Heinkel He 177 Units of World War 2

Osprey Combat Aircraft #123

by Robert Forsyth

In many ways, the Heinkel He 177 'Greif' (Griffon) was Nazi Germany's 'lost' strategic bomber. With some fundamental creases ironed out, and built in large numbers, the He 177 would have offered the Luftwaffe the means with which to carry out long-range, mass bombing attacks against targets of a strategic nature. Although competing interests and personalities served to prevent this from happening, from mid-1943 the aircraft nevertheless saw service over England, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and in Russia. The He 177 flew to the end of the war, with some machines undertaking extremely hazardous low-level missions against Soviet armour in Poland in late 1944-45.

This fascinating book, filled with detailed artwork and contemporary photographs, tells the story of this aircraft, including the political infighting at the top of the Luftwaffe's hierarchy that stymied its development, its radical technical design and its state-of-the-art weaponry.

Genres: History

148 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 26, 2018

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Reviews

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2018, 'Heinkel He 177 Units of World War 2' is number 123 in the popular Osprey Combat Aircraft series of aviation booklets. This volume features the He 177, a heavy bomber with a troubled development and an operational history plagued by reliability problems. In spite of these problems. we have an interesting operational history covering a renewed offensive over London, anti-shipping missions over the Atlantic and missions over Russia, all of which makes for some great reading. As usual, there are also several pages of colour profile artworks included.