This 57 page softcover book from
JaPo Publishing
is specifically
created for the Messerschmitt Bf-109 modeller with a strong fascination in
historically accurate markings and the history of the Luftwaffe over Czech
Territory during WW2, specifically JG 52 at Deutsch Brod. This is a soft cover
book made from heavy weight glossy magazine paper, so it will hold up
well to continued use. The cover....(although a soft cover) is
made from thick glossy paper and will hold together well. The book
is produced in the Czech Republic and all text is in English.
The Luftwaffe operated from the
Deutsch Brod airbase and this was the last base of one of the most famous
Luftwaffe Units - Jagdgeschwader 52. During JG 52's time at this base,
it's planes that were damaged beyond repair were collected into a
"scrap heap". At war's end, JG 52 scrapped it's remaining
aircraft and added them to the scrap heap on the air base and retreated by
land to the American zone. Photos were taken of this scrap heap at the
time and these photos are the raw information that is used to decipher what
each aircraft looked like in colour profiles. The effort that went
into these colour profiles was painstaking to say the least. But I'm
getting ahead of myself, .....lets go back to the beginning.
With the worsening international
situation and the appointment of Hitler in Germany, the Czech Air Ministry
created various air bases around the country. One of these airbases was Německý
Brod which later became Deutsch Brod with the arrival of the Germans. This
book details all the history of the base in the introduction and then focuses on
JG 52's time there in the last weeks/days of the war and the aircraft they left
behind.
This book uses wartime records
and recreates as best as possible the story behind JG 52's time at this base and
the aircraft they used and the missions they flew. It then uses wartime
and end of war photos of the scrap heap of JG 52 to analyze paint schemes and
recreate those paint schemes in colour profiles and 4 view B&W profiles.
Below
I've include a tiny selection of some of the pages....out of respect to the
producers of this fine book, I am not providing larger scans.
Images
below are small to protect the content of this book. |
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aerial
view of airfield in 1945 |
historical photos |
B&W
profile |
The end result a
historically accurate colour profile of the plane in question. These
images are quite big in the book and detail rich, but I've reproduced them
here in small images to give you a taste of the contents of this book
without giving away access to the original artwork.
6
different colour profiles featured in this book
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Colour
profile
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This goes into the
deepest detail about the aircraft types used at Deutsch Brod by JG 52 and the
careful and extensive efforts to determine the colour schemes of these aircraft
is quite amazing. I found this book riveting and is sure to be of much
interest to the Bf-109 or JG 52 modeller with a passion for the historical side
of model building.
All JaPo publications can be
ordered by e-mail, fax, or letter at this address:
Ing. Jaroslav Farkaš
P.O. BOX 22
500 12 Hradec Králové
Czech Republic
e-mail: farkas@japo-publishing.cz
tel. /fax: +420 495 273 303
Or go direct to their website at JaPo Publishing
I'd like to thanks
JaPo Publishing
for sending me this review sample.
Steve
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