Focusing in particular upon Germany, Japan and Italy, this guide shows the design and firepower of fighter bombers during World War II. It describes the aircraft, their pilots and their bombing missions in detail, and the construction of each country's air forces and fighting strategies.
Laid out in strict alphabetical order by make, each aircraft commences with a text headed "History and Notes" in which all the relevant history is covered and the numerous variations of different aircraft explained. To this is added plans and the occasional photograph. Most interestingly, instead of treating the reader to an artist's impression of a single profile example, we get several different profiles of each aircraft showing their numerous variations and livery. In the case of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, for example, there are 10 such profiles.

If you are looking for a book which provides a wealthy store of technical data on a wide array of aircraft from the Axis countries of Word War Two, this may be the book for you. Over a hundred aircraft are described in impressive detail, including detailed production histories of all the variants of each type. For me, the greatest value in Mondey's book is the ample supply of pictures, both black and white photographs and colour illustrations.
On the other hand, I found the lack of operational history disappointing. If Mondey would have devoted more time discussing the impact each machine made upon the airwar, how they fared against Allied opposition, something of the men who flew the planes, this book would have been a far more interesting read. In too many cases, Mondey said either very little or absolutely nothing of this part of the aircraft's record. Still, for it's strengths, I am pleased to have it in my collection. ( )