ICM has lately really gotten into making combo kits, and this one, which combines their excellent CR. 42 Night Raider with their equally excellent German pilots set, is one of the latest. I will review each item separately, so let’s start with the airplane.

As most of you already know, the Italian CR. 42 biplane was perhaps one of the most elegant aircraft of its day. Late in the war, however, its obsolescence as a front-line fighter was painfully obvious, and both the Italians and Germans saw its potential as a night intruder for harassing the enemy under conditions where it was unlikely to encounter much, if any, aerial resistance. This involved some modifications, such as adding bomb racks, extending the engine exhausts and cutting down the landing gear spats to deal with rough field conditions.

This book covers the many captured foreign aircraft that were put into service and tested by the Luftwaffe. The book has twelve chapters.

Chapter one has many pictures of aircraft taken from Czechoslovakia and absorbed from Austria. Many Fiat, Avia, Letov are featured in the accompanying photos.

. Chapter two has great photo coverage of planes from Poland, Norway, the Netherlands. Many of these were put into Luftwaffe service especially in the training role.

Chapter three covers the aircraft taken with the fall of France. These included all types of home manufactured aircraft such as Bloch, Dewoitine, LeO and Morane as well as American made aircraft used by the French such as Hawk 75 (P-36) and North American models 57 and 64 trainers. Also included are the many British aircraft, both those serving with the French as well those left behind by the British when forced to retreat.

When I heard a 1/72 scale World War I submarine kit was coming out, I was excited. It ended up being the U-9 class from Germany. The kit is molded in light gray plastic and comes packed in a nice large, sturdy box. In fact, it will fit back in the box all the way until the completion of the build.

Publishers Notes

“After the Second World War many American military vehicles become surplus stock and soon found their way into the hands of farmers and land owners across Great Britain. The subsequent heavy use and the real possibility of difficulties obtaining spares led Maurice Wilks, the Rover Car Company Chief Engineer, to design and build a replacement.”

About the Authors

Dmitry Degtev is one of the leading Russian researches of the history of the Second World War. Widely known to readers for his publications on military aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s, he has been studying the air battles of the Second World War and the history of the Luftwaffe for more than twenty years. As a result, he has assembled a huge amount of exclusive material on events and battles previously little known to the wider audience. He also has more than twelve years of experience teaching Russian and world history and currently lectures at Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University. He lives in the Russian Federation.

Dmitry Zubov is the author of twenty-two books on military history. In his works he prefers to analyze the psychological causes of historical events. A professional psychologist, Dmitry is an Associate Professor who lectures on psychology at the Nizhny Novgorod State University. He also lives in the Russian Federation.