The Duel series from Osprey Publishing has been expanded to include a volume devoted to the aerial night fighting campaign between the Bf-110 and the Lancaster during WWII.

Most of the previous titles have been devoted to similar classes of airplanes, armor, or ships. However, this title is different in the sense that it’s a fighter versus a bomber (disparate classes of aircraft), and the weapons that changed the tide in their fight were usually technical developments in the field of electronic measures and countermeasures, not a higher rate of fire, better tactics, or improved performance.

Like all the other books in the series, this one has a section devoted to the evolution of airframes, the strategic situation, training, combat, etc. It is illustrated with plenty of period pictures, plus multiple color illustrations which would be welcomed by modelers looking for detailing their builds.

Of historical relevance are the technical advances in the use of airborne radar by the Luftwaffe, the countermeasure (Monica) that were supposed to alert Lancaster crews of the proximity of a night-fighter, the implementation of the Schrage musik (which was undetected for several months, leaving RAF crews defenseless to that particular attack), or the ground-based jamming campaign from the RAF against the Luftwaffe night controllers, mainly fought by RAF WAAF personnel.

The book closes with a detailed analysis and statistics of the night campaign – not from a tonnage point of view, but from an attrition point of view. Clearly, the RAF suffered incredibly high loss rates, as the bombers received more damage from the Bf-110s than they were able to inflict. Having said that, the bombers’ mission was to bomb enemy targets and not the destruction of the Luftwaffe night fighters.

This book is well researched and presents an in-depth study the equipment, tactics, and the men (and women!) who fought an aerial night campaign over the skies of Europe.

Highly recommended.

I would like to thank Osprey Publishing and IPMS/USA for the review sample.