Australian Spitfires over Normandy - book by an ASL player

Thunderchief

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Vinnie

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I trust you will remind us once it's out?

Do you know if it will be published pushed outside of Australia as postage could be steep.
 

Thunderchief

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It will be available via the various amazons and book depository, so worldwide/local to where you are.

I will certainly send a reminder once it is ready to go - thanks to everyone so far for their support.
 

daniel zucker

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If the photo on the web page is the cover photo, I like it. The photo involves the feel of being in a airplane and flying with a grate unknown ahead of you.
 

Khill

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There may have been no more beautiful piston aircraft. Congratulations, Adam.
great lines with a throaty purr

looks like an interesting story. did not know there were Aussies over Normandy
 

Justiciar

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F U N....so the RAAF had a sense of humoUr...shocking. ;) [Note the aircraft call letters...]
Hope your sales do well.
 

Sparky

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way cool! I'm in for a copy, one of my passions is ww2 aircraft.

but for my money nothing beats the Centauro for most beautiful piston aircraft of ww2. What the Italian industry didn't do in quantity they aced in beauty and quality. That was one bitchin' fighter, even the Germans wanted their hands on that one after Italy dropped out of the war.
 

Bob Walters

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way cool! I'm in for a copy, one of my passions is ww2 aircraft.

but for my money nothing beats the Centauro for most beautiful piston aircraft of ww2. What the Italian industry didn't do in quantity they aced in beauty and quality. That was one bitchin' fighter, even the Germans wanted their hands on that one after Italy dropped out of the war.
I think the Italians made some of the best looking (and they performed pretty well too) fighters. The M.202, M.205, G55. and the Re.2005 were awesome aircraft.
 
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Sparky

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I think the Italians made some of the best looking (and they performed pretty well too) fighters. The M.202, M.205, G55. and the Re.205 were awesome aircraft.
yeah they were beauties weren't they. I gave the edge to the Centauro for pure performance, some (the Germans themselves IIRC?) considered it the best performing Axis fighter of the war. The Veltro and Sagittario though beautiful had some negatives in combat/flight. Like a tendency to break up in high speed dives with the Sagittario. Lost a few style points there haha like the smokin' hot blond you want to ride and enjoy until she utterly comes apart in flight. Ruins the overall experience umm hmm
 

von Marwitz

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but for my money nothing beats the Centauro for most beautiful piston aircraft of ww2. What the Italian industry didn't do in quantity they aced in beauty and quality. That was one bitchin' fighter, even the Germans wanted their hands on that one after Italy dropped out of the war.
It was the combination of the aircraft with the German engine that did the trick. Of the latter, there weren't enough available, though, IIRC.

von Marwitz
 

Sparky

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yeah the Italians were early pioneers of aviation but held on to notion of radial engines far too long and were forced to go with the Germans in-line model.

it wasn't the engines btw that was the problem. In the first year of engine production, by the end of 1943 Fiat produced over 1000 RA 1050 Tifone engines. Well exceeding the combined 1943-45 production of the fighters they were made for. The problems was it took 15000 man hours to built one of those serie 5 fighters, compared to 5000 for the Germans to produce a me109.
 

Bob Walters

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yeah the Italians were early pioneers of aviation but held on to notion of radial engines far too long and were forced to go with the Germans in-line model.

it wasn't the engines btw that was the problem. In the first year of engine production, by the end of 1943 Fiat produced over 1000 RA 1050 Tifone engines. Well exceeding the combined 1943-45 production of the fighters they were made for. The problems was it took 15000 man hours to built one of those serie 5 fighters, compared to 5000 for the Germans to produce a me109.
One thing that is also forgotten is the quality of the individual Italian aviators. A great many were extremely talented aerobatics performers. Of course, this was a two-edged sword in some ways as their preference for aerobatics caused them to hang onto biplanes far longer than everyone else.
 

von Marwitz

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In general, one can say that the Italian airforce was very advanced in the late 1920s and early 1930s. But when the war began, many of its designs were already outdated again and surpassed by the models of other nations.

Italian fighters were often notoriously underarmed as well.

von Marwitz
 

Sparky

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Italian fighters were often notoriously underarmed as well.
no doubt, which is something the serie 5 fighters corrected but those were late war designs, designed with taking down allied bombers rather than dogfighting with other fighters. Underarmed as they were previously they were still fabulous dogfighting machines in the hands of a very underrated and highly skilled group of pilots. It is one of the great 'odd' facts that the c202 Folgore which wasn't even armed with a cannon just some Breda mg had a higher kill to loss ratio than the me109 in north Africa in 1942 and those German pilots were not the exactly b squad flying crates.
 
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