You might be forgiven that everything that could be written about the Messerschmitt Bf 109E was already available. A quick flick through Squadron's new Walk Around written by Hans-Heiri Stapfer will soon prove you wrong. The book is packed with colour and B&W photos, backed up with paintings by Don Greer and a selection of colour profiles by Darren Glenn and David Gebhardt.

Layout and coverage

The book is essentially divided into two sections. The first part covers the standard (ex-Spanish) Bf 109E preserved at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, while the second takes a look at the Swiss version on display in the Swiss Air force Museum at Dübendorf.

In both cases the photo coverage is excellent, with dozens of detailed shots covering each area of the aircraft. The differences evident in the Swiss machine will surprise many people and the captions do a good job of explaining the various equipment changes between the two versions.

The modern-day pics are backed up with a good selection of vintage shots, both B&W and colour. To round everything off, the book includes 4 pages of colour profiles, giving a good selection of schemes to whet the appetite.

Conclusion

Squadron's Bf 109E Walk Around is really essential reading for anyone tackling this aircraft. No matter how many books you already have on the Bf 109E, I'm sure you'll find something new in its pages and the coverage of the Swiss aircraft will be sure to get plenty of modellers planning conversions... Thoroughly recommended.