The Me 210 and Me 410 were planned as further developments of the twin-engined Messerschmitt Bf 110 as the Luftwaffe sought a high-speed heavy fighter and gun platform. First flown in September 1939, the Me 210, proved extremely troublesome, suffering from in-flight instability and landing-gear problems.

First flown in 1942, the sleek Daimler-Benz powered Me 410, however, was a much more successful and was manufactured in large numbers as a two-seat tactical aircraft for fighter, ground attack and reconnaissance operations.

This book does have a most brilliant layout, and the pictures and print are crisp and clear. It does, in a very detailed manner, give the reader good information about the development of the aircraft. The picture materiel is first class, and will probably impress the average reader of this rather specialized book. My impression is that this work will be embraced by many model builders, as well of those closely interested in the Luftwaffe.

Weapon systems etc are shown both in pictures, as well as drawings. There is also a “Werknummer list”, that is quite impressing, giving the history on most built aircraft. The Gallery does again show lots of good pictures. The chapter of design evolution show both pictures, and copies of blue prints, while the last chapter, “Development Proposals” is pure technical drawings.

All in all, this is a book that clearly aims at the advanced Luftwaffe-aficionados. What does lack in this masterpiece is a chapter about how the aircraft performed during its service time. There are numerous mentions of that, but not really enough. We get details on almost everything else than the aircrafts performance during usage.

Then again, the title of the book does indicate that it only deals with the production history, and so it does.

Another thing that could be included is a chapter of references. The reader will trust all information here, because of the convincing style of the whole book, but references would improve the overall impression.

It would also be most interesting with personal accounts of Me 210/410 pilots, but I do not hesitate to recommend the book, and give it 3 out of 5 stars!

(Reviewed by Bjørn Jervås)
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.