STUKA & Spitfire ***TOP OFFER ***

The Spitfire was Britain’s most famous fighter of World War II. Noted principally for its role in the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire was developed during the late 1930s and first saw action in the fight to defend France in 1940. Its finest hour coincided with Britain’s, and the famous ‘few’, the pilots who fought against German bombers and their Me-109 escorts, maintained British air supremacy and turned the tide against Nazism. 

After 1940 the Spitfires were used in every theatre of command, from Burma to the Baltic, in the Western Desert and over Europe. Numerous variations on this aircraft were used not only by the British, but by the Free French, the Australians, Canadians and other Commonwealth Allies. They also served as Seafires on aircraft carriers. 

The story of the Spitfire and all the technical changes and developments of this great aircraft are told by one of Britain’s leading aviation historians, Chaz Bowyer. Richly illustrated with colour and monochrome photographs as well as line drawings and a full-colour cutaway by Mike Badrocke, this book will be a valuable addition to the library of every aviation enthusiast. 

The Stuka was conceived in the 1930s and was tried out by the Nazis in the Spanish Civil War. Introduced in World War II in the Polish Campaign of 1939, it struck fear in the hearts of Polish soldiers and civilians as it dropped out of the sky with its siren blaring. It proved as useful as a propaganda weapon as it was in destroying military targets. 

The Stuka proved equally effective in the Blitzkrieg of France and the Low Countries in 1940, but by the time of the Battle of Britain, its days of glory were over. It was found that because the Luftwaffe had not established air superiority over Britain once the Stuka entered its famous dive it was vulnerable to fighters like the Spitfire and also to anti-aircraft fire. Losses were so high that the Stuka Groups were withdrawn from action and for the balance of the war played a less important role in areas of Axis air superiority, attacking strategic targets, such as bridges and tanks. 

The story of the Stuka by the noted historian, Lieutenant Colonel A J. Barker, richly illustrated with colour and monochrome photographs as well as line drawings and a full-colour cutaway by Mike Badrocke, is a valuable addition to the library of all aviation enthusiasts.

Source: publisher’s summary printed on the cover