It is almost sad to see the end of a fine series such as this one on the Luftwaffe bomber force. Since it is history, you know how it is going to turn out, yet you are 'glued' to the pages. 1943 was probably the last year in which the German bomber force was really effective. By 1944, things had started to go sour with decreasing numbers of aircraft, the Allied invasion of France and the retreat from the Russians. By the end of the year, the bomber force was basically down to fighter bombers and jets. Of these there were too few to really do anything effective.

While there were still some larger bombers around, most had been reduced to performing transport missions and evacuations. There was also the most interesting but never effective 'Mistel' program where a fighter was mated to a bomb laden bomber and then once near the target, the bomber was let go and guided by the fighter pilot. These interesting aircraft were designed for high value targets such as capital ships and dams, but squandered away on bridges and troop movements, something they were never designed for. Even then they were of little success.

The jets, such as the Me-262 and Ar-234 were much more promising, but even then they were too late with the 262 never really getting into combat until August or September of 1944 and the Ar-234 by January of 1945. By then, though the targets were plentiful, just getting into the air and landing were severely hazardous. Communications were in disarray and fuel was scarce. In the end they were little more than a nuisance and contributed little to extending the war.

In league with the rest of the series, you'll find 'I was there' stories, superb period photos (some in color) and outstanding profiles and other artwork, all which include the photos used as reference. Those of you who have the Classic books on the Me-262 or Mistel will find some of the material a bit repetitive. Others will enjoy this as a completion of a superb work.

I can highly recommend this one to you and suggest you get the whole series if you haven't already. Now I wonder what's next.

October 2005

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