Overview

This is a compendium edition of the highly regarded and long out of print Nachtjäger volumes in the acclaimed Classic Colours series on the aircraft, camouflage and markings of the Luftwaffe between 1939-1945. The book focuses on the operations and the aircraft of the Nachtjagd from its origins in the inter-war years, to its formation as an embryonic and innovative force in 1939 and through its desperate and climactic battles against the massed raids of RAF Bomber Command from 1939 onwards. The force evolved from using single-seat Bf 109s to twin-engined Bf 110s and Ju 88s, fitted with technically advanced radar equipment and weapons systems, supported by a sophisticated ground reporting network. It produced many leading night fighter aces such as Wolfgang Falck, Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, Helmut Lent and Hans-Joachim Jabs. As the war progressed and the strategic situation began to tilt away from Germany's favour so, ironically, the pace of development quickened with the Luftwaffe introducing uprated versions of the Ju 88 as well as new types such as the Do 217 and He 219. In the last, desperate months of the war, even the Me 262 was introduced as a night fighter in limited numbers. Nachtjäger is an important resource for modellers and students of Luftwaffe history, providing a detailed narrative augmented by many photographs and specially commissioned colour profiles.

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9781906537562

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In recent years David Williams has travelled extensively around Germany and Austria to interview former Luftwaffe pilots and their families in the course of his research into German fighter operations during WWII. He has gathered a substantial collection of documentation and photographs. He is the author of Hunters of the Reich: Day Fighters, for which he worked closely with five leading German fighter pilots, and a similar biographical study, Hunters of the Reich: Night Fighters. He is married and lives in the west of England.

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