Foreign Planes in the Service of the Luftwaffe

Book Code:  AW1279

Foreign Planes in the Service of the Luftwaffe

 

During the Second World War, planes shot down over enemy territory were often scrapped for parts, or had whatever precious fuel left in them salvaged for use in other planes, but sometimes the planes were landed by the skill of their pilots in usable condition. Other times, an occupying army would capture an airfield and `inherit' planes along with it. But no airforce in the Second World War would make more use of captured planes than the Luftwaffe.

 

With this in mind, Jean-Louise Roba has undergone a considerable amount of work in tracking down hundreds of of aircraft used by the Luftwaffe and illustrating their uses, careers and eventual fates. The book examines the full history of the foreign planes in the Luftwaffe in chronological order, from its inception in the prewar years to the end of the Second World War, when many of the planes were `liberated' by the advancing allied forces.

 

More than just an account of the Luftwaffe's use of captured aircraft, the book debunks myths about how prepared the Germans were for war in 1939, and shows how important even such an unreliable source of supplies as captured planes would become to the Luftwaffe. Translated into English for the first time, Roba's investigative work is supported by over a hundred pictures of the planes themselves, and gives a rare opportunity to see British and American planes repainted in German colours and symbols.

 

Jean Louis Roba

Hardcover 208pp