Fighter Aces

The much-anticipated sequel to The German Aces Speak gives voice to four more of WWII’s most noteworthy German pilots. When The German Aces Speak published in 2011, Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine welcomed Colin Heaton’s and Anne-Marie Lewis’s masterful command of interview-based narrative…

This volume is the first of its type to be devoted exclusively to the Zerstörer day fighter aces, spanning the war years from Poland to the defence of the Reich. Although Messerschmitt's single-engined Bf 109 has received most of the plaudits for achieving virtual air superiority over Europe in 1939-40, the exploits of the manufacturer's twin-engined Bf 110, the Ju 88 and the Me 410 Zerstörer in the first year of the war also make for very impressive reading. Indeed, on the eve of World War 2 a posting to a Bf 110 unit was considered to be the best career move available in the Luftwaffe.

Produced in the same style as the Jagdwaffe series (which concentrated on German day fighters), this is the first of a two-part history of the German Nachtjager the nightfighter force in World War II. The Luftwaffe used many aircraft in the night fighter role, primarily to combat RAF Bomber Command's nocturnal heavy bombing raids against German targets from 1940-41 onwards, and a cat-and-mouse development of aircraft enhancement, weapons, guidance systems, and radar took place. The book contains a wide variety of aircraft. This volume, concentrates on the single-seat Me109 fighter adapted as a night fighter, early versions of the Me110 and the Ju88. The text is accompanied by a wide range of photographs (many published for the first time) together with color profiles, biographies of top night fighter aces such as Falck, Schnaufer, Lent, Jabs and others. Furthermore, the book includes pilot accounts and details of the Schrage Musik upward-firing, FuG202 Lichtenstein and SN-2 radar sets, etc. With the great importance attached by the Royal Air Force to its nocturnal bombing raids, the importance to the defense of Germany of the night fighter's squadrons cannot be overstated. This volume and its companion will provide the modeler and historian with a detailed examination of the Nachtjager forces deployed by the Luftwaffe during the war and will be required reading for all interested in the subject of the nightly battles over the skies of the Reich during World War II.