Eagle Editions, Ltd

Wings of the Black Cross Number Five Photo Album of Luftwaffe Aircraft

by  Mark Proulx

Reviewed By  Brian R. Baker, IPMS# 43146

MSRP: $17.95 ISBN 13: 978-0-9794035-3-8 ISBN 10: 0-9794035-3-7 Web Site www.eagle-editions.com I don't know why lost causes and justifiably defeated military systems are so intriguing to modelers, historians, and enthusiasts alike, but they seem to be, judging from the number of publications coming out on topics related to the Luftwaffe. Anyway, this is the fifth in a series of "photo albums" dealing with previously unpublished photos of various Luftwaffe aircraft and personnel, and it is of the highest quality and interest. This is the first of this series that I have seen, and to be frank, I am very impressed. Consisting of 36 pages, including 64 well-reproduced black and white photos, two color photos on the back cover, and 8 excellent color profiles, with accompanying explanatory text, this book should prove very useful to modelers wishing to model their favorite Luftwaffe aircraft. Types covered include the Bf-109, FW-190 (including some of the two seat trainer versions), ME-262, Bf-110 (with rare photos of Martin Drewes and his Bf-110G night fighter), ME-410, JU-88, HE-111, BU-181, JU-87D, HE-177, FW-200, and SI-204. A few of these are operational photos apparently taken by members of the units involved, but most are the type of photo taken by American and British troops as the aircraft were discovered on various airfields at the end of the war, intended to be sent home with the caption "Here's the Nazi plane I captured single-handedly." As a lot of these aircraft were never photographed by official photographers, we are left to the scrapbooks of World War II veterans, who are steadily decreasing in numbers as time goes by, to record this part of history. It is tragic that so much of this material has disappeared forever, but occasionally, a photo album will surface with fascinating photos of combat aircraft sitting back in the weeds, abandoned by their crews as Allied forces advanced relentlessly into Nazi Germany towards the end of the war. It's just too bad that so few of the troops shot color film, but we should be thankful that they took any pictures at all, since any kind of film was extremely difficult to get during those times. This series is definitely worth getting if you are interested in the Luftwaffe. Highly recommended.

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