Fighter Combat World War Two - Hardcover

by Steve Church (Author)

Ride along with the fighter pilots of WWII as this book puts you in the cockpit during some of the most critical and exciting air combat action of the war. Learn the secrets of how success or failure occurred in WWII fighter combat. Why did faster fighters dominate more maneuverable ones? How did pilots use their guns to destroy enemy planes? What fighter formations were effective and why? The stories of historic dogfights are told and carefully examined using modern terminology and tactical scrutiny. With over sixty new, vintage inspired, custom illustrations of fighter maneuvers and formations, plus the first truly comprehensive explanation of fighter gunnery available since WWII, Fighter Combat WWII will provide a fresh and innovative perspective on one of the most fascinating events in world history.

This book is about WWII, daylight, fighter-versus-fighter combat. There are four main parts: Fundamentals, Gunnery, Formations, and Dogfighting or (Air Combat Maneuvering). Each part begins with a historic story that introduces the subject. Much of the book uses actual combat experiences from memoirs or WWII vintage combat reports to provide tactical examples which are carefully examined and illustrated. In the world of fighter aviation there are only two types of aircraft: fighters and targets. Bombers and other targets of day fighter aircraft are covered only in the peripheral sense of how their unfortunate roles as flying targets influenced the development of fighter tactics, armament, or gunnery methods.

Whether you're well read on WWII fighters and fighter pilots, new to the subject, or just trying to win more often in WWII combat flight sims, you will come away from this book with a much-improved understanding of what the fighter pilots of WWII did, and how they did it.