Historical Background

The author presents a brief history of the development and operational career of the Messerschmitt Bf-109 series, but the main emphasis of this book is the explanation of the development of colors and markings used for these aircraft. Granted, this topic has been addressed before in many publications, and the Bf-109 has probably had more written about it than any other combat aircraft from the World War II Era.

Beginning with a brief description of the origins of the aircraft, a brief account of the development and service career is presented. Following this is a short section entitled “Camouflage, Markings, and Heraldry”, which explains how the Luftwaffe fighter groups were organized, and the color coding that was used to identify sub-groups within units. The author also explains the development of the specific colors used for overall camouflage schemes, as well as individual unit variations used for different climatic conditions.

The book covers the Tanks that played a key role in the battlefields of World War II and how they were used and utilized. The book goes into great detail of the tank’s role in all the major campaigns of the war, how the tank was used, the way its role evolved over the war, the different locations it was used in. It goes into great details on unit use and tactics which help you understand how it was used. The unit strengths and makeup are very interesting.

This book increased my own knowledge of tank warfare a lot and helped me understand more its role in battle and tactics of all sides in the conflict. The information shows the speed of progress made with tank design and use during this important war.

The images in the book are excellent and inspire diorama ideas for modelers.

I highly recommend this book to everyone with an interest in WWII especially in armor and tank warfare.

With both engines mounted astride the vertical stabilizer, the supersonic Tu-22 Blinder was unique among modern bombers. It entered Soviet Air Force service during the height of the Cold War in 1961 and was a contemporary of the USAF’s B-58 Hustler. Though a direct comparison between the two aircraft is close to the “apples and oranges” conundrum, the Tu-22 was not as fast as the B-58, but was more versatile. In addition to its conventional and nuclear bombing capabilities, it could fly reconnaissance, anti-shipping, and radar & comm jamming (ECM) missions.

The book was first published in 2005 and this volume is a reprinted soft-cover version. Burdin and Dawes (who is also the translator) document the development, system design, operations, and combat experience of this bomber. Below are the Chapter headings which show the scope of the coverage.