An illustrated account of the challenge posed to RAF Fighter Command by the Luftwaffe's Fw 190, and the ways in which Spitfire crews adapted to this deadly new threat. The introduction of Focke-Wulf's Fw 190 to Luftwaffe service presented RAF Spitfire VB and VA pilots with a formidable new foe that could quite literally run rings around them. First encountered over France in September 1941, the Fw 190 – or 'Butcher Bird' – soon demonstrated its startling capabilities, wrong-footing RAF Fighter Command and forcing the swift development of new tactics and methods. The actions that ensued were some of the most fiercely contested of the air war in northwest Europe and would lead to the production and eventual fielding of the Spitfire IX. In this new study, air war expert Andy Saunders details how the RAF – having perhaps become complacent about the superiority of the Spitfire – found itself left behind with an inferior fighter. Covering the introduction to service of both the Spitfire V and the Fw 190, the fighters' first encounters and the battles that shaped subsequent tactics and design, it combines combat reports and first-hand accounts with archive photographs and newly commissioned artwork and formation diagrams to convey what it was like to be a fighter pilot in both aircraft from 1941 to 1943. Andy Saunders is an author, researcher, television and film consultant, editor and former museum curator specialising in military aviation and military history. He is currently the editor of the magazine Iron Cross, and is the author more than 20 books on air warfare. His articles have appeared in Britain at War (which he also edited for almost ten years), Aeroplane Monthly , Aviation News, After the Battle , History of War and FlyPast among many others. Gareth Hector is a digital artist of international standing and has also enjoyed a successful career in computer animation. He is an aviation history enthusiast and has contributed to numerous Osprey titles such as B-52 Stratofortress Units in Combat 1992–2025 and RAF Lightning Units of the Cold War . He lives in Perthshire, Scotland. Jim Laurier is a native of New England and lives in New Hampshire. He attended Paier School of Art in Hamden, Connecticut, from 1974–78, and since graduating with Honours, he has been working professionally in the field of Fine Art and Illustration. He has been commissioned to paint for the US Air Force and has aviation paintings on permanent display at the Pentagon.