The German Luftwaffe reigned supreme in the early years of World War II, developing new combined-arms tactics to produce the Blitzkrieg (‘Lightning War’) that quickly conquered Poland, the Low Countries and France. German ground attack aircraft and light bombers, such as the Ju 87 Stuka, Ju 88 fighter-bomber and He 111, provided close support for swift-moving German armoured formations. However, in the Battle of Britain the Luftwaffe failed to achieve supremacy over the British Royal Air Force; and once the American USAAF began extensive bombing campaigns against the Reich from 1943, the Luftwaffe had to develop new fighters – such as the jet fighter Me 252 and He 163 – to counter the bomber threat.
Luftwaffe provides a full pictorial record of the German Air Force, from the testing ground of the Spanish Civil War to the final days of the Reich. Key figures, such as Hitler himself, Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering, as well as many Luftwaffe pilots and aces, are also featured.