Military Model Scene

Title: Bf 109D/E, Blitzkrieg 1939-40
Author: Malcolm V. Lowe
Publisher: Osprey
ISBN: 978-1-4728-5031-7

A recent release, number 3 in the Dogfight series from Osprey Publishing takes on the early war service story of the D and E variants of the Me 109, perhaps the most well known of all the main variants. An 80-page soft-cover book tackling what it was like to fly this famous aircraft in combat.
The book starts off with the early combat history of the Messerschmitt Bf109, when early combat experience in Spain, as part of the Condor Legion, was a valuable learning period not just for the performance of the 109, but for both the pilots and the maintenance teams. This helped them in the later campaign in Poland and then the start of Blitzkrieg in the West. Even the early D variant, fitted with a Junkers Jumo engine, had great success against the older fighters flown by the Poles, the Dutch, and also against the bombers used by the RAF in the early stages of the war. The pilots had to learn new tactics to deal with these slower machines, and that is all included. Only later did they come up against more modern aircraft types such as the Spitfire and Hurricane operated by the RAF. They were also then using the newer E (Emil) variant, with a new fuel-injected Daimler Benz engine. There is also coverage of changes in armament, swapping the machine guns in the wings for cannon. Add explanations of their tactics, such as the successful 4-aircraft Schwarm formation, which was eventually copied by opponents. It was the newer E variants which bore the brunt of the combat in the Battle of Britain. Along with all this are many personal accounts of their experiences from well known, experienced pilots such as Galland, Molders and Osterkamp among others. Added to archive photos and some lovely artwork, which include a number of Ribbon Diagrams, which illustrate the course of particular encounters.
Very much the story of an aircraft, how it was used, how it developed as a result of combat experience, tactics and unit organisation, and the more human side of what it felt like to fly these machines in combat as recorded by a number of the pilots who flew them. An interesting read I think, and excellent illustrations as well.
Thanks to Osprey for the review copy.

Robin