CF Osprey advent

Charlotte Ford is one of the Desk Editors at Osprey, and works closely with our freelance editors and commissioning editors to help produce a number of our most popular series titles. Charly works on the Campaign, Warrior and Command series, as well as working alongside long term aviation editor Tony Holmes to create our three main aviation series books, Aircraft of the Aces, Combat Aircraft and Aviation Elite Units.

I asked Charly what her favourite Osprey book was, and this was her reply:

COM 79 Cover:COM74 Cvr Outer UK

"I have a big heap of love for Osprey books, but the one I am choosing for the advent calendar is actually one of our new releases, COM 79 Junkers Ju 88 Kampfgeschwader on the Russian Front.

A lot of time and effort is put into all of our books, and I am fortunate to work on the aviation list, helping the series editor (and creator) Tony Holmes. Really knowledgeable people have created the text, art and cover for COM 79; the author and profile illustrator John Weal knows everything there is to know about German aviation in WWII, so it is unsurprising that he has provided us with with another great book to read and look at! He writes in an informative, but engaging way that does not exclude those with a somewhat rudimentary knowledge of aviation history. Not only is he a fantastic author and a super-talented artist, he is also an Osprey legend and a lovely man; it's always a pleasure and never a chore talking to him. Mark Postlethwaite is another hugely talented individual, and he consistently creates impressive cover art - this piece is no exception. He also happens to be really friendly as well as professional. In short, then, I love this book because it represents hard work paying off, and the people who have created it (including the conductor of the aviation orchestra, Tony) are great to work with.

However, that is not all. As a HUGE fan of all things Christmas, I firmly believe that any situation is improved by a dusting of snow, and there is no shortage of that in this book (apparently the Arctic Circle is full of the stuff). So not only is it an interesting and detailed book, but it is festive too - everyone's a winner. Hallelujah, jingle bells and deck the halls! Now where's that mulled wine?"