JaPo Publishing

Messerschmitt Bf-109s of JG 53 in Deutsch Brod book

Luftwaffe over Czech Territory - 1945

Product Article by Steve Bamford on Apr 24 2006

 

 

 

This 57 page softcover book from JaPo Publishing is specifically created for the Messerschmitt Bf-109 modeller with a strong fascination in historically accurate markings and the history of the Luftwaffe over Czech Territory during WW2, specifically JG 52 at Deutsch Brod.  This is  a soft cover book made from heavy weight glossy magazine paper, so it will hold up well to continued use.  The cover....(although a soft cover) is made from thick glossy paper and will hold together well.  The book is produced in the Czech Republic and all text is in English.

The Luftwaffe operated from the Deutsch Brod airbase and this was the last base of one of the most famous Luftwaffe Units - Jagdgeschwader 52.  During JG 52's time at this base, it's planes that were damaged beyond repair were collected into a "scrap heap".  At war's end, JG 52 scrapped it's remaining aircraft and added them to the scrap heap on the air base and retreated by land to the American zone.  Photos were taken of this scrap heap at the time and these photos are the raw information that is used to decipher what each aircraft looked like in colour profiles.  The effort that went into these colour profiles was painstaking to say the least.  But I'm getting ahead of myself, .....lets go back to the beginning.

With the worsening international situation and the appointment of Hitler  in Germany, the Czech Air Ministry created various air bases around the country.  One of these airbases was Německý Brod which later became Deutsch Brod with the arrival of the Germans.  This book details all the history of the base in the introduction and then focuses on JG 52's time there in the last weeks/days of the war and the aircraft they left behind.  

This book uses wartime records and recreates as best as possible the story behind JG 52's time at this base and the aircraft they used and the missions they flew.  It then uses wartime and end of war photos of the scrap heap of JG 52 to analyze paint schemes and recreate those paint schemes in colour profiles and 4 view B&W profiles.

Below I've include a tiny selection of some of the pages....out of respect to the producers of this fine book, I am not providing larger scans.

Images below are small to protect the content of this book.
aerial view of airfield in 1945  historical photos B&W profile

 

The end result a historically accurate colour profile of the plane in question.  These images are quite big in the book and detail rich, but I've reproduced them here in small images to give you a taste of the contents of this book without giving away access to the original artwork.

6 different colour profiles featured in this book

Colour profile

This goes into the deepest detail about the aircraft types used at Deutsch Brod by JG 52 and the careful and extensive efforts to determine the colour schemes of these aircraft is quite amazing.  I found this book riveting and is sure to be of much interest to the Bf-109 or JG 52 modeller with a passion for the historical side of model building.

All JaPo publications can be ordered by e-mail, fax, or letter at this address:
Ing. Jaroslav Farkaš
P.O. BOX 22
500 12 Hradec Králové
Czech Republic
e-mail:
farkas@japo-publishing.cz
tel. /fax: +420 495 273 303

Or go direct to their website at JaPo Publishing

I'd like to thanks JaPo Publishing for sending me this review sample.

Steve

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford