The Duel series is a new range of books that cover opposing weapons and personal in a particular historical point of time. This book see''s the series start off with the P-51 Mustang and the Fw 190.


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Thanks!

Hi Andy

..as a Fw 190 enthusiast I have to say that I found this title very disappointing and one-sided...you mention the lack of detail in particular.....I agree. The author produces an interesting text on the Mustang within the limitations of space imposed in the typical Osprey format but the profile of the FW 190 is what you might expect a non-specialist to write. I was looking forward to the first-hand accounts from the German side ..but there were hardly any! Two paragraphs from Ernst Schroeder and a short piece from Helmut Rix is all I could find. Rix was shot down on his first combat sortie (although not mentioned) so his contribution is hardly insightful. Disappointing. The discussion of tactics from the German side likewise, and merely comprises a US pilot's recollections. While there is one informative passage on the P-51's K-14 gunsight, there is nothing on the gyroscopic EZ 42 sight developed for the Fw 190. As to factual errors - here's a few I spotted; Walther Dahl was not a 128 victory ace, Ernst Schroeder didn't engage the bombers on 27 November 1944, his 'famous' 'Red 19' was not written off following this sortie but rather repaired and returned to service with JG 301. In the chapter on pilot training the author misspells the German word for certification (Schein) every time...The book was very thin for 12.99 - eighty pages. Two are taken up with a rather lame Postlethwaite painting of Schroeder's 'Red 19' and another two are taken up with a bibliography that mostly comprises references to other Osprey publications and the photos have all been seen before. The 'comparative' context was quite interesting ..but overall the material presented is tame...a useful primer if you're new to the subject ..but frankly most of us modellers, P-51 enthusiasts & Fw 190 completists needn't bother with this one ...