Werner Mölders was the first German 'Super Ace' of World War II. He was the first man to surpass Von Richtofen's score of 80 kills and the first fighter pilot to exceed 100 kills. If you include his victories in the Spanish Civil War, his total score stands at somewhere around the 115-117 range, a truly remarkable feat as most of his victories came against the Western Allies. This was not all without some cost as he was shot down three times and captured once by the French. It is only thanks to the fast moving front in 1940 that prevented him from being taken to England and spending the rest of the war as a prisoner of war in Canada. As it was impossible to get him to the UK, he was repatriated following the French capitulation.

This is the second Mushroom Models Publications special I have read and I'm just as impressed with it as the first one. The first series of these specials are written by names you may recognize if you have bought any AJ Press books, but these are not reprints, but totally fresh volumes. 

The book is about the size of the Osprey series, covers 88 pages and had hard card covers. The font is one of moderate size that makes it much easier on these old eyes to read. Images make up a sizeable amount of the book, and these are not just photos of his plane, but images of Mölders as he progressed through his career and his life.

The book is broken down into several sections, each section listing, where applicable, his victories. These charts indicate the victory number(s), date, aircraft type(s) and location(s), a very handy thing to have and one that did require quite a bit of research to compile. In fact, that has carried over to the entire book. It does not read like a simple compilation of information from already published sources. It seems that historians today are spending more time going over primary sources and material than many of the books of the past. A very welcome trend. His aircraft is not totally overlooked as there are some images of his planes as well as a series of very well done color four-views showing four of his more famous aircraft; a D, E, and two F's. As you may know, Mölders was pulled out of active combat by Hitler after his score got much above 100. He was killed in November 1941 in a weather related aircraft crash while flying as a passenger.

Anyway, the book has these sections:

• Beginnings. His early life up to being sent to Spain

• Spain

• Phoney War

• France

• Battle of Britain

• Winter 1940-Spring 1941

• Barbarossa

• A Legend

Overall, a very interesting book and one that does not dig into the seemingly endless minutiae that are often found in many biographical tomes. There are enough 'war stories' to satisfy most as well as some details of what it was like to be in the Luftwaffe during those time.  A book that I can recommend to those with an interest in the subject.

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Many thanks to Mushroom Model Publications for providing the review copy. Your support is appreciated.

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