Military Model Scene

Title: Junkers Ju 188 Units of World War 2
Author: Robert Forsyth
Publisher: Osprey
ISBN: 978-1-4728-3638-0

Combat Aircraft 146 from Osprey and the units which operated the Junkers design with the distinctive glazed nose of the Ju 188. A 96-page soft-cover book and of course it does include a set of excellent colour profiles which we expect from Osprey.
It begins with the design & development story, marking the progress from the original Ju 88 and a number of earlier prototypes before we finally got to what became the Ju 188, the E variant of which finally flew in mid-1943. Using some parts from the original Ju88 design, it had new engines (both Junkers Jumo and BMW), greater space in the bomb bays, extended wingspan and of course the larger cockpit with a new armament mix, including a powered turret. There are the stories of the aircraft in service, with bombing missions based in France over to the UK, with mixed results, then meteorological and reconnaissance flights from Norway, along with a Torpedo bomber variant. Perhaps most interesting was to read of the surprising number of missions for inserting agents, or spies. The idea of the 3-person plywood pod, the PAG - Personnenabwurfgerat, does not sound like an experience I'd even want to imagine. Even once in service, ongoing development continued.
The final stages of the war continued to see the Ju 188 in action, and i addition to these stories there is a brief but useful summary of their use at the end of the book, including some post-war use by France. In the middle of the book are 12-pages of colour profiles, which have detailed descriptions all together in the closing appendices of the book. Plenty to tempt the modeller, as are some marvellous archive images that are included throughout the book. Another excellent addition to the Combat Aircraft series.
Thanks to Osprey for the review copy.

Robin