Probably the best mass-produced fighter that the Germans had during WWII was the FW-190. While it was generally felt that an in-line, liquid-cooled engine was best for a fighter, Focke-Wulf did not think that was the case and so developed the BMW radial engined FW-90. This was an aircraft that was not a pre-war design and had a number of advantages over the Bf-109. One that all its pilots appreciated was a wide track landing gear. It also had a goodly amount of power and it was not only fast, but handled quite well at lower altitudes.

This last feature was the result of not having a supercharged engine line the 109s DB.601/605. So performance fell off quite a bit above 20,000 feet. It was soon discovered that that big radial engine was a plus when it came to head on attacks and ground attack as the engine could keep running even with some damage as there was no coolant to leak out. The airframe was therefore beefed up with armor plating for ground attack versions. It was also developed into a single seat night fighter where it had some success as well. The aircraft was produced in France as well as Germany and post war, the French SNCASE factory continued to produce 190s as the NC.900 for the French air force. During the war, several Axis allies also flew the type.

This book is one of the best I've read on the aircraft. It fully covers the development of the 190, including its engine, which was prone to catching fire in early versions. Interestingly, this was cured simply by moving one of the exhaust pipes. The early development of the 190 is, to me, one of the more interesting parts of the book. It then goes into the different variants of the aircraft. This is followed by a large part of the book that covers the aircraft's operations in the different theaters of the war. This includes its use with other nations.

Then there is a portion that goes into some of the detail bits of the plane using period photos and tech manuals. As you have come to expect, there are a fair number of large profiles of the camouflage schemes worn. There are also a lot of plans, this includes several additional sheets of some of the 1/48 variants and those in 1/32 scale as well. In addition there is the section that shows the differences between variants using profiles. There are hundreds of period photos to cover the wide range of aircraft and locales. I do wish that the photos were more in line with the prose as you'd be reading about the 190A-3 and there would be 190A-6 photos to accompany it. But it isn't a major issue.

In all, it makes a 'must have' book for the enthusiast and is one one will be using as a reference for many years. Highly recommended.

April 2020

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