Osprey Publishing continues to expand its fledging line of “Air Vanguard” titles, with the installment of Messerschmitt Bf 109E-F series.

Like most books of this series, it starts with a brief introduction to the aircraft in question and it quickly delves into the details of the first model, the –E series. It covers the topic in good detail, explaining different subvariants (E-1 to E-8, plus /B and /Z versions) and it also includes the production figures of each subtype.

The next section of the book covers the evolution of the –E into the –F (perhaps the nicest looking 109 of them all) explaining in good detail the wing, engine, cowling, propeller spinner and tail re-enforcements that made this series substantially better than its predecessor.

Finally, the last 40 pages of the book covers the historical details of the operational history of the Bf 109E/F from the Phoney War, to the Norwegian Campaign, Battle of France, Battle of Britain, Barbarossa, North Africa and Malta. These sections include plenty of first hand accounts, some of them even by the “receiving end” pilots that endured combat against the Bf 109.

This book provides a good high level narrative of the technical details and operational history of the Messerchmitt Bf 109 -E and -F series. The B&W pictures are sharp and of good quality. On the above grounds I recommend this book to the modeler and aviation aficionado interested in a general introductory book of the above mentioned airplane.

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