Foreign Planes in the Service of the Luftwaffe - Hardcover

German's series of rapid conquests in the first half of the Second World War meant that the Luftwaffe was able to operate large numbers of captured military aircraft. This book takes a chronological look at the fate of these aircraft, from the pre-war acquisitions in Czechoslovakia, to the massive windfalls in France and Italy and the smaller but still significant number of British and American aircraft forced down intact in occupied Europe.

The chapters differ in character, falling into two broad groups. The first deals with those occasions when large numbers of military aircraft were captured by the Germans as a result of military victories on land, most notably in Czechoslovakia, Poland, France and the Soviet Union, and in a slightly different context in Italy. In these chapters the aircraft are dealt with on a type-by-type basis. In many cases large numbers of aircraft were taken over directly by the Luftwaffe or given to one of German's allies.

The second type of chapter looks at those periods when small numbers of Allied aircraft fell into German hands in a random manner (mostly British and American aircraft). These chapters are more photographic in nature - none of these types of aircraft were captured in large enough numbers to be used in a conventional way by the Luftwaffe, and so Roba concentrates instead on the fate of individual aircraft.

The focus is very firmly on the aircraft and where they went, rather than what they did once they got there, so KG 200, the special unit that operated many captured Allied aircraft is mentioned, but its exploits are not detailed. The book is very lavishly illustrated, with one large or two smaller photographs on the vast majority of pages. There is something rather chilling about some of these pictures, which show familiar Allied aircraft in Luftwaffe insignia. --History of War.org

No airforce in the Second World War would make more use of captured planes than the Luftwaffe. With this in mind, Jean-Louis Roba has undergone a considerable amount of work in tracking down hundreds of aircraft used by the Luftwaffe and illustrating their uses, careers and eventual fates. The book examines the full history of foreign planes in the Luftwaffe, from its inception in the prewar years to the end of the Second World War. More than just an account of the Luftwaffe's use of captured aircraft, the book debunks myths about how prepared the Germans were for war in 1939, and shows how important even such an unreliable source of supplies as captured planes would become to the Luftwaffe. Translated into English for the first time, Roba's investigative work is supported by over a hundred pictures of the planes themselves, and gives a rare opportunity to see British and American planes repainted in German colours and symbols.