Jon Guttman

This book could be more correctly titled as "The History of Fighter Operations in World War One". It provides a very good narrative of fighter actions, focusing primarily on the Western Front but covering other fronts as well. If it has a fault, it is that the book looks closely at the trees but fails to see the forest; there is an almost day by day descriptions of operations, but there is little assessment or analysis of what drove fighter design and the development of tactics and doctrine. show more It does contain some discussion of the development of the different aircraft, but in a rather cursory way. There are numerous photographs but they are printed on the pages in half or quarter page size and are of somewhat dubious quality. Overall however it is a very good book to read if one wishes to gain an understanding of fighter actions during the war. show less

Typical Osprey in a good way. Great introduction to the subject along with excellent art.

This particular booklet represents Osprey at its most workmanlike. Yes, it covers the topic in question, but it really doesn't go beyond that. How could have it gone further? Perhaps some wrap-up commentary on the impact on post-1918 developments in the relevant air arms might have been in order; particularly since Joseph Vuillemin, the French air commander in 1940, served in these aircraft. You can see how the concept of the "battle plane" would have seemed plausible to bright minds in Paris.

Even if "Duel" tends to not be my favorite Osprey series, I did find this this particular booklet to be quite worthwhile in terms of examining the characteristics of the two aircraft and the circumstances of their operational use.