The growing number of Mistel kits makes Crécy’s hardback on the subject a vital reference tool, as CHRIS CLIFFORD discusses.
If you’re a Luftwaffe fan, you’ll almost certainly know about the Mistel (Mistletoe) ‘piggyback’ combinations of fighter and bomber airframes created during World War Two. For example, Bf 109s/Fw 190s were mounted on top of Ju 88s. The traditional cockpit section of the latter was removed in favour of a large shaped-charge warhead, ideal for anti-ship operations but they were also employed against bridges. The fighter would, in effect, steer the lower component towards its target, then separate at launch.
Mistel combinations make for properly interesting builds, and there have been/are many still available in different scales… the most recent being the 1/144 Mistel 5 Arado E-377 and Heinkel He 162, from Brengun (see further down for a list of other Mistel kits, past and present). If you wish to embark on assembling a collection of Mistel pairings, there’s no better reference than Crécy Publishing’s book Mistel – German Composite Aircraft and Operations 1942-1945 Revised Edition. At 238 pages, it’s easily the best work on the subject and the motherlode in terms of information, offering useful pe…
