John Weal concludes his survey of Russian Front Bf 109 aces with this volume on the second tier of Experten, those who scored between 50 and 99 kills over Soviet aircraft. (The top 75 aces were covered in Aircraft of the Aces #37). Some 154 'semi-centurions,' as Weal labels them, saw combat between 1941 and 1945 but at war's end their exploits were soon forgotten. Weal's latest Bf 109 volume, #76 in the Osprey series, is a first step in giving these ace pilots the recognition they deserve.

Russian Front semi-centurions fell into two categories: those who scored all their kills against Soviet aircraft and those whose VVS kills formed but a part of their total. Experten in this latter group included well-known pilots such as Heinz Bar, Gunther Lutzow, Walter Dahl, Herbert Ihlefeld and Erich Leie.

Balanced against those pilots were Experten like Ulrich Wohnert, Leopold Steinbatz, Heinrich Hofemeier,Hugo Broch, Rudi Muller and dozens of other pilots who claimed all their victories in the East. Interestingly enough, all these pilots surpassed - and even doubled - the scores claimed by the top American and British aces yet almost all remain unknown! In large part the remorseless nature of Russian Front air combat that made Experten and then chewed them up accounts for the anonymity of these pilots. Then too, until recently, scant historical coverage was given to Russian Front combats.

Weal's book casts a wide net, briefly describing many semi-centurions from JG 3, 51, 52, 54, etc. Though in no way definitive, this book does give brief life to a number of top-notch fliers.

The book includes over 90 photographs of pilots and aircraft and 12 pages of color profiles by Weal.

Luftwaffe fans will enjoy this book. It casts a light on the long-neglected exploits of some high-scoring fighter pilots.

John Weal concludes his survey of Russian Front Bf 109 aces with this volume on the second tier of Experten, those who scored between 50 and 99 kills over Soviet aircraft. (The top 75 aces were covered in Aircraft of the Aces #37). Some 154 'semi-centurions,' as Weal labels them, saw combat between 1941 and 1945 but at war's end their exploits were soon forgotten. Weal's latest Bf 109 volume, #76 in the Osprey series, is a first step in giving these ace pilots the recognition they deserve.

Russian Front semi-centurions fell into two categories: those who scored all their kills against Soviet aircraft and those whose VVS kills formed but a part of their total. Experten in this latter group included well-known pilots such as Heinz Bar, Gunther Lutzow, Walter Dahl, Herbert Ihlefeld and Erich Leie.

Balanced against those pilots were Experten like Ulrich Wohnert, Leopold Steinbatz, Heinrich Hofemeier,Hugo Broch, Rudi Muller and dozens of other pilots who claimed all their victories in the East. Interestingly enough, all these pilots surpassed - and even doubled - the scores claimed by the top American and British aces yet almost all remain unknown! In large part the remorseless nature of Russian Front air combat that made Experten and then chewed them up accounts for the anonymity of these pilots. Then too, until recently, scant historical coverage was given to Russian Front combats.

Weal's book casts a wide net, briefly describing many semi-centurions from JG 3, 51, 52, 54, etc. Though in no way definitive, this book does give brief life to a number of top-notch fliers.

The book includes over 90 photographs of pilots and aircraft and 12 pages of color profiles by Weal.

Luftwaffe fans will enjoy this book. It casts a light on the long-neglected exploits of some high-scoring fighter pilots.

John Weal concludes his survey of Russian Front Bf 109 aces with this volume on the second tier of Experten, those who scored between 50 and 99 kills over Soviet aircraft. (The top 75 aces were covered in Aircraft of the Aces #37). Some 154 'semi-centurions,' as Weal labels them, saw combat between 1941 and 1945 but at war's end their exploits were soon forgotten. Weal's latest Bf 109 volume, #76 in the Osprey series, is a first step in giving these ace pilots the recognition they deserve.

Russian Front semi-centurions fell into two categories: those who scored all their kills against Soviet aircraft and those whose VVS kills formed but a part of their total. Experten in this latter group included well-known pilots such as Heinz Bar, Gunther Lutzow, Walter Dahl, Herbert Ihlefeld and Erich Leie.

Balanced against those pilots were Experten like Ulrich Wohnert, Leopold Steinbatz, Heinrich Hofemeier,Hugo Broch, Rudi Muller and dozens of other pilots who claimed all their victories in the East. Interestingly enough, all these pilots surpassed - and even doubled - the scores claimed by the top American and British aces yet almost all remain unknown! In large part the remorseless nature of Russian Front air combat that made Experten and then chewed them up accounts for the anonymity of these pilots. Then too, until recently, scant historical coverage was given to Russian Front combats.

Weal's book casts a wide net, briefly describing many semi-centurions from JG 3, 51, 52, 54, etc. Though in no way definitive, this book does give brief life to a number of top-notch fliers.

The book includes over 90 photographs of pilots and aircraft and 12 pages of color profiles by Weal.

Luftwaffe fans will enjoy this book. It casts a light on the long-neglected exploits of some high-scoring fighter pilots.

Steffen is right......
This latest volume is a little bit more interesting & detailed than some of John Weal's recent aces titles - if you can call Osprey Aces volumes "detailed" at all. If you've got a decent library proceed with caution - Mr Weal himself (yes, I do know him) readily admits that these slim volumes are 'potboilers'. One thing I will say - John Weal makes good use of German language sources and he writes very fluently and with a certain flair.
Where this work falls down somewhat is in the range of sources used - the author relies on rather older works as references, and his views seem a little out of touch with the latest research - he still labels VVS equipment in 1941 as outdated and obsolete, while Christer Bergstrom's latest works for Eagle Editions and Ian Allan draw new conclusions.
..Elsewhere it is also strange to note that Weal's account of the shootdown of Heinz Ewald by his own flak differs somewhat from what Ewald has to say about this episode himself. In fact I have just been reading the account of Gustav Denk's loss (II./JG52) as provided by the unnamed 'fledgling wingman'....bizarrely I had to go to another book to find out that his wingman was Helmut Lipfert and that this account was lifted direct from Lipfert's book published by Schiffer, uncredited in Weal's text - no footnote, nothing..
I'd also say that in this age of superlative computer artwork renderings, say the latest works by Tom Tullis or Claes Sundin, Weal's profiles look rather amateurish and outdated and I thought the book was a little slimmer than the usual Osprey aces titles...only 86 pages of text & profiles...(not the 96 indicated above)
a good basic reference work to get the names and some info about the service life of the pilots, but only a taster for more detailed research .. I'd give it a 6 (out of 10).

The 'Osprey Aircraft of the Aces' series expands with John Weal's MORE BF 109 ACES OF THE RUSSIAN FRONT which considers the achievements of individual pilots of the BF 109: some 120 of them. The majority of these pilots have been largely forgotten as individuals: MORE BF 109 ACES OF THE RUSSIAN FRONT chronicles their achievements and returns their many amazing victories to the public eye.