for a given pilot. Specifically, 3 for Helmut Wick and 2 for Heinz Bar. There's more, but going into written detail without showing the visuals would be a waste. The point is, some captions can lead to confusion when it comes to historical detail.

Bottom line: The abundance of color a/c profiles(including lesser known examples) makes this volume highly attractive. But it offers little as a solid historical reference. As long as this can be overcome by readers, look forward to succeeding volumes covering 1943-1945.

Reading some of the mixed reviews, I was a bit concerned with this purchase. I thought, for this price, I still should give it a try.

What this book brought me:

-great deal of very interesting profiles (litteraly packed with)
-very interesting explainations on the tactical markings on the planes
-Some top down views I couldn't find elsewhere
-quick history and visual explaination of the differences between the different models

As a modeler and painter, I find this book incredibly inspiring and meeting fully (and beyond) the objectives I had when I bought it. Text editing could be better but I don't mind that much.

In a word, I don't regret a second this addition to my library.

The color profiles of various Me-109s ARE the book. Great for modelers, and Me-109 fans. Some French to English translation / editing flaws in the text.
The main thrust of the book is the Me-109E, its various paint schemes, maintenance markings, wing and fighter group insignia, fusilage markings, kill markings, etc. The Me-109F2 is introduced in the final chapter, with 12 profiles of said aircraft provided.
If you're looking for prewar / early war Me-109 color profiles, this book is "more bang for your buck" when compared to those in the Osprey Aircraft of the Aces Series.

In just the past few years some marvelous books detailing Luftwaffe colors and markings have been published. Unfortunately some of those beauties, filled with new interpretations of Luftwaffe colors by artists like Tom Tullis, have been budget busters. Here we have an 82-page book from the Histoire & Collections firm bulging with 200+ Bf 109 color profiles going for $20.00. Is this a great deal or what!?! Well, sorta.

First things first. After a brief two-page summary covering the Bf 109 through the F model, authors Anis El Bied and Andre Jouineau present several color pages devoted to maintenance markings, wing/group insignia and command markings along with tail fin markings followed by individual sections on prototypes, Bf 109 Bertha-Dora models, Emils and Friedrichs. Different variants - Bf 109E-1, E-3, etc. - get their own chapters. Generally there is four profiles per page. Along with Luftwaffe machines, the book contains profiles of Swiss, Bulgarian, Rumanian, Yugoslavian AF birds.

Though a visual delight and easy on the pocketbook, I have a couple of problems with this book. The biggest is the accuracy of the color schemes! Some of the aircraft depicted have been illustrated in other aviation books. In comparing same-aircraft profiles, the H&C colors are sorta "in the ballpark" with those found in Tullis/Caruna/Greer/etc. artwork but also can be wildly different. In particular the greens and grays used in the H&C volume seem garish, almost poisonous. It makes you wonder how accurate the H&C profiles are. Secondly, there's something odd about the basic 109 profile used in the H&C volume. What's with the Cyrano de Bergerac nose depicted on the Emil models? I haven't seen that on Bf 109 artwork done by any other artist.

In summary, THE MESSERSCHMITT 109, 1936-1942 VOLUME I adds up to pluses and maybe some big minuses. You get dozens and dozens of colorful profiles at a very affordable cost but how accurate are those profiles? Let's just say: If I was a modeller, I think I'd consult other books before starting to paint. Recommended with reservations.

If you are more interested in camouflage than the actual blue print of the aircraft, this is the book for you. The level of detail concerning insignia and variation in paint schemes makes this book fascinating. Remember, the goal of the artist was not to make super realistic lateral views. Rather, it is a chronicle on the creative camouflage applications by the Luftwaffe during WW II. I was somewhat bothered by the underneath wing cross not following the shape of the wing. Unacceptable considering all the work that went into these illustrations. No one checked for typos and word spacing problems either. Still, the two volumes of this series are the most important books of their kind. Aircraft modlers will go absolutely nuts over these books.

I got this book on discount (love that word) and it's one of the better modeler's references on the ME-109. It covers the history of the aircraft from prototype to the ME-109F model, the real final version. The G and other models were just improvements and not great improvements at that.

This book gives pages and pages of paint schemes, squadron markings, individual aircraft markings, and how kills were recorded. That was really neat to read. Kill marks were first on the area over the stabulator but were moved to the rudder because the German pilots shot down so man aircraft. At first I thought those markings were mere tick marks. However, this book goes into great detail that the kill marks recorded the nationality, date, and type shot down.

I have plans to scratch build a Dora model of the BF-109. This invaluable book will show what squadron (Staffel) it belonged, the flight (gruppe), and all the technical things that make a good model great.

The only way this book could be beat is for a software set to come out with all the individual histories of the BF-109, the pilots of the particular aircraft, the individual flight, and fate of the aircraft. This task isn't as impossible as it seems. It has already been done for the 1,500 or so Tiger tanks.

I give this book five stars. It's a really nice reference book.

If you are interested in different colour schemes for the early Bf109's through to the first F versions, then this is the book for you. As always, colours are subject to personal interpretation as these are invariably translated from black and white photographs - but all in all, most profiles seem to be a sensible representation.

The artwork may appear flat and does not reach levels of aviation artists like Richard J. Caruana. The perspective layout is also on the weak side, particularly the under-surfaces. The weathering effect can be annoying as it is done on a permanent layer and is repeated on every profile. There are certain elementary errors which could have been avoided, ex. E-1's should not have the undersurface cannon bulges...

All in all however, the effort is commendable and the publication is in fact a good reference source if you want to choose a scheme for your models.

For a book based exclusively on a collection of aircraft profile drawings the artwork has to 'look right'; here it simply does'nt. A vast selection of Bf109s are illustrated but they all have a curious banana shaped fuselage and heavily shaded panel lines where none exist...there are no accompanying reference details and little in the way of photos. As the intro in the original French edition stated, this work was essentially cobbled together from a variety of well known English language sources and designed for non-English speaking enthusiasts. There seems ultimately little point in offering a translated edition...the bottom line... even Osprey does this sort of thing better..!!