Bf 109 Aces of the Russian Front (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 37) (Aircraft of the Aces, 37)

'Bf-109 aces of the Russian Front' is a truly wonderful book! With 82 pages of wonderful drawings and photos and information. I especially loved it when I saw Erich Hartmann (with 352 kills) and Gerhard Barkhorn (301 kills) in the book. I thought the information on these aces was fantastic! The color plates are well drawn, always a plus when modeling, (I wish I had read this book before I built a Bf-109 in 1/32 scale and could have done Erich's plane).To read about the German pilots rack up almost unheard of scores while battling the deadly Russians is incredible. (If you want to experience some action for yourself, buy IL-2 Sturmovik PC game).This book is a must have for me and my collection of other Osprey and encyclopedia books. I'd give this book 6 stars, but that's not going to happen. This is only my opinion, but I think you'll really like this book after reading it.A truly great book! 5 stars all the way!

Great book about the forgotten air aces of the German Luftwaffe. Complete history of the continuous Air assaults of men of the luftwaffe and the unbelievable amount of missions they flew. A must for one who loves the air history of World War II.

thank you

Loved the info in this volumn if this series

Great read testifying superiority of Luftwaffe over the Russian Red AF!

Author John Weal does a great job of crossing the language and cultural barrier in bringing German Luftwaffe fighter pilots to life.

Although a little expensive for a short book, it is well worth the price. This book isn't meant to be a definitive summary of the air war in Russia, but it is a wonderful introduction to WWII air combat on the eastern front. The book is packed with great photos (and descriptive captions), comprehensive ace statistics and beautiful illustrations of their actual planes. It is very balanced between giving an overall summary of the eastern front war and providing actual accounts of real German pilots. Naturally it is centered around the Bf-109 but it doesn't read like a list of statistics; it is well-written enough to read all the way through, captions and all. This is a perfect supplement for anyone interested the Luftwaffe, the Soviet-German war, or especially the Messerschmitt Bf-109. Everyone will learn something from this book.

This book is a wonderful account of the Luftwaffe fighter units in the Eastern Front, presenting all the leading personalities, the aces and a wealth of statistics and little known facts. The color profiles are top quality and with the exception of a few minor mistakes (like the date of Gunther Rall's return to the front in August 1942, or his total Eastern score when he left for JG11) the text is very accurate, fascinating and extremely useful as a reference. To the readers that are enthralled by this book and the unbielievable achievements of the Jagdwaffe in the East, I would recommend also Werner Held's excellent pictorial book "The German Fighter Units over Russia" as the perfect companion to Weal's work.

If less than 6,00 GBP it is highly successful purchase. It has every of Osprey minor shortcomings (post-stamp size of photo re-production), but also give comprehensive and reliable look through the topic presented. It will be valuable add for other titles on the shelf, if you are East Front aerial battles enthusiast or Luftwaffe WWII geek.

Good value for the monies

Standard Aces issue as others. Well written. Nice sideview.

As advertised

This book isn't a total write off, it has a nice introduction and a few good colour plates, nice to see winter camo and the introduction is half nice and the set up is o.k.The real problem is stated in the introduction, there are far too many Luftwaffe pilots on the Eastern Front to be able to fit them into a book of this size. There were more German Aces at this front than in all other army combined with almost a 100 reaching 100 kills and 2 over 300 kills.So as for personal accounts, they are brief and few and by the numbers and not so personal at all. Really there is little new and if you are a newcomer then this ins't a good beginers book either.Sadly for everyone it is dull and your money is probably better spent elsewhere.