A rigorous new analysis of America's legendary "Big Week air campaign which enabled the Allies to gain air superiority before D-Day.

In the years before the outbreak of World War II, there was a general consensus among military strategists that strategic bombing had the ability to win wars. However, no-one could foresee the devastation that German radar-directed interceptors would inflict on large bomber formations.

With the increasingly urgent need to eliminate these German fighter-aircraft prior to D-Day, a concerted two-phase effort, code-named "Operation Argument," was launched by USSAF. Targeting aircraft factories with hundreds of heavy bombers escorted by the new long-range P-51 Mustang, the operation, now known as the "Big Week" campaign, was designed to destroy aircraft production on the ground and force the Luftwaffe into combat to defend these vital facilities, allowing the new escort fighters to take their toll on the German interceptors. Packed with specially commissioned artwork and maps, this title is a detailed and fascinating analysis of "Big Week"--history's first ever successful offensive counterair (OCA) campaign.

Author: Douglas C. Dildy
Publisher: Osprey Publishing (UK)
Published: 02/15/2022
Pages: 96
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 9.69h x 7.09w x 0.32d
ISBN: 9781472824516

About the Author

Doug Dildy is a USAF Academy graduate and former USAF colonel with a degree in history. He attended the US Armed Forces Staff College and USAF Air War College and holds a Master's Degree in Political Science. Doug has written campaign studies of the Battle of Britain for both the RAF Salute magazine and the USAF's Air Power History journal. He has also authored several articles covering the Dutch, Danish and Norwegian air arms' defense against the German invasions of 1940 for notable US aviation history magazines. He is a regular contributor to the amateur modeling magazine Small Air Forces Observer. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

Graham Turner is a leading historical artist, specializing in the medieval period. He has illustrated numerous titles for Osprey, covering a wide variety of subjects from the dress of the 10th-century armies of the Caliphates, through the action of bloody medieval battles, to the daily life of the British Redcoat of the late 18th century. The son of the illustrator Michael Turner, Graham lives and works in Buckinghamshire, UK.

"Big Week" 1944: Operation Argument and the Breaking of the Jagdwaffe