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Holding its advantage over the Me 109F during the summer, the operational debut of the FW 190A in September 1941, found the Mk V somewhat outclassed, but despite this, it remained the main RAF fighter until the summer of 1942, when the Mk IX was introduced, but low level LF Mk Vb and Vcs remained in use into 1944.

Ontario-based designer, illustrator, andwriter Terry Higgins is a native of Norris Arm, Newfoundland, who has had a lifelong fascination with all things aviation-history related. After the usual high school era Royal Canadian Air Cadets stint and subsequent interests in both gliding and powered flight, Terry realized that he was drawn more towards the technical and operational history aspects of aviation. This led, in a roundabout way,to careers in photo-processing technology and print/digital reprographics. Throughout, Terry kept up his childhood hobbies of model building and (mostly aviation related) illustration. When Spitfire Mk V pilots first met the FW190s of JG26 in August 1941, it immediately became apparent their old Spitfires were completely outclassed by the Luftwaffe’s new fighter. Losses rose rapidly as more Spitfires fell to the guns of the FW190 pilots until, on 13 November 1941, all but essential fighter operations over Europe were halted.As always, we’ve optimised every photo to help the reader look deep into the shadows to see these features and have labelled them where necessary. In 1940 Johnson had an operation to reset his collarbone, and began flying regularly. He took part in the offensive sweeps over German-occupied Europe from 1941 to 1944, almost without rest. Johnson was involved in heavy aerial fighting during this period. His combat tour included participation in the Dieppe Raid, Combined Bomber Offensive, Battle of Normandy, Operation Market Garden,the Battle of the Bulge and the Western Allied invasion of Germany. Johnson progressed to the rank of group captain by the end of the war. The Spitfire V was originally designed as an interim variant. Based on the Mk I/II airframe, but powered by a Merlin 45, the Mk V entered service in early 1941, and was marginally better than the Me 109F at high altitude and more heavily armed (Mk Vb). The Mk Vc appeared in October 1941, fitted with the universal ‘c’ wing (developed for the Mk III), which could carry either eight machine guns, four 20mm cannon, or two cannon and four machine guns – the two cannon/four machine gun combination being the most common. As with all the books in this series, we’ve enhanced the photos to pull out the shadow detail and have added arrows and letters to identify points of interest.

Again it’s our absolute pleasure to introduce a new author to the series. A professional aircraft engineer and the son of a wartime Lancaster pilot, Peter Allam is a Lancaster expert in every sense of the word, and his in-depth knowledge was really needed with this one to pull out details on these lesser known examples. Volume Eleven covers 7-8 September the tipping point of the Battle where the Luftwaffe changed tactics and started bombing London. In this volume we uncover the minutes of a secret meeting held on 7 September in which the senior officers of RAF Fighter Command discussed the best way to ‘go downhill’ as it was clear that the Luftwaffe was winning. At that very moment, on the other side of the Channel, German bomber crews were being briefed on the change of tactic that would ultimately prove to be RAF Fighter Command’s saviour.Then in late 1998, he took over editorship of ‘Scale Aircraft Modelling’ from the (then) owner, Alan W Hall, during which time he also introduced and edited a new range of enthusiast titles for Guideline Publications – the ‘Camouflage & Markings’ and ‘Combat Colours’ ranges of books. A new fighter capable of matching the performance of the FW190 was needed – urgently. The planned successors to the Spitfire Mk V were the Mk VII and Mk VIII, but they would take far too long to become operational. Fortunately, Rolls-Royce had experimented with fitting a Merlin 60 engine in their test-bed Spitfire in September 1941 and the increase in performance over the Mk V was significant. The Air Ministry took the decision to marry the tried-and-tested Mk V airframe with the new Merlin to bypass the delays in perfecting a new airframe and get a better Spitfire operational as soon as possible. The Spitfire Mk IX entered service nine months later, in June 1942 and went on to become, in the eyes of many pilots, the best of the breed. With this latest volume, we welcome Neil Robinson to our team of authors. Neil will be well known to most of you, having spent most of his career working in aviation publishing, and we look forward to working with him on more titles in the future. Red Kite are delighted to present a major new landmark series of books on the Battle of Britain. The Battle of Britain Combat Archive Series forms the most comprehensive account ever of The Few’s gallant efforts. Focusing solely on RAF Fighter Command’s clashes with the Luftwaffe, the series covers every combat that took place on every day of the Battle of Britain. Using contemporary accounts such as combat reports, rarely seen squadron intelligence summaries and the newly released casualty reports, the author and his team of experts have broken down each day into its individual combats and assembled the claims, losses and first-hand accounts into a highly accessible format. These combats are illustrated with specially designed maps showing the amount of aircraft involved, the area that the engagement took place and the location of where the casualties came to earth. Each combat and casualty report is illustrated with a photo of the pilot wherever possible.The series will run to around 18 Volumes. Volume One covers 10 July to 22 July 1940 and contains:

When we suggested having a go at the Spitfire V for his first book, I don’t think either of us quite grasped what a huge challenge that would be. Produced in greater numbers than any other Mark of Spitfire, the Mk V was flown by countless squadrons and units, manned by dozens of nationalities in all theatres of war. Where to start?! After the very positive reaction to our first Lancaster book in this series, we’re delighted to continue our RAF Bomber Command theme with this, the first of two books on the Short Stirling. For us, there was only ever one author ‘in the frame’ for this one and we’re delighted to say that Jonathan Falconer accepted the challenge and has produced a stunning tribute to this leviathan of the skies. In this book, renowned Beaufighter expert Terry Higgins and modelling legend Neil Robinson share their deep knowledge of the subject and identify the various modifications, paint schemes and upgrades that were applied to the Beau during this period. It was a very complicated task which took them over a year to complete. Neil’s suggestion was to break the photos down into sections, mainly based around units, squadrons and nationalities. We have deliberately excluded the SEAC photos from this book as we plan to produce a separate title to cover all RAF SEAC fighters. After five years with SAM Publications he temporarily re-joined The Aviation Workshop, in April 2010, as Book Production Editor for their range of ‘On Target’ books, before joining forces with a local printer and starting the AIRfile range of camouflage and markings books.So, with this in mind, we set out to create a definitive guide to what the various serial batches would have looked like and what mods they would have had. This book, along with the previous WPA5, form an essential guide to the wartime Main Force Avro Lancaster, using high-res wartime photos to illustrate key features of each serial batch to guide modellers and historians in the future. With previously unpublished colour images of Village Inn and Monica III, this book is a must for any Lancaster enthusiast.

Simon is now one of Britain’s leading aviation historians, but his roots are in Surrey where he began his research into the battles and aircraft crashes in the county 30 years ago, a time it was possible to interview many witnesses to the events. His interest in the air war lead him to become a professional researcher at the National Archives, undertaking a variety of assignments for those not able to conduct their own investigations. Since the publication of his first book in 1987 he has focused his attentions on the editing and production of over 40 aviation books for publishers. He is also one of Europe’s most experienced aviation archaeologists, contributing to and appearing in several TV documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4 and others. This series is unique in that it will be able to provide large format ORIGINAL photos up to full A4 landscape format width, which is at least 50% larger than any standard book can deliver. Combined with the specialist knowledge of a team of historians and contributors, each book should provide unbeatable and accurate references for any modelling or painting project. Wing Leader Ltd was set up by Red Kite founders Simon W Parry and Mark Postlethwaite to act as an online retail business for their Red Kite publishing titles. RZM Imports, Inc. is proud to offer their publications here in North America.The Stirling has come in for a lot of Flak over the years, both literally and metaphorically. Hampered by a poor service ceiling and a Dastardly and Muttley style undercarriage, it has always lived in the shadow of the more illustrious Lancaster and Halifax. However, most crews that flew the Stirling were very fond of the aircraft and although its capabilities as a bomber were never as strong as its contemporaries, it blossomed into an extremely useful glider tug and Special Duties aircraft towards the end of the war. This aspect is covered in our second book on the aircraft. Following our first volume on the Beaufighter which covered the early Mks and was predominantly about the night fighter versions, this volume covers the later wartime Mks and is mainly concerned therefore with the strike fighter versions. PART ONE (1st JANUARY – 22nd JUNE 1943) in a book series that will prove essential for not only Luftwaffe historians but also anyone with an interest in RAF Bomber Command.