Over the last few years, the Hs-129 has gotten quite a lot of press. There have been excellent books published by Classic, AJ Press and Squadron covering this aircraft, with the Classic book undoubtedly the most authoritative of the lot. One tends to wonder why there would be yet another. However, mine is not to reason why, but just to read these books and enjoy them. This book is a standard Kagero publications that is card bound with profiles in the center section and on the inside and outside of the covers. Inside its 96 pages is a freebie, this time an etched brass cockpit fret in 1/72 and 1/48 scale for things like instrument panels, rudder pedals and belts.

This book is subtitled Sch.G1 & Sch.G2 as those were the only units who flew the Hs-129. The book covers the development of the aircraft and of ground attack in the Luftwaffe in general. The rest of the pages concentrate on the use of the aircraft in combat. It mostly served in the Russian front with a sideline to North Africa in the closing months of that campaign. No Western European use was made of the plane, probably due to its need for some local air superiority to be effective. Not that the 129 was an easy target as it often shot down attacking Russian aircraft, but its main forte was ground attack.

Hs-129 units were often on the move as the Russian front was a very fluid one. Aircraft serviceability was also a real problem as often only a fraction of the aircraft on hand were able to fly at any given time. I guess this is a common thread with Luftwaffe units or even those of Allied nations, but especially of the Eastern Front units were the supply lines were long. There is also brief coverage of the aircraft in Romanian hands, but most of the book concentrates on Luftwaffe use and on personal stories to give a feel of what combat was like when flying this aircraft. Definitely not a job for the meek!

Overall, I liked the book quite a bit. It has the right balance of technical detail, background history and 'war stories' to make for a most interesting book. It is one that I'd recommend.

Purchased by me.

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