Dénes Bernád

The Heinkel He.112 was one of the great 'might-have-beens' of aviation history. It was the alternative contender in the competition for the main Luftwaffe fighter in the pre-war years, and many consider that it was probably the better aircraft - an elegant, elliptical-winged aircraft with a bubble canopy that was some years ahead of all the competition, either in Germany or elsewhere. The problem was that whereas Willy Messerschmitt had the ear of the German leadership, Ernst Heinkel didn't. show more So although the He.112 was the superior aircraft, the Me.109 was declared the winner because it was "the best fighter aircraft in the world" anyway. And things might have turned out very differently in the Battle of Britain... show less

Denes Bernad is one of the best writers having their work published by MMP/Stratus, and I'm always impressed by the lengths that he'll go to. For this work he hunted down surviving Bulgarian fighter pilots, hit the archives, and literally rooted out every scrap of evidence to produce this book. Keeping in mind that model builders are one of the significant constituencies that Bernad is trying to assist, it was particularly interesting to learn that the German government of the 1930s, when show more selling warplanes, had a regulation against selling machines finished in the current Luftwaffe colors. This meant that aircraft were usually finished using the remaining paint stocks of the previous style. This is the sort of information that gives joy to "rivet counters" everywhere.

Besides that, the machines covered range from a few token Fokker D.VIIs, to the Bf 109E, with assorted other German, Polish, and Czech aircraft coming in between. The operational history is dominated by the efforts to contest the USAAF passing through Bulgarian airspace to hit targets further afield.

As for the second book in this duo, that is dominated by the use of the Messerschmitt Bf 109G, and other assorted castoffs; that will be a different review though. show less

Another typically top-notch work from the author. In terms of content, this is very much devoted to the Bulgarian air arm's efforts to contest the USAAF bomber streams penetrating their air space. From there, about half of the book is devoted to the use of the Bf.109G by the Bulgarians, with the rest split between examining the service of the Dewoitine D.520 and Avia B-135. If you are interested in the air arms of Eastern Europe in World War II you certainly want to be following this author.

If you're interested in Hungarian military aviation this is certainly a must-have kind of book as the authors examine not just the marking schemes of the aircraft, but a wide variety of background issues; including what it meant to be an aviation enthusiast during the Communist era. As for particular machines, those covered include covert aircraft, FIAT biplanes and the "D-E-F" iterations of the Bf.109.