"Grounded Eagles: Captured and Wrecked Aircraft of the Luftwaffe", by Tom Laemlein

[Richard T. Eger]

These books fall into the class of Wings of the Black Cross and Luftwaffe im Focus. There are 2 Grounded Eagles books and, for the Pacific, at least 3 companion books Setting Suns: Captured & Wrecked Japanese Aircraft in WWII. All are by Tom Laemlein from his Armor Plate Press ( www.armorplatepress.com ).

What sets these books apart is the quality and diversity of the photos, as these are simply photo albums with limited captions - some of which are in error, I believe from simple lack of knowledge. Still, a photo is worth a 1000 words and I feel reasonably confident in time that the captions will get better as Tom develops more background for his subjects - that, and maybe a network of those like on TOCH! that can help guide him.

Tom gives credit to his specialist, Mike Gerenser, for the high production values. Even if you are familiar with some of these photos, as I am of many of those on the Me 262, I can still look on them with admiration as to their high quality. The first Luftwaffe Eagles covers:

Ju 88, Ju 290, Ju 388, Ju 188, Junkers W34, Bf 109, Bf 110, Me 262, Me 323, Me 163, Ar 234, Mistel, Me 410, Do 335, the Natter, He 162, He 177, He 219, Fw 190, He 111, Hs 129, Ju 52, gliders, Ju 87, V1, V2, Fl 282, Fw 189, Fi 156, Vichy aircraft, and Italian aircraft. The book is 130 pages of generally very high quality photos.

Luftwaffe Eagles II covers:

Bf 109, Fw 190, Ta 154, Do 335, Me 262, He 162, the Natter, Bf 110, Ju 88 fighters, Me 410, He 219, Go 229, Ar 234, Hs 129, Ju 87, Ju 88 bombers, Ju 188, Ju 388, Do 17, Do 217, He 111, He 177, Fw 200, Ju 290, Mistel, Fw 189, Fi 156, trainers, transports, gliders, miscellaneous aircraft, Italian aircraft, captured aircraft, rockets, glide bombs, V1 and V2. The book is 203 pages long and thus more expensive than the first volume.

Once I departed from my own Me 262 specialty, I was much impressed with the other photos with which, to me, I was unfamiliar. Regarding the Me 262, while I was familiar with the photos in the first book, there were some pleasant surprises in the second one. There were 3 photos of Me 262 B-1a, W.Nr. 110639, as "Vera", presumably taken at Melun. There was a single photo of a derelict Me 262 in a damaged hangar at Erding. I have a photo of the same aircraft taken from a different view. There are a number of photos of damaged or incomplete Me 262's, one or more of which may be new to me once I do a comparative search of my collection.

I would imagine that many of you would find some ooh and ahh surprises in these books, in spite of your own specialty. These are quality works well worth your investigating.

Regards,
Richard

[edwest]

Thank you Richard.



Regards,
Ed West