This month's book vote sees five Duel (Aviation) titles battling for your support. Read the full descriptions and have your say by filling out the form on the book vote page. Plus, check out the results of last month's Elite vote.

 

Fw 190F vs Soviet Tank Destroyers (Eastern Front 1944-45) 

P-38 Lightning vs Bf 109 (MTO 1942-43) 

RAF Coastal Command vs Ju 88 (Atlantic 1941–45)

Kamikaze vs Escort Carriers (Pacific 1944–45)

Mosquito FB VI vs V1 Flying Bomb (ETO 1944)

 

Fw 190F vs Soviet Tank Destroyers (Eastern Front 1944-45) 

The Fw 190F was the ground-attack variant of the famous Focke-Wulf radial-engined fighter and fighter-bomber. It equipped several Luftwaffe Schlachtgruppen in 1944–45, and was armed with two 20mm MG 151 cannon as well as centreline and underwing bomb racks specifically for work against armour. The principle opponents for the Fw 190F were the masses of Soviet armour thrusting from the East, across Poland and into the Third Reich in 1944–45. These included relative efficiency at low-level against the mighty Su-85 and Su-100 tank destroyers. 

P-38 Lightning vs Bf 109 (MTO 1942-43) 

Although the P-38 Lightning would prove to be the ‘Cadillac of fighters’ in the Pacific Theatre, where it prevailed over its Japanese counterparts, it was a very different story in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. Despite being well trained, USAAF P-38 pilots with little or no combat experience found their Axis opponents in Bf 109F/Gs a stubborn foe thanks to the battle-hardened nature of the Jagdflieger and Italian pilots encountered over North Africa and the Mediterranean.

RAF Coastal Command vs Ju 88 (Atlantic 1941–45)

Coastal Command long-range patrol aircraft (Sunderland and Catalina flying boats and land-based Fortress I/IIs and Liberators) routinely engaged powerfully armed Ju 88s patrolling the Western Approaches and the Bay of Biscay in search of Allied ships or escorting Fw 200 Condors. Some bloody clashes ensued, resulting in casualties on both sides.

Kamikaze vs Escort Carriers (Pacific 1944–45)

The escort carrier was the warship least capable of withstanding kamikaze attack. It was also the large warship least desired as a kamikaze target. Yet because it was so easily mistaken for the most desirable target, the fleet carrier, it was frequently a kamikaze target. The result was a barrage of kamikazes raining down on escort carriers, which had few of the resources available to their fleet counterparts. 

Mosquito FB VI vs V1 Flying Bomb (ETO 1944)

A few days after the success of the Allied landings in Normandy, the Nazis rushed their Fieseler Fi 103 ‘flying bomb’ into service, with the first striking London in the early hours of 13 June 1944. Goebbels quickly named the weapon as ‘Vergeltundswaffe 1’ (Vengeance weapon 1). The British public came to know these terror weapons as ‘buzz bombs’, ‘doodlebugs’ and V1 flying bombs, but the RAF called them ‘Divers’. RAF Fighter Command immediately deployed Mosquito intruder squadrons, skilled in flying at night over hostile territory, to identify the launch sites in Northern France. The crews were also tasked with destroying Divers before they crossed the British coast.

 

Last month, we asked what you would like to see published in our Elite series. Thank you to everyone who voted and provided feedback. Here are the results: 

The Swiss at War 1500–1793 - 36.3%

American Civil War Battlefield Tactics - 21.1% 

American Civil War Naval Tactics - 17.1% 

The Royal Navy since 1945 - 13.4%

The Royal Air Force since 1945 -12.1%