Today I bought and purchased the new and forthcoming Stuka Geschwader Immelmann history being published by Lela Presse in their 'Unit history' series at the end of October. Postage is free on all pre-publication orders and 'Avions' subscribers also get a nice discount on the cover price as usual. Volume I is nearly 300 pages, 600 photos and some thirty Dekker artworks and covers the pre-war period up to Kursk in mid-1943. The photos and artwork are very exciting - a PDF extract can be viewed on the publisher's website here and ordering could not be more straight forward.
An 'exclusive' look at one of Thierry Dekker's artworks appearing in the book courtesy of the artist - Ju 87 D-3 of 6./ St.G. 2 seen in April 1942. Click on the low-res image to view large
".. The second Luftwaffe dive bombing Geschwader, St. G. 2, was long known as 'Hans-Ulrich Rudel's unit' even as early as 1945. If this aviator left his mark on the unit, St.G. 2 cannot be reduced to the exploits of a single pilot, even an exceptional one. It was of course one of the few units to fly from the first to the last day of the Second World War, operating until the end on the (in)famous Ju 87 Stuka, through its different variants (from A to G). While H-U Rudel was the most decorated German pilot, St. G. 2 had more than a hundred Knights of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuzträger) in its ranks, many of whom fell in action. Feared by its opponents on the Eastern front, St. G. 2 would specialize in the final months of the war in the destruction of armoured vehicles..."
AXIS FIGHTER AIRCRAFT is the latest book of artwork and text from Claes Sundin ( CENTURA PUBLISHING) and is another superlative visual feast. Not only does Claes work hard to beautifully present his fantastic artworks but he takes the trouble to write extensive and detailed captions that put the machine illustrated in the context both of the war situation in the air and on the ground while detailing the successes as well as the setbacks experienced by each named pilot.
Claes writes ;
"... This is my 14th profile book, and of those, this is my 11th self-produced and published book. With my own publishing company, Centura Publishing, my personal goal is to produce books of unequalled quality, a way to present the most interesting of profile subjects and to produce the kind of books that I, as a WW2 buff, would personally find interesting. As the publisher I will guarantee the highest possible paper and print quality, all to satisfy the many WW II profile enthusiasts out there.
This book is about a lesser-known subject area, both in terms of the history of the Second World War in general and specifically the nationalities and nations that were allied to or collaborated with the Axis powers. I hope that the reader will discover new interesting profile subjects and learn more about the nations involved, the units and their pilots. These are little known areas even to fellow WW II air war enthusiasts but at the same time represent historically a more important area of aviation history than most historians have acknowledged hitherto..."
To order directly from Claes at the Centura Publishing site go here