Air War Publications

22/06/2024

https://airwarpublications.com/interview-with-clint-mitchell/

Air War Publications interviews Luftwaffe camouflage and markings researcher Clint Mitchell, moderator of the Luftwaffe Research Group.

11/02/2024

https://airwarpublications.com/axis-wings/

Chandos Publications have released the first edition of a new series, Axis Wings, about Luftwaffe and Axis air forces in the Second World War

15/12/2023

https://airwarpublications.com/merry-christmas-and-a-happy-new-year/

2023 is coming to a close. The year has seemingly flown by, but we at Air War Publications have managed to accomplish many things, mostly behind the scenes. As we have done in past years, we want to provide a wrap up of the year that was, but also outline our plans for 2024. The […]

10/09/2023

See our latest blog post for some updates on the summer's activities: https://airwarpublications.com/a-catch-up-no-450-squadron-status-update-and-a-chat/ and progress on the 450 Squadron book project.

Air War Publications team members Adam and Andrew caught up with Doug Norrie, author of our forthcoming book on 450 Squadron RAAF

26/03/2023

Our latest blog post has just been published: https://airwarpublications.com/10-pz-sg-1-and-bagration/ and covers operations by a unit equipped with the Ju 87 G tank-buster.

10.(Pz.)/SG 1 operated the Junkers 87 Stuka, including the Ju 87 G version, on the Eastern Front in 1944. It flew against Operation Bagration

31/12/2022

See our latest blog post: https://airwarpublications.com/seasons-greetings-from-air-war-publications/ for some updates on our forthcoming books and eArticles

Air War Publications wishes Season's Greetings to its readers. We are working on a number of Second World War aviation history book projects.

19/11/2022

https://airwarpublications.com/upcoming-book-night-fighters-over-the-eastern-front/

Air War Publications will be releasing Sven Carlsen's book about Luftwaffe Night Fighters Over the Eastern Front in the Second World War

21/10/2022

https://airwarpublications.com/over-sea-and-land-a-history-of-kustenfliegergruppe-and-kampfgruppe-806/

Küstenfliegergruppe 806 and Kampfgruppe 806 served with the Luftwaffe over sea and land between 1939 and 1942, operating the He 111 and Ju 88

03/09/2022

https://airwarpublications.com/interview-with-christer-bergstrom/

Air War Publications interview Swedish Second World War and military aviation researcher, historian and author Christer Bergström.

10/06/2022

Our latest blog post has just been published, about a clash over the Eastern Front in 1944: https://airwarpublications.com/close-shave-for-a-junkers-188-crew/

A Luftwaffe Junkers 188 reconnaissance crew were nearly shot down on the Eastern Front in 1944 by Soviet fighters

24/03/2022

https://airwarpublications.com/interview-with-andy-mitchell/

We interview Andy Mitchell, Luftwaffe researcher who has focussed on unusual subjects, including Aufklärungsgruppe 122.

25/12/2021

https://airwarpublications.com/merry-christmas-happy-new-year-book-projects-status/

Air War Publications has been hard at work on several book projects in 2021, including Air War Courland, No. 450 Squadron, and Henschel 123

28/11/2021

https://airwarpublications.com/plagiarism/

Plagiarism affects most aviation history publishers, including Air War Publications. This blog post discusses the difficult subject.

09/09/2021

The Air War Publications team is very fortunate to be in contact with a USAAF veteran who flew the P-51 Mustang with the 31st Fighter Group between October 1944 and May 1945. He flew 49 missions over northern Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Germany, and had one encounter with an Me 262 jet, but did not engage in any other combats.

Does anyone have any questions for him about his flying career or air force service? If you do, please reply in the comments, and we'll do our best to get some answers. We look forward to your questions.

08/08/2021

Andrew is working on the Air War Courland book this morning, and coincidentally, is writing about the events of exactly 77 years ago: 8 August 1944. At that point, the Germans were building up forces for an army offensive to reconnect Heeresgruppe Mitte (Army Group Centre) with Heeresgruppe Nord (Army Group North). Heeresgruppe Nord had been cut off in Estonia and Latvia in late-July 1944, after a Red Army advance through Courland to the Baltic Sea just west of Riga.

The Luftwaffe command responsible for operations over Courland and its surrounds, Luftflotte 1, reported to the German army that it had almost no aviation fuel available on 8 August 1944, and could provide a grand total of just 36 ground-attack sorties for the entire day! This was hardly satisfactory given Heeresgruppe Nord had to defend a front more than 500 kilometres long. The army pleaded that Luftflotte 1 at least provide reconnaissance over Tuckum (modern Tukum, Latvia) in Courland. Tuckum was a major objective for the forthcoming German offensive.

In the event, Messerschmitt Bf 109s of Nahaufklärungsgruppe 5 were able to reconnoitre Tuckum and other locations in south-eastern Courland, as well as the Birsen area (modern Biržai, Lithuania), where heavy land fighting was occurring. Given the difficult situation on the ground for the German defenders, Focke-Wulf 190 F-8 ground-attack aircraft of Schlachtgeschwader 4 had to be dispatched to the Birsen area in the evening. III./SG 4 sent out a dozen aircraft, and ran into Soviet fighters, claiming one shot down and another damaged.

The Soviets were not constrained by fuel problems, and 3.VA (Third Air Army) flew more than 400 sorties. As usual for the Soviet air force, there were no fighter sweeps flown, with fighters engaged in direct es**rt for ground-attack aircraft (142 sorties) and cover for the Red Army (67 sorties). The P-39 Airacobras of 11.IAK (11th Fighter Corps) reported combat with Fw 190s, and ml.Lt Yakovlev of 821.IAP (821st Fighter Regiment) failed to return. This was presumably during the evening encounter with III./SG 4.

The VVS KBF (Baltic Fleet Air Force) also participated in the Courland air war on this day, with Douglas A-20s of 1.GMTAP (1st Mine and Torpedo Regiment) unsuccessfully attacking German shipping just off the Courland coast towards dusk. The Germans noted that it was the first VVS KBF anti-shipping operation flown in waters off Courland in ten days.

The events of 8 August 1944 will only occupy a few paragraphs in the Air War Courland book, but it was a typically interesting day nonetheless.

09/07/2021

https://airwarpublications.com/research-and-real-life/

Earlier this year, Air War Publications released a blogpost about new findings into the life of ZG 1 gunner Martin Heinze. Whilst Adam, Morten and Andrew were excited about the new information, it was not lost on them that it had been a month since they had last published any form of content. Normal...

30/05/2021

Our latest blog post has just been published, about an aspect of the Eastern Front air war in late-1944, including first-hand accounts from some of the German airmen involved: https://airwarpublications.com/battling-for-budapest-luftflotte-4-in-december-1944/

In December 1944 Luftflotte 4 was heavily involved in the battle for Budapest, as the Red Army tried to defeat the forces of Heeresgruppe Süd

02/05/2021

Our latest blog post has just been published: https://airwarpublications.com/flying-backwards-into-war-swimming-forwards-into-a-life-beyond-the-war/

The Air War Publications article about Zerstörer gunner Martin Heinze of ZG 1 has been updated with information from the veteran's family

04/04/2021

https://airwarpublications.com/unexpected-outcomes/

The Air War Publications team makes contact with lots of people to help write their Second World War stories, and especially veteran families

14/03/2021

https://airwarpublications.com/positive-words-from-a-sceptic/

Andy Wright reviewed our eArticle about RAF pilot Squadron Leader Barry Gale. He flew over Africa and the Channel in 1942, 1943 and 1944