New Book on German Armored Warplanes Published

[JackH]

Gentlemen:

I am happy to announce that my new book German Armored Warplanes of WWI has been published and is now available from Amazon. As soon as I receive some copies I will also make it available directly from Aeronaut Books.

This book describes and illustrates the development of German armored warplanes in WWI, primarily J-class infantry aircraft but including other experimental types, with text, more than 160 rare, contemporary photos, 38 color profiles, and tables of information including production quantities and serial numbers of aircraft and aircraft size and performance specifications. The origin and evolution of the armored warplane designs are discussed in the context of the German strategic situation and the evolving combat environment. Scale drawings of the AEG J.I and J.II and the Albatros J.I and J.II to 1/48 scale are included in the book’s 116 pages.

Bob Pearson did many new, excellent color profiles for this book. Aaron Weaver worked his magic on these old photos to get the most from them. Colin Owers and Greg VanWyngarden gave me a lot of help finding photos. Marty Digmayer did some excellent drawings and Reinhard Zankl provided a well-researched table of production orders and serial numbers. Jim Miller provided a special colorized photo of an Albatros J.I that we present on the same spread as the black and white original and a color profile by Bob so you have several depictions of the same aircraft.

There are some nice surprises in the book too, including a discussion of the observer who won the Blue Max for his work in the Junkers J.I. One of his achievements was to shoot down American fighter pilot Charles Biddle, who survived this misfortune and later became an ace. We include color profiles of both aircraft involved in this combat.

Cheers,
Jack