Book review Fw 190 Sturmjäger
Dogfight series
Cigarette and tea companies had harnessed the power of collectible cards to aid sales from at least the 1930s. The huge success of the Brooke Bond Tea military aircraft card series in the 1960s inspired a series of ultra-specific military history books from Osprey. Since their first book on USAAF P-51 units – published, from memory, in 1968 – Osprey has produced a bewildering array of books on every conceivable military subject from the Tarentine Horseman of Magna Graecia to Vulcan Units of the Cold War. Osprey has followed the general trend in specialised aviation books toward greater technical detail on ever more specific subjects, which can be fascinating or boring depending on the particular topic in question. The Sturmjägers, the heavily armed and armoured Fw 190 close-range bomber killer variants, are certainly exciting subjects. The men themselves are fascinating, a motivated cadre of pilots trained to take down enemy bombers at virtually any cost, even using ramming when required.
The details of the text, and the darkly understated pilot quotes, are illuminating – and are backed up by the quality of the many illustrations and diagrams. The subject of the Luftwaffe in World War II can having an ickiness factor, especially with such exciting artworks and a book taking a largely German perspective, but this is neatly sidestepped by the quality of the research and the focus on the tactical, analytical and technical. The author, Robert Forsyth, is impressively knowledgeable on his subject and has clearly spent a great deal of time immersed in Luftwaffe history. The result is a highly readable book charting the desperate defence of the Reich in 1943-45 and the human and technical story of a terrible era in aerial warfare. Much recommended.
Hush-Kit 