Dr. Nigel Thomas graduated from Tiffin Boy’s School, Kingston-Upon-Thames in 1964 and proceeded to attend Manchester University, earning a BA in Modern Languages. He attended Durham University and Newcastle University where he obtained his MA in German History and Literature. He was awarded a PhD on the Eastern enlargement of NATO. Nigel is an accomplished linguist and military historian and formerly a Principal Lecturer in French and German Languages and Politics at Northumbria University, He is now a freelance military author, translator and military uniform consultant. His interests are 20th century military and civil uniformed organizations, with a special interest in Germany, Central, and Eastern Europe. He has written more than 20 books on military history and uniforms, many of them with Osprey. He lives in Tyne and Wear, UK.

Tony Buttler was born in 1956 and joined High Duty Alloys in Redditch in 1974 as a metallurgist. For nearly 20 years he was closely involved in the testing of aluminum and titanium airframe and engine components for many of the world's most important airplanes. It was during this timeframe that his interest in military aircraft grew into a passion. Since 1995, Tony has been a freelance aviation historian, and is well known for his Secret Projects series of hardbound books with Crecy Publishing. He has also written many titles for the Warpaint series of monographs as well as many articles for most of the popular historical aviation magazines.