Military Model Scene

Title: Dornier Do 17 in the Battle of Britain
Author: Chris Goss
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 978-1-52678-120-8

'The Flying Pencil in the Spitfire Summer' is the 5th book on the subject of the Do 17 by author Chris Goss, and this is a recent book from Air World, an imprint of Pen & Sword Books. A 220-page hard-cover book.
The book splits into roughly two halves. The first half is a collection on archive photos, a mix from British and German sources illustrating the service of the Do 17 during the period of the Battle of Britain. Pictures of the aircraft in the air and on airfields with various crew members, though a high percentage of them show crashed examples on both sides of the Channel. Many were shot down over Britain, while many which RAF pilots only claimed as 'damaged' never made it back to base, and crashed either over the water, or in fields in Northern France. The pictures are spread across 3 chapters, covering July, August and September/October 1940. The large majority of the aircraft we see are the later Do 17Z, which had a larger crew compartment than the earlier Do 17P, which gave it the nickname of 'flying pencil' thanks to its' thin/narrow fuselage. Used by 4 units, KG 2,3, 76 and 77, the Dornier suffered heavy casualties as it was outclassed by this time, and they suffered badly at the hands of Fighter Command. The second half of the book is filled with pages of tables listing in detail all the individual aircraft casualties and then the crew casualties, which even includes the burial sites of those crew who were killed on operations. It is all rounded off with some more detail in 4 appendices.
Lots of new photographs to interest the Battle of Britain historian and to modellers who will enjoy the level of detail it contains on airframe and marking details, and even aircrew uniforms along with plenty of inspiration for model dioramas. The details of the aircraft and crew casualties during the period of the battle is highly detailed, showing how vulnerable the aircraft type was by this time. I am sure battlefield explorers will also be interested in this too.
Thanks to Air World/Pen & Sword books for our review copy.

Robin