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This remarkable work pulls the lid off one of the legendary air
forces in history at the very peak of its power-unveiling the and
machines as they truly existed day-to-day, underneath the
propaganda of their own regime and the scare stories of their
enemies. In Hitler's Germany, colour photography was primarily
co-opted for state purposes, such as the military publication
Signal, or the Luftwaffe's own magazine, Der Adler (Eagle). But a
number of men had cameras of their own, and in this painstakingly
acquired collection, originally published in France, we can witness
true life on Germany's airfields during the period of the
Luftwaffe's ascendancy. Thus not only do we see famous planes such
as the Me-109, Ju-87 or He-111, but the wide variety of more
obscure types with which the Germans began the war. The array of
Arados, Dorniers, Heinkels - not to mention elegant 4-engine
Condors - that were initially employed in the war are here in plain
sight and full colour, providing not only an insight into WWII
history but a model maker's dream. Just as fascinating are the
shots of the airmen themselves, along with their groundcrews - full
of confidence and cheer as they bested every other air force in
Europe during these years, with the single exception of the RAF's
Fighter Command in late-summer 1940. But that was no big stumbling
block to the Luftwaffe, which had bigger fish to fry in Russia and
North Africa the following year. In the authors' next work, The
Years of Defeat, we will see how the war turned more grim for the
Luftwaffe, even as its expertise and skill at more deadly aircraft
designs, increased. In The Victory Years we have a uniquely
intimate view of an air force at the very apex of its capabilities.
Eighty years after its creation, the Luftwaffe is still one of the
most fascinating forces in the history of aviation. A companion to
Luftwaffe in Colour Volume 1, which covered the victory years from
1939 up to Spring 1942, this volume with nearly 400 images contains
even more fascinating material on the machines of the Luftwaffe and
the men who flew them, as their fate took an increasingly grim
path. Initially the Luftwaffe ruled the skies but thereafter fought
an increasingly futile war of attrition which when combined with
vital strategic mistakes in aircraft production, was its death
knell. Despite this the Luftwaffe produced the most successful air
aces of all time who feature in this volume. Among many remarkable
images we see one of the last Junkers 87 B-2 operational on the
front line on the Eastern Front during the winter of 1942-1943, the
huge BV 222 V-5 of Lufttransportstaffel in the port of Heraklion in
late 1942, pilots in Tunisia in 1943, the aces Hans Philipp,
Wolfgang Spate and Heinz Schnaufer and a vivid demonstration of the
reversal in fortunes in 1944 as Allied bombers destroy 106 places,
engulfing them in fire at Schwabisch-Hall on German soil. In this
painstakingly pieced together collection, originally published in
France, the full detail behind the propaganda is once more
revealed, in rare colour photographs.
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