Aces at Kursk: The Battle for Aerial Supremacy on the Eastern Front, 1943

[NickM]

WILL THEY MAKE UP THEIR DARNED MINDS??!?!

[Jukka Juutinen]

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Aces...rdback/p/21480

[Stig Jarlevik]

Interesting they say published 29 Feb 2024, a date which has
not yet appeared....

Cheers
Stig

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi,

In his blog post published in late-January 2024, Chris wrote the following: "I have been doing the (hopefully) final edits on Aces at Kursk".

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications - www.airwarpublications.com/earticles

[edwest2]

Thank you Andrew.

[NickM]

Gang,

Casemate publishers has the book as being ready May 2024, but Amazon has the release date as being July 2024.

Do we actually have a proper release date?

[NickM]

OK, both Amazon and Casemate (which originally said they were releasing in September 2024) sent me the book and I am in the process of reading it. It's a bit 'dry' but pretty well apportioned with chronology, statistics and 'general' break down of daily info like losses, vics, sorties, etc.

[Edward]

Any photos, diagrams or profiles?

[NickM]

Originally Posted by Edward

Any photos, diagrams or profiles?

Some photos of Russian and German Aces, the various aircraft used on both sides as well as monuments to the USSR Heroes.



Maps (though I can't REALLY tell what's what in this first go thru)


Daily breakdowns during the battle of what each side's airfleet and air army flew how many sorties-sometimes broken down by aircraft type; some tables of daily losses by type;


A few thumbnail biographies (For the Germans: Hartmann, Rall, and standouts like Scheel; there were Russian/USSR pilot bios and interviews as well);

Some commentary on the claims/losses on both sides, including overclaiming and loss ratios

[leonventer]

Just to add to what NickM said:

Lawrence's "Aces over Kursk" is extracted from his 1662-page tome, "Kursk: The Battle of Prokhorovka". (Just to be clear, it covers the aerial activity over both the Southern and Northern fronts of the Kursk salient.)

It's a very detailed, scholarly study with many tables, maps and some charts. It contains OOBs and extensive quantitative comparisons and analyses, incl. losses, claims, sortie counts, serviceability rates, times & altitudes of Luftwaffe claims, top ace listings for the battle, and several other statistics.

The narrative includes accounts of individual aces, a day-by-day chronicle of the battle's development, weather reports, and even sunrise-sunset times. It's the definitive study of the air war over Kursk, along with Christer Bergström's "Black Cross Red Star Vol. 5".

However, if you're primarily interested in photographic coverage and aircraft profiles, then I would recommend the following:

• The Bergström book mentioned above, 2020, 377 pages
  Very good photographic content and several color profiles of Luftwaffe and Soviet aircraft.

• "Luftwaffe Colours: Jagdwaffe Vol. 4 Section 3" by Bergström and Pegg, 2004, 96 pages
  Many photographs and profiles of Luftwaffe aircraft.

• "Авиация в Битве Над Орловско-Курской Дугой (Aviation in the Battle of the Orel-Kursk Bulge)" by Khazanov and Gorbach, 2004, 200 pages
  Many photographs and several color profiles of Luftwaffe and Soviet aircraft.

Originally Posted by Theo Boiten

A small question re this book; does it also cover the night airwar during the Battle of Kursk?

Coverage of night operations is limited, but I did see at least a few mentions of Soviet and Luftwaffe night bomber raids and statistics.

Leon Venter