“Ghost Bombers” by Nick Beale, Classic Publications 2001.
Deals with the history of Nachtschlachtgruppe 9, conducting nocturnal harassment raids against the Allied forces in Italy in 1944 - 1945, with the perspectives of both sides in the conflict. Richly illustrated, mainly with never before published photos, and both aircraft colour profiles (by Tom Tullis!) and excellent "3D air war situation maps". The latter is something of a new thing which I have seen in two recently published air war books, and adds a new dimension to the effort to provide us with an understanding of what really took place.
This book is a great piece of research and text! I am deeply impressed!
Before that one, I wouldn’t have believed that it was possible to find such a wealth of information on a Nachtschlachtgruppe in Italy (of all places!) in 1944 - 1945 (of all years!).
It is a great read, and the illustrations are just marvellous! Sometimes it gets so personal that it feels like a biography: There is a photo of the German pilot who was shot down, a photo of the last page in his logbook (ending with a comment by a superior, noting that he was KIA), then a photo of the British pilot who shot him down, and finally a photo of the last page in his logbook (with an entry of the shootdown), and maybe also a copy of the corresponding page in that guys’ personal diary - plus colour profiles of both involved aircraft! Breathtaking! I wonder where Nick Beale found all that material? There also are some “the battlefield then and now” photos, which always is interesting. Since we have the "Da Vinci code tourism", you can go on "Ghost Bomber/NSG 9 tourism" in Italy!
Christer Bergström
2nd March 2005, 15:49
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