Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 71

Pfalz Scout Aces of World War I

by

Greg VanWyngarden

Reviewed by John Prigent

Pfalz Scout Aces of World War I is available online from Squadron.com

This is a fascinating book for WWI aircraft fans. The various Pfalz scout types were not well regarded, suffering by comparisons with the Albatros and Fokker scouts which were regarded as more manoeuvrable and faster.

The Pfalz certainly suffered their share of losses due to structural weakness as well as in combat.

This book begins with the admission that it is often impossible to tell from the records what aircraft were being flown by pilots in mixed Staffels, with different aircraft on strength at the same time, so any ace known to have flown a Pfalz is included even if not necessarily scoring many victories in any of the types. For the sake of interest some non-aces have been included, and for me this actually makes the book more interesting simply because their accounts are so rarely heard of.

It is packed with personal narratives and rare photographs, and for good measure there are 32 colour side views of Pfalz from the Parasol P39 of Vfw Kissenberg to the D XII of Vfw Marchner, plus of course all the types in between, showing the personal and staffel markings carried. Where it is possible to reconstruct their topside appearances these are shown too.

There are also 1/72 four-view plans of the Pfalz D III and D IIIa.

This is just what Pfalz modellers need!

Recommended.
 

Thanks to Osprey Publishing for the review sample
 

Review Copyright © 2006 by John Prigent
This Page Created on 21 July, 2006
Last updated 21 July, 2006

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