2025 Preview - Osprey Publishing

[Edward]

Aviation 2025 "Big Reveal"
Osprey Publishing

Looking forward to Swordfish Units of World War 2

Cover art for most of these can be seen at Amz

Air Campaign

Operation Steinbock 1944: The Luftwaffe's disastrous last Blitz over England
By Chris Goss
Illustrated by Adam Tooby
27 March 2025
The story of Germany's disastrous last cross-Channel Blitz in early 1944, which left the Luftwaffe devastated and barely able to oppose the D-Day landings.

France 1940: The first great clash of World War II airpower
By James S. Corum
Illustrated by Graham Turner
24 April 2025
A renowned airpower expert's history of the air campaign in France 1940, offering a rigorous new analysis of why the Luftwaffe was so effective against the French and British.

Normandy 1944: The 'Transportation Plan' to cut D-Day communications
By Julian Hale
Illustrated by Graham Turner
19 June 2025
Packed with illustrations, this is the first book to focus on the ‘Transportation Plan’, the air campaign to isolate the D-Day beaches from German reinforcements.

Kursk 1943: Airpower in the Eastern Front's most pivotal battle
By William E. Hiestand
Illustrated by Graham Turner
28 August 2025
A history and analysis of the fierce air war over the Kursk battlefield, where the Soviet air forces for the first time fought the all-conquering Luftwaffe to a standstill.

New Guinea 1942–43: Halting the last Japanese advance
By Mark Stille & John Rogers
Illustrated by Jim Laurier
25 September 2025
Airpower played a major role in the New Guinea campaign. Lavishly illustrated, this book is a study of the first half of the campaign, as the Allies checked and halted Japan's last significant offensives.

Central Pacific 1943–45: Seventh Air Force's island-hopping war
By Brian Lane Herder
Illustrated by Gareth Hector
23 October 2025
The little-known history of the Hawaii-based Seventh Air Force's role in the Pacific War, as it fought in all the major island campaigns from the Gilbert and Marshall islands to the Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

The Hump 1942–45: America's first massive military airlift
By Mark Lardas
Illustrated by Graham Turner
18 December 2025
A comprehensively illustrated history and analysis of “The Hump” campaign, the huge and treacherous airlift to keep China fighting in World War II.

https://www.ospreypublishing.com/uk/...-air-campaign/

Duel

B-26 Marauder vs Me 262: Europe 1945
By Robert Forsyth
Illustrated by Gareth Hector and Jim Laurier
27 February 2025
An illustrated account of the clashes between the Luftwaffe’s Me 262, the first operational jet fighter, and the USAAF’s B-26 Marauder bomber during the final months of the war in Europe.

B-29 Superfortress vs Japanese Nightfighter: Japan 1944–45
By Mark Lardas
Illustrated by Gareth Hector and Jim Laurier
27 March 2025
An illustrated study of the clashes between B-29s conducting night raids on Japan and the Japanese nightfighters protecting the Home Islands in 1944–45.

Luftwaffe Bombers vs British AA Defences: Britain 1940–41
By Donald Nijboer
Illustrated by Gareth Hector and Jim Laurier
24 April 2025
A highly illustrated study of the performance of the British Army’s Anti-Aircraft (AA) Command against the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.

VLR [Very Long Range] P-51 Mustang vs Japanese Fighter: Japan 1945
By Carl Molesworth
Illustrated by Gareth Hector and Jim Laurier
20 November 2025
An illustrated account of the fierce aerial battles that raged above Tokyo as USAAF P-51D/K Mustang pilots brought their weapons to bear against Japanese fighters during the final months of the Pacific War.

https://www.ospreypublishing.com/us/...duel-aviation/

Dogfight

Spitfire I: Phoney War and Battle of France
by Tony Holmes
Ilustrated by Gareth Hector and Jim Laurier (Illustrator)
17 June 2025
An illustrated study of the legendary Spitfire and the evolving tactics behind its early defence of Britain's shores.

https://www.ospreypublishing.com/ca/...2025-dogfight/

Combat Aircraft

Swordfish Units of World War 2
By Matthew Willis
Illustrated by Gareth Hector (cover) and Janusz Światłoń (profiles)
17 July 2025
A fully illustrated account of the World War 2 combat career of the Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bomber, one of the Royal Navy's most resilient and effective aircraft of the period.

https://www.ospreypublishing.com/ca/...mbat-aircraft/

[Chris Goss]

….plus my book on the Ju 88C the cover of which is being done as I type

[Edward]

Out now.

France 1940: The First Great Clash of World War II Airpower
(Osprey Publishing - 22 April 2025)
by James S. Corum with illustrations by Graham Turner
96 pages - paperback
£16.99
$25.00 US

"A renowned airpower expert assesses the air campaign fought in France in 1940, explaining why the Luftwaffe was so effective against the French and British.
The battle for France and Belgium was one of the most significant moments in modern warfare: the first great clash of modern major powers, where both sides possessed large and capable air forces, and modern combined-arms doctrine. It was in the air that the Germans had a notable advantage in both numbers and quality. But this does not fully explain the victory of the Luftwaffe over the RAF and the French Air Force in 1940.

In this book, renowned airpower scholar James S. Corum offers an operational-level history of the air campaign, and explains comprehensively and concisely how the campaign was fought, and why the Luftwaffe made such superior use of their airpower. He explains the importance of the air forces' leadership and fighting doctrine, and aspects of the campaign often overlooked, such as the dysfunctional organization that kept hundreds of French aircraft out of the battle, and Germany's pioneering use of radio-equipped air liaison officers that provided the world's first system of 'on-call' close air support.

Researched from French, British, and German primary sources, and illustrated throughout with artwork, 3D diagrams, maps and photos, this book distils the author's decades of scholarship into an essential guide to airpower in the fall of France."

Table of Contents
Introduction
Chronology
Attacker's Capabilities
Defender's Capabilities
Campaign Objectives
The Campaign
Aftermath and Analysis
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Author
"Dr James S. Corum is an internationally recognized expert on military airpower and counter-insurgency. Recently retired from two decades of teaching at leading Western defense colleges, he has also served as a strategic planner and is a retired US Army lieutenant colonel with an intelligence background. An award-winning author of 15 books and more than 70 major journal articles and book chapters, he is now an independent historian and consultant, and lives in Alabama."

Illustrator
"Graham Turner is a leading historical artist, specializing in the medieval period. He has illustrated numerous titles for Osprey, covering a wide variety of subjects from the dress of the 10th-century armies of the Caliphates, through the action of bloody medieval battles, to the daily life of the British Redcoat of the late 18th century. The son of the illustrator Michael Turner, Graham lives and works in Buckinghamshire, UK."

https://www.ospreypublishing.com/uk/...9781472864833/

[kaki3152]

At sometime Osprey is going to examine smaller actions and lesser known airplane. How about a "Ki-84 Aces" to go with the rest of the other Japanese fighters (Ki43,Ki-61, Ki-44,NIK2J and J2M, and A6M)? Or an A6M3-A6M7

[Edward]

I agree. Plenty of WWII Pacific theater units have been neglected.

Edward Young did write F4U Corsair vs Ki-84 “Frank” Pacific Theater 1945 in 2016 for Osprey.

https://www.ospreypublishing.com/us/...9781472814609/

[kaki3152]

I know, but I feel the Ki-84 deserves better recognition. I have the Koku Fan on the Ki-84, but unfortunately I never learned to read Japanese. I have hard enough time struggling through German, French and Italian.