Commissioning Editor Tony Holmes takes us through what we can expect from the Duel series in respect to aviation-related titles in 2026!

This year’s aviation-related Duel titles focus on a number of aircraft types that have not featured in the series before. These include the Beaufighter and Typhoon, both RAF icons of World War 2, as well as a range of more modern types in the Operation Desert Storm title. Flak ships and anti-aircraft weapons (guns and missiles) also receive detailed coverage in the series in 2026. Although I will enjoy working on all five books, perhaps my favourite will be F4F Wildcat vs A6M2-N 'Rufe': Solomon Islands 1942–43 by Pacific War authority Michael John Claringbould. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the ‘Rufe’ floatplane fighter!

 

Coalition Aircraft vs Iraqi SAMs: Operation Desert Storm 1991

Peter E Davies, Gareth Hector, Jim Laurier

29/01/2026

A detailed study of how Operation Desert Storm saw Coalition forces respond to Iraq’s surface-to-air missile defences with ground-breaking combat aircraft technology.

Developed in the wake of the USA’s ill-prepared entry into the Vietnam War, aircraft carrying electronic counter-measures equipment and anti-radar missiles were crucial to the success of Operation Desert Storm during the First Gulf War. Iraq’s air defence systems were elaborate and costly, but also well understood by Coalition planners, and its surface-to-air missile batteries struggled in the face of radar jamming, pyrotechnic deflection of infrared guidance and extraordinarily effective destruction of enemy air defences weapons like the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile.

Written by aviation expert Peter E Davies, this fascinating study uses newly commissioned artwork to enhance its retelling of how aircraft and weapons, as well as crew training and command-and-control structures, proved decisive in the outcome of Desert Storm in 1991. Archive photos capture examples of the principal weapons involved, while first-hand accounts from Coalition aircrew and planners convey the realities of a conflict in which cutting-edge technology played an inestimable role.

 

Beaufighter vs German Flak Ships: North Sea and Mediterranean 1941–45

Matthew Willis, Jim Laurier

26/02/2026

An illustrated study of RAF Coastal Command’s deployment of the Beaufighter against German supply lines in 1941 and the long-running ‘arms race’ with Kriegsmarine Flak ships that followed.

Crucial German shipping lines faced a new threat in 1941 when RAF Coastal Command debuted the iconic long-range Beaufighter. The aircraft and its subsequent Mk VIC and Mk X versions gave the Allies a tough, relatively fast and very hard-hitting platform for air attack on German convoys, and so it became essential for the Kriegsmarine to fit ever-heavier anti-aircraft batteries to its escort vessels, and even to develop specialist Flak vessels.

In this compelling study, naval aviation historian Matthew Willis chronicles the little-explored arms race that saw RAF Coastal Command and the Kriegsmarine engaged in a fierce battle of one-upmanship until war’s end. New artwork, rare archive photography and contemporary records of Beaufighter operations add depth to fascinating historical accounts, including the actions of the famous North Coates Strike Wing against shipping in the North Sea and the exploits of Beaufighter units tasked with severing Rommel’s all-important supply lines.

 

Spitfire vs Fw 190: Northwest Europe 1941–43

Andy Saunders, Gareth Hector, Jim Laurier

21/05/2026

An illustrated account of the challenge posed to RAF Fighter Command by the Luftwaffe's Fw 190, and the ways in which Spitfire crews adapted to this deadly new threat.

The introduction of Focke-Wulf’s Fw 190 to Luftwaffe service presented RAF Spitfire VB and VA pilots with a formidable new foe that could quite literally run rings around them. First encountered over France in September 1941, the ‘Butcher Bird’ soon demonstrated its startling capabilities, wrong-footing RAF Fighter Command and forcing the swift development of new tactics and methods. The actions that ensued were some of the most fiercely contested of the air war in northwest Europe and would lead to the production and eventual fielding of the Spitfire IX.

In this new study, air war expert Andy Saunders details how the RAF – having perhaps become complacent about the superiority of the Spitfire – found itself left behind with an inferior fighter. Covering the introduction to service of both the Spitfire V and the Fw 190, the fighters’ first encounters and the battles that shaped subsequent tactics and design, it combines combat reports and first-hand accounts with archive photographs and newly commissioned artwork and formation diagrams to convey what it was like to be a fighter pilot in both the Spitfire V and the Fw 190 from 1941 to 1943.

 

F4F Wildcat vs A6M2-N 'Rufe': Solomon Islands 1942–43

Michael John Claringbould, Gareth Hector, Jim Laurier

30/07/2026

An illustrated study of the oft-overlooked engagements between the iconic F4F Wildcat and Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force's 6M2-N ‘Rufe’ floatplane during the Solomon Islands campaign.

A number of unique confrontations took place between floatplanes and land-based fighters during the fierce aerial battles fought above the Solomon Islands throughout 1942–43. Whilst the most famous Battle of Guadalcanal ‘slugfests’ saw US Marine Corps/US Navy F4F Wildcats engage the Zero-sens of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force, the pugnacious Wildcats also came up against the A6M2-N ‘Rufe’ floatplane – termed the ‘Zero on floats’ by American pilots. Such encounters have gone under-explored and misrepresented in Western histories, with the elusive capabilities of the ‘Rufe’ and its role combatting raids against Guadalcanal receiving only scant attention.

In this ground-breaking study, Pacific War expert Michael John Claringbould uncovers an aspect of the Pacific air war that has, until now, remained largely unknown. Operational documents, combat reports and first-hand accounts from both Wildcat and ‘Rufe’ pilots are combined to help align adversaries, in some cases one-on-one, for the first time in print, while archive photographs, formation diagrams and newly commissioned artwork brings the action to life.

 

Typhoon vs German Flak Defences: Western Europe 1943–45

Matthew Bone, Gareth Hector, Jim Laurier

19/11/2026

An illustrated study of the evolving tactics that powered the deadly clashes between the RAF’s Typhoon Mk IB fighter-bomber and the Flakwaffe's defending anti-aircraft arsenal.

The Flakwaffe’s role was to protect the Wehrmacht’s men, machines and material from aerial attack. Arrayed against them was the RAF’s 2nd Tactical Air Force (TAF), whose fighter-bomber spear was tipped with the Typhoon Mk IB, a fighter modified beyond its original intent. The tactics and weaponry of both adversaries evolved as each sought to outdraw the other, with ‘Bombphoon’ and rocket Typhoon squadrons combining their efforts whilst the Flakwaffe laid deadly traps in fields and on trucks and railway wagons.

In this engrossing study, Typhoon expert Matthew Bone chronicles the exploits of the 2nd TAF’s fighter-bombers and the Flakwaffe arsenal into whose crosshairs they ventured. Drawing on contemporary records of Typhoon operations and historical details of Flak crews, this detailed account utilises newly commissioned artwork, maps and diagrams to shed fresh light on the tactical development of both sides, and the price the RAF ultimately paid for victory.