Focke-Wulf FW 190: From 1939 to 1945 (Planes and Pilots)

The "other" IIIrd Reich fighter is a symbol of technology as well as sturdiness. A mythical plane, the FW 190 first appeared in 1941 and, from thenon, was to be a real problem to Allied air forces. From the Eastern front to the Defense of the Reich, including the Normandy campaign, the fighter that the last German aces flew with distinction, is illustrated in all its variety of camouflage and schemes and markings.

REVIEWS

"...an affordable and well illustrated profile book about the famous Luftwaffe fighter of Kurt Tank."Armorama

"...if you're an FW:190 fanatic, you'll be inspired by the amazing models covered...photos are...well focused, properly illuminated,...sharply printed....extensive in progress photo coverage,...great book and great value."Aerodome Modeler, Spring 2007

"There is a wealth of useful and interesting information contained in this small book, and for the price, you get quite a lot of material."IPMS 12/2007

Customer Reviews:

Not so bad; but good for modellers only.

By R. Silva - November 25, 2007

I disagree a bit with my fellow previous reviewer. The colors in this book are quite pretty and accurate, in line with most of the latest knowledge about them, putting all possible color quarrels aside. These disputes can be very arbitrary, given field paint preparation, mixing colors, fading, etc. RLM 74 Grüngrau and RLM 75 Violettgrau, for example, look better than those from many profile books I have seen or owned.

However, I DO agree in the many, many factual errors, like wrong Jagdgeshwadern, or naming a color NOT used on the plane, then representing the correct one. Stuff like this will be confusing to all but people who are well versed in Luftwaffe planes and can spot the mistakes, laugh, and disregard them. I'd say there are about 10-15 errors I have found in contradictory color info vs. the colors on the profile, and stuff like the below mentioned "JKG-300" :)

These are, of course, unjustifiable errors.

The wealth of profiles, on the... read more

you get your moneys worth - which is not much !

By N. Page - August 4, 2007

..or in other words this book is very cheap ..and practically worthless to anyone seriously interested in finding out more about this aircraft and the men who flew it..
For a book based exclusively on a collection of aircraft profile drawings the artwork has to 'look right'; here it simply does'nt. A vast selection of 190s are illustrated but they all have curiously shaped cowls and heavily shaded panel lines where none exist, not to mention weird colours...there are no accompanying reference details and nothing in the way of 'unpublished' photos as promised in thr blurb - how do they get away with it! Errors abound on every page...JKG 300 indeed ! The 'icing' is the dreadful English language translation from Alan McKay...awful...'or so the story goes..' to quote him!!
As the intro in the original French edition stated, this work was essentially cobbled together from a variety of well known English language sources and designed for non-English speaking enthusiasts. There... read more

A nice introduction to the butcher bird

By Kevin Nazario Bartolomei "Sazabi" - September 6, 2009

This may not be the best book on the FW 190, but is really good. The over all history, modifications, markings, weapons and camouflage are here. And it has a large number of profiles, over 100, many with patterns I had never seen before. Is essential for the model builder, highly recommended.