Hey guys, recently I've had more and more interest in Luftwaffe aircraft, so I decided to get some books and reference material. However there are so many books out there that I can't decide which ones to get with my budget.
I'm especially interested in later years of the war, so If someone could suggest some good books I'd really appreciate it!


Kind regards and TIA , Sven.

Luftwaffe Eagle From the Me109 to the Me262 by Walter Schuck

I Fought You From The Skies by Willi Heilmann

Wolfram von Richthofen by James S Corum

Hitler's Jet Plane The Me 262 Story by Mano Ziegler

Rocket Fighter The Story of the Messerschmitt Me 163 by Mano Ziegler

Hi Sven

A book I refer to constantly for Luftwaffe builds is Ken Merrick's "German Aircraft Interiors, 1935-1945 Vol. 1" - Monogram Publications, 1996. It's sadly out of print now, and I don't think Vol. 2 ever appeared, but it's an outstanding modelling reference. If you can find a copy at a reasonable price, I thoroughly recommend it.

All the best

Rowan

Sven, what are you after?

a/c, general history, just pictures (quite hard for late war), unit histories...?

I have a ton of Lw books and like most of them...

greets

Steffen

Thanks Carl, I'll surely look at those titles!

Rowan, I was looking at that book earlier, but the cheapest one I could find was 80 pounds ( and the book was only in fair condition), the new ones are going for over 200 pounds. Seems like i'll wait for one to come up on ebay for a smaller amount ( hoping around 50 pounds).


Well Steffen, thanks for the reply. I have space for around 100 books on Luftwaffe in my library so I would like a little of everything. my parents told me that I could get two books each month from them, so I would like to start with the books that are still in print ( just because their price is not very high, and the ones that are already OOP can just get cheaper). I'm interested in the whole WWII period of Luftwaffe, but the later ones ( Like late Me-109's, Fw-190's, Ta-152's and Jet planes) are of bigger interest.



Kind regards and thanks, Sven.

O.k. Sven then for a start ...

Fw 190 D (2 vols) Japo http://www.japo.eu/products.php?cat=3
Bodenplatte John Manrho and Ron Pütz
Black Cross Red Star Bergström /Mikhailov (3 vols so far different publishers)

If you read german you can buy anything from Dr. Jochen Prien
Unit histories JG 1+11, 3, 27, 53, 77 in total 17 books and
Jagdfliegerverbände der Luftwaffe 12 vols (21 books) so far http://www.jagdgeschwader.net/

For english books have a look an Eric Mombeeks works on JG 1, 2, 4 and 5 http://www.luftwaffe.be/

JG 300 (2 Vols) Jerry Crandall (I do not have his two Fw 190 dora books) http://www.eagle-editions.com/

Nachtjagd war diaries from Theo Boiten

Greenhearts - first in combat with Fw 190D by Axel Urbanke

almost everything that was published by Classic publications (and its successors). Hikoki books are also nice. Have a look at Criss Goss' "Bloody Biscay" (among others) Andrew Arthy and Morten Jessen published two books on Fw 190 usage in North Africa and MTO (more to come)

this are several thousand euros so far and I guess many of the books will be rather birtchday and x-mas presents than 2 per month (50 Euro+ books)

For a smaller start: "Luftwaffe im Focus" is a very good series and has lots of unpublished photos with good information http://luftfahrtverlag-start.de/index.html

I would not recommend Kagero or Osprey without some knowledge on the subject. Both publishers are prolific but many works on Luftwaffe subjects are not very deeply researched ... nonetheless they can be fun to read and a starter for deeper research.

If you have a special interest just ask and I try to come up with more...

all the best

Steffen

what a very comprehensive answer! while you did list Classic I think the Classic Luftwaffe Colours (Jagdwaffe) series deserves a particular mention; most volumes are still available & reasonably priced although some do go for mega-bucks, otherwise MMP do some nice monographs for the modeller on various Luftwaffe types...Sven why not take a look at the 'Luftwaffe books' section on my blog, just hit the www button above...

While we are talking reference books and not intending to hi-jack Sven's thread could anyone recommend any books on German seaplanes Thank you Phil

Thanks all for so much wonderful and useful answers.


I decided to go with Steffen's list started off with volume one of the Luftwaffe im Fokus and vol.1 Me262 by Classic Publication which is an amazing book!

Hi Phil,

Seaplanes-books are rather rare. There is Cris Goss' Bloody Biscay and Luftwaffe Seaplanes (not as extensive as the name suggests). There is Sönke Neitzels Book on Luftwaffe Operations over the Atlantic (rather academic as this was his degree work and I only know a German version).

There probably were 2 vols. "Sea Eagles" in the Luftwaffe colours line from Classic but I am not sure these ever were released .. I do not have them.

There is a German series "Vom Original zum Mpdell" which is quite nice and has some aircraft that have a maritime role too:

e.g. german Amazon listing

Maybe Neil can add a bit..

@ Sven: good start! some of the LiF booklets are already oop, esp. the early ones after 1 and 2 may be hard to find...

all the best

Steffen

Steffen thank you for your reply I have filed it and all the recommendations made to Sven away for future reference (handy when asked what you want for a gift by family members) Have fun Phil