An Ordinary Day in 1945

This new book by Mushroom Model Publications (MMP) is in their usual 6 ½” x 9” soft-cover format. It describes the air operations over western Europe on March 2nd, 1945. Just another day in the final months of WWII. Nothing special – except to those who fought in the air, were wounded, captured or killed..

Full details are provided, in it’s 80 pages, of the combat operations of the 2nd TAF (RAF), the 8th and 9th Air Forces (USAAF), and the Luftwaffe, the latter operating both piston and jet-engined warplanes. Aircraft involved range from the German jets (Me-262 and Ar-234) to US heavies (B-24 and B-17), plus a wide variety of single-seat fighters on both sides.

Victories, losses and participating aircrew are listed, and there are 45 pictures of pilots. These are out of 70 total war-time black and white photos, the rest being of various aircraft. Three of these photos are of tombstones and one is of a German propaganda poster. There are illustrations of 2 unit insignias, 12 data charts and a strafing operation diagram and 4 ½ other pages of data.

There are a total of 32 color profiles of a representative selection of British, US and German aircraft involved in the day’s combats. These are as follows:

• P-61A-5-NO “Black Widow”
• P-51K-5-NT “Mustang”
• P-51D (11 different marks)
• B-24H-15-FO (2 schemes of the same plane at different times)
• B-24J-1-DT
• B-24J-5-DT
• B-17G-85-BO
• B-17G-55-DL
• B-17G-100-BO
• B-17G-70-DL
• Tempest Mk.V (2 different schemes)
• Spitfire Mk.XIVe
• Ta 152H-0
• Fw 190D-9 (2 different schemes)
• Fw 190A-9
• Fw 190A-8
• Me 262A-2A (2 different schemes)
• Ar 234B-2 (2 different schemes)

This is a fascinating snap-shot of late war aerial combat, and will be of interest to historians, aircraft enthusiasts and modelers.

I want to thank Dr. Roger M. Wallsgrove, Editor –in-Chief of Mushroom Model Publications for this sample.