Illustrator: Jim Laurier. — Osprey Publishing, 2000. — 128 p. Tracing its roots to Manfred, Freiherr von Richthofen's 'Flying Circus' of WWI, the Jagdgeschwader 'Richthofen' is arguably the most famous fighter unit of all time. Designated JG 1 during the Great War, then disbanded following defeat, the Jagdgeschwader reformed as JG 132. By September 1939 the unit had become JG 2,...
Illustrator: Chris Davey. — Osprey Publishing, 2000. — 128 p. One of the first Thunderbolt groups to see action in the European Theatre of Operations (ETO) with the US Army Air Forces, the 56th Fighter Group (FG) was also the only fighter unit within the Eighth Air Force to remain equipped with the mighty P-47 until war's end. Led by the inspirational ‘Hub' Zemke, this group was...
Illustrator: Chris Davey. — Osprey Publishing, 2001. — 128 p. From its humble beginnings as a reconnaissance flight, using second-hand aircraft at the very end of the Battle of Britain, No 91 'Nigeria' Squadron went on to become one of the most famous units in RAF Fighter Command. It achieved outstanding results using new low-level interception tactics along the south coast of...
Illustrator: John Weal. — Osprey Publishing, 2001 — 128 p. Finland's premier fighter squadron during World War 2, Lentolaivue 24 (Flying Squadron 24) first saw action during the bloody Winter War of 1939-40, when the Soviet Red Army launched a surprise attack on the small Scandinavian country - the squadron enjoyed great success against numerically superior opposition. LLv 24 was...
Illustrator: Jim Laurier. — Osprey Publishing, 2001 — 128 p. 'B-29!' No other term struck such terror in the hearts of the Japanese public during World War 2 than this single, most-hated name. It was then only natural that the pilots who attempted to shoot these high-flying Boeing bombers out of the skies over Tokyo, Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Kobe should become known as the elite of...
Illustrator: John Weal. — Osprey Publishing, 2001 — 128 p. One of the most successful of the high-scoring Luftwaffe Jagdgeschwader during World War 2, JG 54 ‘Grünherz' (Green Hearts) was formed from three disparate fighter 'Gruppen' immediately prior to the Battle of Britain. Having enjoyed immediate success over the Channel and South-east England during the summer of 1940, the...
Illustrator: Chris Davey. — Osprey Publishing, 2002 — 128 p. ‘I think the success of the 354th as the leading group in the European theatre for aerial victories is due to several things. First was the initial training of the squadrons before deployment to England. Colonel Ken Martin nurtured the group from its infancy, and all the excellence that later showed through could be...
Illustrator: Tom Tullis. — Osprey Publishing, 2002 — 128 p. Nicknamed the ‘Bluenosed Bastards of Bodney' due to the garish all-blue noses of their P-51s, the 352nd FG was one of the most successful fighter groups in the Eighth Air Force. Credited with destroying almost 800 enemy aircraft between 1943 and 1945, the 352nd finished fourth in the ranking of all groups within VIII...
Illustrator: Chris Davey. — Osprey Publishing, 2003 — 128 p. Known as the 'Fighting Cocks', No 43 Sqn has been a part of the RAF since 1916, and is still in service today. This volume deals exclusively with the unit's exploits during WW2, covering its service during the evacuation of Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, as well as the years spent supporting the Allied cause in North...
Illustrator: Tom Tullis. — Osprey Publishing, 2002 — 128 p. Nicknamed the 'Unicorns', the 359th FG was one of the last groups to arrive in the UK for service in the ETO with the Eighth Air Force. First seeing action on 13 December 1943, the group initially flew bomber escort sweeps in P-47s, before converting to the ubiquitous P-51 in March/April 1944. Throughout its time in the...
Illustrator: Mark Styling. — Osprey Publishing, 2003 — 128 p. The first title in the Elite Units series to deal with an American bombardment group, this title focuses on the 303rd BG, dubbed the 'Hells Angels.' One of the very first B-17 units assigned to the newly created Eighth Air Force in England in September 1942, the 303rd was in the vanguard of the daylight bombing campaign...
Illustrator: John Weal. — Osprey Publishing, 2003 — 128 p. Synonymous with the Afrika Korps and the campaign in North Africa, JG 27 provided Rommel's army with fighter protection for virtually the whole 'roller coaster ride that was the war in the Western Desert from 1941-43. Formed in Germany on 1 October 1939 (with Adolf Galland as CO of I.Gruppe), JG 27 saw considerable action...
Illustrator: John Weal. — Osprey Publishing, 2003 — 128 p. One of the most important, and yet least publicised, components of the front-line Luftwaffe was the Schlacht, or ground attack, arm. This book details the Schlacht units who were in the thick of the fighting from the first day of the war until the last. They played a vital part in the heady successes of the early...
Illustrator: Chris Davey. — Osprey Publishing, 2004 — 128 p. The 49th FG was sent to Australia in early 1942 to help stem the tide of Japanese conquest in Java. Too late to save the island, the group went into action in the defence of Darwin, Australia, where the Forty-Niners' handful of P-40E Warhawks were thrown into combat alongside survivors from the defeated forces that had...
Illustrator: John Weal. — Osprey Publishing, 2004 — 128 p. Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) was the most successful and highest-scoring fighter unit, not just in Germany's World War 2 Luftwaffe, but in the entire annals of aviation history. No other fighter group has ever come close to matching its staggering total of around 9000 enemy aircraft shot down in combat. And yet, because much...
Illustrator: Harry Dempsey. — Osprey Publishing, 2004 — 128 p. Undoubtedly the most famous of any nation's aviation units in World War 1 was the legendary Jagdgeschwader Nr 1, or ‘The Flying Circus' as its respectful foes labelled it. Germany's first true fighter wing, it would always be associated with its first commander, the charismatic and revered Manfred von Richthofen. JG 1...
Illustrator: Harry Dempsey. — Osprey Publishing, 2004 — 128 p. This book tells the story of one of World War I's most famous squadrons, Spa. 124 - the only French squadron made up entirely of American volunteers (save for the commander and executive officer.) Organised in April 1916, the group was successively dubbed the Escadrille Americaine, Escadrille des Volontaires and...
Illustrator: Harry Dempsey. — Osprey Publishing, 2004 — 128 p. This book traces the combat history of the most famous and highest-scoring fighter group in France's World War I Aviation Militaire. Groupe de Combat 12 boasted the highest-scoring Allied fighter pilot, René Fonck, and France's most celebrated hero of the air, Georges Guynemer. Its ranks included numerous other famous...
Illustrator: Harry Dempsey. — Osprey Publishing, 2005 — 128 p. After struggling with inadequate supplies of aircraft and matériel, the veteran pilots of the Geschwader would go on to enjoy incredible successes against French and American opponents in September 1918. Aces who flew the famous blue-fuselaged Fokkers of JG II included such stalwarts as Josef Veltjens (35 kills), Georg...
Illustrator: John Weal. — Osprey Publishing, 2005 — 128 p. The 'storm troopers' of the Luftwaffe, the elite Strumgruppen units comprised the most heavily armed and armoured fighter interceptors ever produced by the Germans. Their role was to smash like a mighty fist through the massed ranks of USAAF daylight bombers. Only volunteers could serve with these elite units, and each...
Illustrator: Jim Laurier. — Osprey Publishing, 2006 — 128 p. These pilots called themselves the ‘Tokyo Club'. It was a simple task to become a member. All you had to do was strap yourself into a heavily loaded P-51 Mustang, take off from Iwo Jima, fly 650 miles north over the sea - often through monsoon storms - in your single-engined aircraft to Japan, attack a heavily defended...
Illustrator: John Weal. — Osprey Publishing, 2006 — 128 p. JG 51 were one of the Luftwaffe's top wartime fighter units, yet their story has never been told in English. The unit's history encapsulates the fortunes of the Luftwaffe's fighter arm as a whole - the heady successes of the early months, the steady attrition and the growing strength of the opposition during the mid-war...
Illustrator: Chris Davey. — Osprey Publishing, 2007 — 128 p. Formed with the best available fighter pilots in the Southwest Pacific, the 475th Fighter Group was the pet project of Fifth Air Force chief, General George C Kenney. From the time the group entered combat in August 1943 until the end of the war it was the fastest scoring group in the Pacific and remained one of the...
Illustrator: John Weal, Mark Postlethwaite. — Osprey Publishing, 2007 — 128 p. Arguably the archetypal Luftwaffe fighter unit of World War 2, JG 53 aircraft were encountered on almost every fighting front from the first day of hostilities until the last. During almost six years of near-constant campaigning, JG 53 took a steady toll of Allied aircraft in every theatre it fought...
Illustrator: Harry Dempsey. — Osprey Publishing, 2007 — 128 p. By August 1916, the German Air Service was fighting a losing struggle in the skies over the Battle of the Somme. In response, an entirely new type of fighting formation came into being -the Jagdstaffel, a unit designed solely as a fighting squadron. One of the most famous was Jasta 2, formed and led by Germany's...
Illustrator: Jim Laurier. — Osprey Publishing, 2008 — 128 p. There was no Luftwaffe fighter unit like Jagdverband 44. Formed in February 1945, the unit grew out of Hitler's bizarre decision that the Me 262 jet fighter should be used as a bomber, despite its potential in the daylight defensive battles over the Reich. Seen as a grave mistake by Göring, a small fighter unit was...
Illustrator: Jim Laurier. — Osprey Publishing, 2008 — 128 p. When the revolutionary Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter first appeared in the skies over northwest Europe in mid-1944, it represented one of the greatest challenges to Allied air superiority. The first group to solely fly jet fighters, Jagdgeschwader 7 was tasked with wrestling back command of the skies. Put almost...
Illustrator: Chris Davey. — Osprey Publishing, 2008 — 128 p. Formed around a nucleus of pilots already seasoned by their experience as volunteers in the RAF's Eagle Squadrons, the 4th Fighter Group was established in England in October 1942. Initially flying Spitfires, the Debden Eagles went on to fly the P-47 and P-51, becoming, in July 1943, the first Eighth Air Force fighter...
Illustrator: Jim Laurier. — Osprey Publishing, 2009 — 128 p. Famous for the fearsome sharksmouths that adorned their planes, the 23rd FG fought a guerrilla war against the Japanese, steadily moving pilots and aircraft from one remote air base in China to another to keep the enemy off balance. Because China could only be supplied by air from India, there were constant shortages of...
Illustrator: Chris Davey. — Osprey Publishing, 2009 — 128 p. Formed in October 1943, the 479th FG claimed an impressive history against the Luftwaffe during the final year of the war. Originally flying P-38s, the 479th's pilots had a fierce pride of arms. They earned a Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation in the late summer of 1944 and were also credited with the USAAF's first...
Illustrator: Harry Dempsey. — Osprey Publishing, 2009 — 128 p. By the autumn of 1916, with the formation of the new Jagdstaffeln, the pendulum of aerial supremacy had once again swung in favour of the German Air Force. The battle of the Somme in 1916 saw the RFC suffer losses of nearly 400 aircrew between September and November, and British casualties were to reach a zenith in the...
Illustrator: Chris Davey. — Osprey Publishing, 2009 — 128 p. Most famous for the dambusting raid in the darkest days of the Second World War, the No 617 Sqn were a vastly experienced crew, yet little has been written about the unit's later operations. Formed in 1943, the squadron pioneered various experimental weapons throughout the entirety of the war, using both Mosquitoes and...
Illustrator: Chris Davey. — Osprey Publishing, 2010 — 128 p. The success of No 126 Wing began before the D-Day landings and through operations at Falaise Gap, Operation Market Garden, the winter offensive in the Ardennes, and crossing the Rhine into Germany. Donald Nijboer examines the wing's operations chapter by chapter, demonstrating how the five squadrons of Spitfires of No...
Illustrator: Tom Tullis. — Osprey Publishing, 2010 — 128 p. Fighting Squadron 11 was established at San Diego in August 1943, beginning a half-century record that spanned aerial combat in three wars from the piston to the jet age. The squadron produced seven aces while fighting in World War 2, Korea and Vietnam. From World War 2 until after the Cold War, the 'Sundowners'...
Illustrator: Jim Laurier, Mark Postlethwaite. — Osprey Publishing, 2010 — 128 p. The Jagdgeschwader 400 group was formed for the sole purpose of flying one of the world's most revolutionary aircraft, the rocket-powered Me 163. Although the Me 163 scored relatively few kills, with a success rate much lower than the Me 262, it still had a massive psychological impact upon the...
Illustrator: Richard Caruana. — Osprey Publishing, 2010 — 128 p. A detailed examination of one of Italy's leading units in World War 2, 53° Stormo saw action on the French Front, the Balkans, in North Africa and the Mediterranean in some of the most iconic Italian fighters of the conflict - CR.32/42, Fiat G.50, Macchi C.200 and C.202, as well as the Bf 109G, 53° Stormo fought its...
Illustrator: Jim Laurier. — Osprey Publishing, 2011 — 128 p. Organized in January 1941, just as the United States was building up military forces for its inevitable entry into World War II, the 57th Fighter Group was the first USAAF fighter unit to go into action in North Africa. It went on to establish a number of other 'firsts' during its illustrious combat history in this...
Illustrator: Harry Dempsey. — Osprey Publishing, 2011 — 128 p. The history of Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel (or Jasta) 18 is one of the more unique and complex of German fighter squadrons of World War I. In fact, the unit could be said to have had something of a 'split personality'. Formed in Flanders at the end of October 1916, the Jasta was first commanded by Oblt von...
Illustrator: Harry Dempsey. — Osprey Publishing, 2011 — 128 p. When No 60 Sqn arrived in France in May 1916, partially equipped with the delightfully named Morane Bullet, there were only two dedicated single-seat fighter squadrons on the Western Front. Operating initially as a utility unit, No 60 Sqn's duties were mixed. It was involved in reconnaissance, fighter patrols and...
Osprey Publishing, 2007. — 130 p. — ISBN: 1846030447. The USAAC's Tuskegee Experiment, designed to prove that African-Americans were not capable of flying combat aircraft, ironically resulted in the creation of one of the USAAF's elite units. Crewed by highly-educated and exceptionally motivated men, the 99th Fighter Squadron, led by Col Benjamin O. Davis (later joined by the...
Комментарии