SPAD XIII vs Fokker DVII

SPAD XIII vs Fokker DVII SPAD XIII vs Fokker DVII Western Front 1918 Duel 17 Jon Guttman Osprey Publishing 2009, 80 pages ISBN: 978-1-84603-432-9 SPAD XIII vs Fokker DVII at Osprey... My interest in the flying machines of the First World War goes back to when I was a kid. So when Chris asked for volunteers to review this book, my hand went up.  After reading the book, I’m glad it did. The book covers the design , development and combat experience of the French SPAD XIII and the Fokker DVII biplane fighters, particularly with reference to the battles they fought against each other over the trenches of France in 1918. I learned a lot about the SPAD XIII, an aircraft only briefly covered in the British-biased books of my youth, and the French and American pilots that flew them. Their experiences are described in their own words giving a clear picture of both the performance and handling of their aircraft and the training and experiences of the pilots. The details of the operations of French and American SPAD squadrons.

I thought I knew quite a bit about the Fokker DVII, but here too there was plenty of interesting material and accounts from German pilots that I had not encountered before. As usual for the duel series, the book is divided into a eight self-contained sections: Design and Development, Technical Specifications, The Strategic Situation, The Combatants, Combat, Statistics and Analysis, and Aftermath. As I’ve noted before, this structure has the advantage of making the book easy to pick up and read a section at a time. Although it does result in a little duplication from section to section, it wasn’t as noticeable in this book as the Seafire vs Zero book. Overall, a big thumbs up. If WWI aviation is your thing, then this book will deliver. If your interest is in the French or American operations in the closing months of the war, then it is a must. Phil