This multi-volume reference series on the iconic Focke Wulf Fw 190 is the product of years of study by two of the leading researchers into this complex aircraft which is creating the most complete and definitive work on the Fw 190 ever written. Each volume contains more than 400 photographs including those showing factory and construction, close ups of weapons and equipment, operational units as well as numerous facsimiles of Focke-Wulf handbook drawings. Colour artwork is also included, plus an extensive selection of original manufacturer's technical drawings. When it first appeared in the skies over France in late 1941, the pugnacious, radial-engined Focke-Wulf Fw 190 represented a formidable and ominous foe to the RAF. Despite initial technical problems with the engine, as well as with the ailerons, elevators and undercarriage on the early A-1 and A-2 variants, the Fw 190 soon proved itself as a dependable fighter aircraft. The encounters with the USAAF's heavy bombers which would follow over the next three years between the B-17 and the Fw 190 would form some of the most titanic and bitter contests of the air war. Meanwhile, the Eastern Front provided the German fighter force with an abundance of targets and quickly, the Fw 190 - known as the 'Butcher Bird' - proved to be the best piston-engined fighter of the war. Many German aces were created flying the Fw 190. Operating over extensive distances often in extreme weather conditions, the Fw 190 also excelled in the ground-attack role, inflicting devastating destruction and damage to Soviet armour and ground defences.