[leonventer]

I have John Ward's new book, and I agree with Dick Power's comments.

Fortunately, there are many other volumes devoted to the Ju 87 (at least 40 that describe the aircraft, plus about 15 biographies and unit histories.) None of these books qualifies as the definitive Stuka reference, so you'll need at least a few of them for decent coverage.

Here are some recommendations:

- "Junkers Ju 87 Stuka" by Smith; Crowood, 1998; ISBN 1-86126-177-2
(Not to be confused with his earlier book, "Stuka at War")
Perhaps the best single volume on the Ju 87. Describes development and operational history, with more emphasis on the latter. Includes personal accounts, biographies, tactics, foreign use, OOBs, loss statistics, and good photos. Weak on technical data.

- "Junkers Ju 87 Stuka" by Griehl; Airlife, 2001; ISBN 1-84037-198-6
Another good single-volume work. A good complement to Smith's book, with more detailed coverage of development history, armament, production, night units, training units, and carrier/torpedo variants. Also weak on technical data.

- "Vom Original zum Modell: Junkers Ju 87" by Erfurth; Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 1999; ISBN 3-7637-6017-2 (To be published in English as vol. 5 of the Black Cross series by Specialty Press/Midland)
The best technical reference, with reprints of pages from technical manuals, performance curves, construction details, production line photos and detail shots, descriptions of all prototypes and production variants, etc.


Other worthwhile resources:

- "Stukas!" by Leonard; Editions Heimdal, 1997
High quality photos.

- "Ju 87 Stuka in Action" by Filley; Squadron/Signal, 1986
- "Junkers Ju 87 Stuka" by Bily, Androvic, Bernad; MBI/Sagitta, 1992
Useful detail drawings of the differences between variants.

- "Junkers Ju 87 from 1936 to 1945" by Leonard, Jouineau; Histoire & Collections, 2003
Lots of color profiles.

- "Junkers Ju 87D/G Stuka" by Aero Detail, 1994
Close-up color photos and detailed drawings.

Leon Venter