Comments: softcover, 96 pages, 83 black-and-white photos, 22 color profile illustrations in 11 pages of color plate
ISBN: 978-1-4728-1267-4
Price: $23
Publisher: Osprey
From the publisher: The Fw 200 Condor first appeared over Norway in April 1940, flying with the unit that eventually become known for it — Kampfgeschwader 40. As war in the West progressed and German forces advanced, French airfields opened up, allowing the Condor to fly around the U.K. and out over the Atlantic, where it rapidly established itself as a menace to Allied shipping. Able to attack shipping directly or to guide U-boats to their prey, the Condor scored its first major success when it crippled the ocean liner Empress of Britain, which was later sunk by the German submarine U-32.
But the tables were to turn on the “Scourge of the Atlantic” as mechanical failures induced by the harsh operating environment and changes in Allied tactics began to take a toll. The deployment of Allied carriers and their associated fighters, combined with the introduction of more long-range maritime patrol aircraft, exposed the Condor’s vulnerability to aerial attack.
Packed with rare firsthand accounts, profile artwork, and photographs, this is the history of one of the unsung types to take to the skies during World War II.
FSM says: Appendices list executive officers, units, individual and unit honors, shipping claims, command aircraft, variants, attack profiles, selected biographies, and, perhaps most usefully to modelers, profiles of the aircraft shown in the color plates. Most photos are historic, rather than detail-oriented, though some may inspire display or diorama ideas.