Focke Wulf Ta 152 Book Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

For those of us who've been modeling a while, especially those of us who enjoy building Soviet/Russian aviation subjects, will recognize the 4+ Publication brand. This series is part of Mark 1 Publications in the Czech Republic that has released over 20 monographs deailing with subjects that were previously not adequately covered. In this case, we have the monograph covering Dr. Kurt Tank's masterpiece, the Ta 152. You'll remember that Kurt Tank was responsible for the design and development Fw 190 before he embarked on designing a new generation of high-performance fighter. Had this aircraft made it into large-scale production, air superiority over Europe would have been quite different.

The only Ta 152 to enter production before the end of the war was the Ta 152H-1 which paired up a lengthened Fw 190 fuselage with the Jumo 213E V-12 engine. Unlike the Fw 190D which also used a variant of this engine, the Ta 152 was properly proportioned fore and aft to address center of gravity and featured a larger tail for improved low-speed stability. Unlike the Fw 190D, the Ta 152H had a much longer wing which provided excellent rate of climb and great high-altititude performance. The cockpit was pressurized to allow the pilot to remain at higher altitudes without the experiencing the side-effects. A friend of mine that had flown the reconnaissance Mosquito later in the war had commented that nothing that the Germans could put into the air concerned him as long as he had two good engines - neither the Me 262 nor other advanced aircraft had the range once they reached altitude to intercept his Mosquito - that is until the Ta 152H-1 came along and shot out one of his engines.

Coverage of this title includes:

• Introduction
• History and summary
  • Ta 152A
  • Ta 152B
  • Ta 152C
  • Ta 152H
  • Ta 153
  • Ta 152E
  • Related Ta 152 programmes
  • Operational history
  • Post-war history
• Technical description and armament
  • Airframe
  • Engine and boost
  • Armament
  • Ta 152H-1 technical data
  • Antennae, equipment and lighting location
• Production summary
• 1/72 scale plans
• Camouflage and markings
• Camouflage profiles
• Photographic section
  • Front fuselage and engine
  • Engine details
  • Fuselage and tail section
  • Cockpit and canopy details
  • Main plane
  • Undercarriage, armament and equipment
• Glossary

As with other titles in the 4+ series, this monograph provides a nice array of period photographs, color profiles, line drawings and scrap drawings to better acquaint the reader with the differences in each of the planned variants and the incremental flight test articles. There are even some nice color photographs of the sole surviving Ta 152 (Ta 152H) in storage at the Smithonian's restoration facilities.

While there have been some comprehensive titles released on the Ta 152, this title is focused on the details and information of use to the modeler at an affordable price.

My sincere thanks to Mark I Publications for this review sample!