AIRCRAFT OF THE ACES No 68 Bf109 DEFENCE OF THE REICH ACES

This book details the tactics and experiences of the pilots and the final desperate measures used against overwhelming odds. Luftwaffe aces explain their tactics and relate their experiences during the bloody campaign known as the Defence of the Reich. Their missions changed from waiting for the short-range Allied fighter escorts to turn back before attacking the bomber formations, to see-saw battles for aerial supremacy against long-range P-51s defending US heavy bomber streams. The story - based on personal accounts and official records from both sides - is predominantly that of the Bf109s struggle to defeat the US Eighth Air Force (although latterly both the "mediums" of the US Ninth Air Force and the "heavies" of Royal Air Force Bomber Command were also active by day over Germany. Contents: The first raids * Outwitting the P-38s and P-47s * Luftwaffe ascendant * Schweinfurt/Regensburg: a significant victory * P-51s: a nasty shock * "Big Week" * Defending Berlin * Protecting the oilfields * Sturmgruppe escorts * Bodenplatte * Rammkommando Elbe: desperate measures * Defeat and Surrender * Appendices.