WAR PRIZES – An illustrated survey of German, Italian and Japanese aircraft bought to Allied countries during and after the Second World War

This book is a meticulously researched and comprehensive review of the many German, Italian and Japanese aircraft taken to Allied countries or flown by the Allies during or after the Second World War.  

The history of these captured aircraft has been thoroughly researched, and the book is copiously illustrated by an unrivalled selection of photographs, gleaned from around the world. 

With a foreword by the British aviator most widely associated with the testing and evaluation of captured aircraft, the twenty-one chapters are devoted to chronological themes describing the individual histories of each aircraft and the units which flew them in the UK, the USA or France or in specific theatres of war, with a final chapter covering the use made of aircraft in other countries.  

Coverage includes civilian aircraft and sailplanes as well as military types; post-war production of German designs and details of surviving aircraft in museums. Appendices and indexes cover designation and marking systems, information sources and other useful background. 

The UK chapters include coverage of RAE Farnborough, 1426 (EA) Flight, individual squadrons, experimental organizations and manufacturers, the ATAIU in Malaya and the little-known ‘Gremlin Task Force’. 

US chapters deal with evaluation at Wright Field, Freeman Field, and in Europe by ‘Watson’s Whizzers’, by the US Navy TAIC at Anacostia, TAIUS in Australia and the Philippines, and many individual units. 

The book also includes the most complete record published by British ‘Air Min’ and USAAF ‘FE’ and ’T2’ aircraft numbering systems. 

This glossy, large format, highly illustrated survey contains over 450 black and white and 16 colour photographs – many appearing in print for the first time. 

The cover features a specially commissioned painting by Keith Woodcock GAVA.