out now! Luftwaffe fighters - Combat on all Fronts 2

 

" Mein Vater war selbst junger, wenig als Jagdflieger geschulter Pilot, der Gottseidank - wenn auch schwer verwundet - der Vernichtung entkommen ist und der mir wenig über diese Zeit erzählt hat. Durch die ausgiebige Schilderung gleichaltriger Flieger in diesem Buch habe ich einen tiefen Eindruck in die seelische Verfassung auch meines Vaters (jeder Flug gegen die USAF könnte der letzte sein) gewinnen können und Verständnis für ihn erhalten habe. Ein empfehlenswertes, auch mit Schulenglisch lesbares Buch. " 

 " My father was himself a young pilot with little training as on fighters, who, thank God, escaped death - albeit badly wounded - and who told me little about this time. Through the extensive descriptions of pilots of the same age in this book, I was able to gain a deep impression of my father's mental state (every flight against the USAF could have been his last) and gain understanding for him. A book that I recommend that can also be read with school-level English..."

 KW on amazon.de

"... an excellent piece of work, a very welcome addition to my library..."  Johannes Matthews

" ..it is great that you are able to bring to the English-speaking world many of these stories that otherwise we would be unaware of. It is a nice balance of narratives covering the entire war period that when read chronologically really imparts on the reader the opportunities and challenges the Luftwaffe and its men faced..."      David E. Brown

Go here Mortons Books

'Messerschmitt Me 262 - Development and Politics' by Dan Sharp (Mortons) - new Luftwaffe books

 

Available now from UK publisher Mortons is this significant new work on the Me 262 by Dan Sharp. This is not the previously announced "Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe Vol. 3: Messerschmitt Me 262" which was planned to focus squarely on the 'secret projects' and sub-variants of the type.  Nor is it a book about combat ops or even a book where every page looks familiar because the reader has already seen the images a dozen times elsewhere. In fact, this is really a book for people who've read the Me 262 story elsewhere - probably different, conflicting versions of that story - and wondered which was the definitive version. As Dan points out, up to this point there probably hasn't been a 'definitive' version. So the small-ish and small format soft-back of the 'Secret Projects..' series has become a new and much larger work as the author explained;

" ..the further I went into the primary source material the more apparent it became that the truth about what happened to the Me 262 throughout its development diverged somewhat from all existing written accounts. As a result, I expanded the book to encompass all aspects of the aircraft's development - the projects, the sub-variants, the prototypes and the full production variants - as well as the discussions that went on about them. The book went from 30,000 words to 160,000 words, from 248x185mm to 297x210mm, from 150 images to 300, and from 150 pages to 328. The original title and cover art no longer reflected the book's contents and as such I persuaded the publisher to change both. This has indeed created some confusion, for which I am sorry, but I believe that the book as it stands now is a great deal better than it would have been in its original form...". 

There is very little about combat operations in Dan's new book. The content is focused on exactly what it says in the title -  'Messerschmitt Me 262 Development and Politics'. As usual with his books, the text is grounded in cited primary source documents throughout.  As the author explains, older references about units operating the Me 262 etc. are still as valid as ever they were but all previous references concerning the type's developmental history are somewhat out-of-date. 

" if I make a point about something in the book you can see what evidence there is underpinning it, should you wish to. Taking surviving German wartime documents as a whole, a very significant proportion of them - I would hazard a guess at something like 10% - either concern the Me 262 directly or contain information which informs the Me 262's story. This amounts to literally thousands of documents and I have, consequently, collected and processed most of these, distilling the information they contain into the book.." 

Many of the images in the book are drawings from Messerschmitt reports - and many of them are, I believe, previously unpublished. Some have appeared in 'cleaned up' form in the works of, for example, Smith and Creek, but anyone who has read any of Dan's previous works will know that you get the original drawing - as scruffy as it might be. The images, like the text, are presented in chronological order - with any given image on the page having been produced at around the same time as the events being described in the text on that page. Where relevant, the author has noted where those images actually come from too - so for example the famous side view of the Me 262 V1, as well as detail shots of the same aircraft, all appear together in a single original report, the written content of which Willy Messerschmitt personally described as 'nonsensical'. Author Sharp again; 

 " ..I hope to provide additional context and richness to the Me 262 development story where previous works have simply used those photos and others without offering any insight on their background and origin. I read other people's books as widely as possible both before and during the writing process, so I'm well aware of what has previously been written about the Me 262; I was able to test assertions made in those books against the primary sources to see whether they had any validity..."

So to repeat, there are, for example, no biographies of the key players involved in the Me 262 story, no technical explanations of how a turbojet works, no lengthy back-story about the Messerschmitt company and its founding etc. The author's 160,000 words are concerned exclusively with the design, development, discussion and decision-making - with a side order of production. Dan Sharp again;

" my principal aim with this book was to find out what actually happened to the Me 262 all the way through from 1938 to 1945 by using the historical sources rather than whatever appears in other people's books. What emerges, I think, is a rather more complex and nuanced story than anyone, including me, would have expected..." 

 Also on this blog;

Dan Sharp - Heinkel He 162 -'Secret Projects of The Luftwaffe'

Morton's editor and author Dan Sharp on his new " Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe -Jet Fighters "

Fw 190 V1 D-OPZE -"Eagles of the Luftwaffe" from Mortons

 

Focke Wulf Fw 190 V1 D-OPZE featured an oversized ducted spinner in an unsuccessful attempt to combine lower drag with sufficient cooling. D-OPZE WNr. 0001 first flew from the Focke Wulf Bremen works field (Neuenlander Feld) on 1 June 1939 with Flugkapitän Hans Sander, Focke-Wulf’s chief test pilot, at the controls. In order to keep drag in high-speed flight as low as possible, the BMW 139 featured a 'closely cowled' housing reducing any significant curves, which would lead to local spikes in air velocity. The spinner fairing was designed in such a way that it merged into the hub casing without a step and with a slight curvature forming an annular duct with the propeller hub fairing, through which cooling air was fed to the engine. The cooling air outlet was regulated on the underside of the fuselage by butterfly flaps. The flaps were adjusted on the ground. The front part of the cowling was rigidly connected to the engine. The cylinders were accessible through large flaps.These hinged down cowl parts were held by safety wires and could serve as a platform. The centre parts of the cowling with the inlet manifolds were easily detachable

The V2 coded 'RM+CB' was photographed at Tarnewitz in early 1940 undergoing weapons testing - an MG 17 and an MG 131 in each wing root - with a similar close cowl ducted spinner arrangement.

While it had been calculated that this arrangement would improve the aircraft’s top speed by 25 mph the gap between the spinner and the engine housing resulted in enough drag to cancel out any aerodynamic benefits. The ducted spinner arrangement was of course also prone to overheating, even with the spinner hub cover removed. During the winter of 1939-40 the V1 was fitted with a new 'conventional' NACA-profile radial engine cowl featuring a ten-bladed cooling fan. During this period BMW was testing a larger version of the BMW 139 some 159 kg heavier, the BMW 801. Because of its increased size the BMW 801-powered Fw 190 would require changes to the airframe and production of the V3 and the V4 was stopped. Changes to the V5 including modifying the CG by moving the cockpit further aft which at the same time eased the engine overheating problem from the pilot perspective and allowed upper cowl MGs (Rumpfbewaffnung) to be fitted between the engine and the windscreen. Armoured plate protection for the pilot could also be incorporated into the design. The first test flights of this heavier machine powered by the BMW 801 C took place during August 1940 and proved disappointing in comparison to the performance of the V1. The solution was the design of a new bigger wing ('V5g' = groß) which reduced wing-loading and at the same time the larger wing roots would enable heavier armament to be fitted. Whilst testing continued, construction of forty pre-production aircraft (the A-0) began. Work on the so-called Null-Serie machines was in fact so far advanced that WNr. 0008 -0014 received the original 'small' wing. Many of  these machines were rebuilt to serve as test-beds for later variants.  In March 1941, six aircraft were assigned to the Erprobungsstaffel 190, the unit responsible for operationally testing the Fw 190, at Rechlin-Roggenthin. This unit was essentially made up from elements of II./Jagdgeschwader 26 and was commanded by Oblt. Otto Behrens.

Just published and new from Mortons Books, No. 1 in the 'Eagles of the Luftwaffe' series - FOCKE-WULF FW 190 by Dan Sharp. More here 

New from Mortons "Luftwaffe fighters - Combat on all Fronts" - I./JG 77 over Malta

 

"New Product Alert " from Mortons/Classic Magazines - 120 pages, 200+ illustrations, 

" Luftwaffe fighters - Combat on all Fronts, Part 1 "

One of the features in Mortons new "Luftwaffe Fighters - Combat on all Fronts" relates the Malta 'campaign' of I./JG 77 during the summer of 1942. Here pilots of 3. Staffel JG 77 are seen relaxing at their dispersal in Comiso, Sicily with the Staffelhund during that period. Note the distinctive aircraft shelters in the background. A G-2 trop  (note the position of the octane triangle - thank you Jochen) finished in a mottled camouflage and covered with a tarpaulin displays the chevron bar of the Stab. The mottled camouflage is also apparent on the wing upper surface nearest the camera. Note the detail of the leading-edge slat. Wearing a cap is Oblt. Erhard Niese seated (middle) on the deckchair. Niese transferred to III./JG 77 after the Gruppe left Sicily. The ace of I./JG 77's Malta campaign Ofw. Walter Brandt of 2. Staffel appears to be seated alongside him (right). Click on the image for a full-screen view..

 Extracted from the new "Luftwaffe fighters" book-a-zine from Mortons/Classic Magazines

More info and pre-orders here

Dan Sharp - Heinkel He 162 ('Secret Projects of The Luftwaffe')

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" ...The first prototype He 162 was flown on December 6, 1944 and reached a top speed of 522 mph. The aircraft handled well except for some longitudinal stability problems. The flight ended when one of the wooden main gear doors separated from the aircraft, due to defective bonding of the plywood. Four days later, the aircraft crashed after the wooden leading edge of the right wing delaminated, killing Heinkel’s chief test pilot, Flugkapitan Gotthard Peter. The wing failure was a result of defective bonding after the Goldschmitt Tego-Film factory was bombed and an alternative bonding agent was used. As it turned out the new bonding method was too acidic causing the wooden structure to deteriorate.8 Despite the crash, the He 162 program continued. To correct longitudinal stability, Dr. Alexander Lippisch suggested adding small downward turning winglets on the wing tips. This corrected the problem and the winglets became known as Lippisch Ohren or Lippisch Ears..."  (Larry Dwyer, Aviation History Museum on-line)

"...Much has been written about Heinkel's last wartime aircraft yet in studying the wealth of surviving primary source material it became evident that certain misconceptions have become ingrained in these writings. It is my hope that this publication, fully referenced with primary sources, will offer a degree of clarity and transparency that may be relied upon.." 

 Dan Sharp, November 2020    

While recently perusing a 'new' compendium of Luftwaffe types that featured no references or notes  I found myself wondering how was it possible to judge what was reliable information and what was not.  A friend of mine has been saying it for a long time -the lack of proper reference listing and noting is a serious shortcoming of most aviation books! Someone who appreciates this is author Dan Sharp. According to his publisher's blurb, Dan Sharp has developed an unhealthy obsession with primary and archival sources. In a previous post on his 'Jet fighter projects' you may recall that Dan wanted to know whether anyone had written on any of the topics covered in his jet fighters book in more detail. Well, they have now - and that some-one is Dan Sharp himself. While some of the projects mentioned  in his previous book amount to a handful of drawings or notes, others are backed up in  the archives by large quantities of paperwork. So while the broad outline of what happened concerning the 'Volksjäger' competition is covered in the 'Jet Fighters' book, Dan's new 172-page He 162 book is very much a 'deep dive' into the type's development, with a new level of detail only possible using the copious primary sources available. 

Dan Sharp's latest work is not a complete history of everything to do with the He 162 - it only barely touches on the production side and efforts to get the type into Luftwaffe service. Rather, it looks primarily at the design and development of the type. It is without doubt - over its 172 pages - the most detailed and accurate developmental history to the type to yet appear in print.

I've been buying books on German WW2 aircraft and on other types for a long time. When you buy and read  a lot, you notice a fair number of inconsistencies among sources- one will give one reason for the He 162 V1's crash and another will come up with a different reason. It's a pretty glaring inconsistency and it is very difficult to know what is correct and what isn't, especially when the book in question fails to give any decent references. Obviously some volumes do provide this - for example Uziel's 'Arming the Luftwaffe' is one. Even the gold standard books such as Classic Publications don't usually tell you where the documents are to be found though. 

One area of inconsistency that Sharp highlights in relation to the He 162 concerns the 45-degree wing end caps, commonly referred to as 'Lippisch ears'. There is a single flight test report where the pilot refers to them simply as 'ears'. Someone has presumably taken this and spun it into 'Lippisch ears'. That's not to say that Lippisch didn't develop them - he did. According to the new timeline in the He 162 developmental history that Dan Sharp has written, Lippisch wrote to Heinkel technical director Carl Francke offering his sympathies following the crash of the He 162 V1 on Dec 10, 1944, and offering to help, if he could. Francke wrote back to say that he would welcome Lippisch's input and offering to show him the aircraft in person as soon as possible. The earliest (and only known) blueprint drawing of the new 'end cap' is dated January 6, 1945 (and also Jan 9). The 'end cap' is then flight tested later in January - and is found to successfully cancel out the longitudinal instability which caused the V1 to crash. Incidentally, the longitudinal instability was caused by the wings' 3-degrees of dihedral (according to Heinkel). A permanent solution of reducing the dihedral to 1-degree - negating the need for the end caps - was planned but never implemented. The bigger problem was lateral instability, the curing of which required the fuselage fuel tank to be significantly reduced in size (as the fuel drained, it altered the aircraft's centre of gravity mid-flight, causing pitch-up/pitch-down movements that were nearly uncontrollable), the tailplanes to be lengthened, different ballast weights to be tried in the nose etc. etc.

This in a nutshell is very much the motive behind Dan Sharp's research efforts - a return to the source documents. As well as attempting to clarify the timeline, Dan Sharp also provides a more accurate analysis of the He 162 prototypes, what variants of the aircraft were proposed and what decisions were made about them. Richard A. Franks' 'The Heinkel He 162 - A Detailed Guide to the Luftwaffe's Volksjaeger' tries to do a similar job - it is essentially a list of the different prototypes and what their features are supposed to have been. Many of Franks' listings are carefully 'corrected' in this new work, citing the source of the correct information so that, should anyone wish, they can check it themselves. 

To this end  I found the seven pages of footnotes slightly more edifying this time than I did the pages of footnotes in Dan Sharp's previous book on the BV 155 - since most of them nicely expand on what is written in the main text rather than just being document references.

Dan Sharp neatly sums up the He 162 project - while it has become axiomatic that the He 162 was symptomatic of the desperation that beset late-war German aeronautical developments, the machine was probably the 'perfect' aircraft from a number of stand-points for the resource-constrained late-war German economy - ease of construction, cheap to build, utilising a single-jet with wooden wings - operating perfectly well on cheap, unrefined fuel - that conferred decent performance not far removed from that of the far more expensive, resource and labour-intensive Me 262. 

Recommended! For readers in the UK this publication is available from WH Smiths. 

'The Secret Horsepower Race' by Calum Douglas - book review by Jukka Juutinen

 

by Jukka Juutinen

There are some books that deserve to be recommended without any doubt; books that are that good. Calum Douglas’s “Secret Horsepower Race” deserves such praise. I have been interested in WW II-era piston aero engines for over 25 years. The path has been a rocky one with plenty of books that are simply unreliable and poor. I would say that there are relatively few really excellent books on WW II-era piston aircraft engines available in English. Thus far the best of these by a long way has been Dan Whitney’s superb “Vee’s for Victory” on the Allison V-1710. Graham White’s book on the R-2800 is not on a par with it due to various shortcomings from poor design to the author’s sometimes peculiar attitudes. White’s book on the R-4360 is much better. And then there is the excellent series of books from Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust. Unfortunately, these books are not particularly well-marketed thus making them unknown to may potential readers.

The Secret Horsepower Race (subtitled “Western Front Fighter Engine Development") is constructed first chronologically and then within each time period by nation (mostly Germany, Britain and the U.S.) though Italy and France are mentioned when properly due. This is a good choice - Soviet and Japanese piston engines are not covered. According to the author his access to Russian and Japanese sources was insufficient to allow for the level of detail he aimed for.  Each chapter in the 'Secret Horsepower Race' is profusely illustrated with photos, drawings, tables and graphs. Many original illustrations I have seen elsewhere in black & white are reproduced in colour now. The standard of reproduction is very good throughout. The book is laid out clearly and logically with text and illustrations supporting each other impeccably. There are a few typos, but I’d say that the book is much better than most these days as standards of editing seem to be slipping.

While people who have read the above-mentioned book by Whitney and the excellent RRHT-series naturally encounter some familiar information, the information on German engines in Douglas' book is whopping and mostly unfamiliar in English. The reader will learn that the DB 605 basic construction left much to be desired in comparison with its Junkers counterpart, the Jumo 211. I have previously suspected this to be the case and the book confirmed my suspicions. The reader will also learn why the DB 605A power remained limited for so long (the take-off and emergency power being prohibited) and why the left and right cylinder banks had a different compression ratio. I am not revealing why; buy the book, please.

One theme carried throughout the book is the extremely poor industrial management of the German war economy. As such this is not an unknown fact for those who have read better on books on war economy, but nevertheless remains a point worth emphasizing. Some authors have suggested reasons for this and I personally believe that the political system was not the only, or perhaps even the primary reason for the poor state of affairs. To me it seems that Germany had the misfortune of having the wrong people in the key staff positions. In case of the Luftwaffe it is clear that people like Ernst Udet and Adolf Galland were totally unsuitable for non-combat managerial assignments. They simply lacked the ability to see the wider perspective and the knack for knowing what is the difference between battle-winning and war-winning. This failure also affected e.g. German tank design, the best case being the Panther whose design was driven by theoretical battle-winning considerations when Germany needed practical war-winning weapons.

All other considerations aside, I recommend this book without any hesitation. What is more, for a book with a weighty 480 pages in large format on good paper, it is nearly dirt cheap. Buy it! 

 PS. Above I wrote how poorly WW II piston aero engines are covered in English books. Coverage of WW II jet engines is usually much better. I am no fan of jets (for reasons I'll not go into here) but granted: jets can be and were simpler - see a previous blog article here comparing the He 162 with the Me 262; the Jumo 004 required half the man-hours of the Jumo 213 to manufacture. This is primarily for the reason that jet engine performance (specific fuel consumption and thrust) is in practice solely dependent on how hot one can make it run and stay then together while piston engine performance (fuel economy and power produced) is a much more complex and even contradictory affair - in jets an increase in thrust through increased heat (turbine inlet temperature) also improves fuel economy while the inverse may occur in piston engines. That is one reason piston engine design is so much more interesting.

Also by Jukka Juutinen on this blog;

The life and times of Finnish fighter ace Veikko Karu 

Classic 23 - the Junkers Ju 88 Vol 1 by William Medcalf

"Mersu" by Kari Stenman - Messerschmitt Bf 109G Suomen ilmavoimissa - Finnish Bf 109s

Morton's editor and author Dan Sharp on his new " Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe -Jet Fighters "

 

I recently posted a quick over-view of a very nice hardback published by Mortons - ‘Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe - Jet Fighters 39-45' which rather failed to do justice to what is a very nice and impressive publication. As the blurb puts it, author and researcher Dan Sharp has written ' the most complete and detailed account [..]..of German WWII jet fighter development' ever compiled. In comparison my review came across as a little lacklustre no doubt. I spoke to Dan subsequently to discuss his new work. With Dan's permission  here are some of his insights into German jet fighter development. His 'five-star' book is recommended reading for all Luftwaffe enthusiasts.

".. Hello Neil! I saw your review of my Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe Vol. 1: Jet Fighters 1939-1945 and was glad that you were sufficiently interested in the book to review it. I wouldn't normally respond to a review in this fashion but I really wanted to clarify one or two points you raised.."

"...You said in your review that you thought this was a 're-published' title. It is in fact a totally new work. A vast amount of effort in researching primary source documents went into it and it is, I believe, the most comprehensive account of jet airframe development programmes in WW2 Germany ever written. The cover artwork did appear on a 'bookazine' which sold out of its very limited print run five years ago. While my book does of course describe some of the better known jet projects that were under development it goes much further. In fact I'd say I've included every single known jet design ever worked on in Germany during WW2 (and several that were unknown prior to the publication of this book). Each one is set in context, the dates given are backed up by period sources, the details of every known jet fighter requirement, specification and design competition are given. This is something no previous book has ever done..."

"...You said that some designs featured are based on only the sketchiest detail or the odd drawing. This is true and I point this out clearly and indicate the archival sources for every design where they exist, complete with full references. Again, this is something no previous book on German WW2 aircraft development has ever done before. Using my book, anyone could go to, say, NASM, or IWM, and see the original source material for themselves. Previously it was impossible to say whether a cited source was genuine or not. And if it was genuine, to check whether the author's translation/interpretation was accurate. I can tell you that certain sources cited (without giving a location for the document) by certain other authors have been misleadingly interpreted and embellished to say the least. I can provide concrete examples of this..."

"..The section on the Me 163's early development supersedes that written in Ransom's Me 163 Volume 1 and indeed I'm currently helping him to update his book for a reprint, based on the new archival information that I have recovered..."

"..Similarly, my fully referenced account of the single jet fighter competition(s) supersedes those of both Forsyth and Koos, since I found all the original material they had based their versions on plus a great deal more, which altered the timeline and enabled me to provide a more accurate account of what happened and when. I believe also that I have added previously unknown details to the development history of the Me 262 as well..."

"...One of the problems with writing about 'secret projects' (in fact every aircraft ever made started out as a 'secret project' - the term should really be 'early aircraft development') is that the reality is actually rather mundane. There's really nothing 'Wunderwaffen' about any of it. The Germans were methodical in calculating the likely performance of their aircraft designs and the competitive process was fairly rigorous. Outlandish designs were usually proposed for a good reason and rejected for equally good reasons. There's very little in the way of big personalities backstabbing one another, bribery and corruption or Nazi propaganda distorting the procurement process or any of that stuff. It's simply the case that this was, for better or worse, a golden age for aeronautical science, with lots of new ideas (backed up by wind tunnel testing and hard maths) coming through which, it was believed, might provide an edge against likely future enemy aircraft developments..."

"..Taking into account the above I do feel your review of my book is selling it short somewhat. Of course I realise that wartime aircraft development is not your primary area of interest.  That said if anyone feels  that I have the wrong end of the stick anywhere, or if there is any area where I have clearly 'dropped a star' I would be happy to accept and acknowledge it. I would much rather know about any possible misinterpretations so that I can amend them when the opportunity arises. I know some authors will deny anything is ever wrong with their work and will defend demonstrably flawed histories to the bitter end - but I'm not that way inclined. There's always more to discover and more to learn and if you think someone else has done any of it better than me, please tell me!.."

"..I have tried to get this across in my book, with maximum use of contemporary documents to dispel any suggestion of inaccuracy or fantasy (again, certain authors in this field do not seem to be above simply making things up). If anyone can demonstrate that anything is wrong with my account - I would love to know about it so I can better understand what really happened!.."

"..Incidentally, I note from your blog that you are still reading Ron Ferguson's "He 219 An Illustrated History".. You may be aware that, in parallel, Rich Carrick and a team of authors have been working on another He 219 book which will follow Martin Pegg's revised Hs 129 book and the Forsyth/Creek Ar 234 book under the Chandos banner. .."

"..Documents on the aircraft types featured in my book are relatively few and far between, so during the course of my research I happened to scoop up vast quantities of irrelevant material to find bits and pieces on 'projects'. As part of this process, I've dredged up most of the same documents Ron Ferguson has used to build his book - and a whole lot more. I have located some 62 period documents on the He 219 (accounts of meetings on it, test centre reports, comparisons with competing designs, reports on engines for it, armament for it, proposed developments of it etc. etc.). Through the use of these documents, some of the questions Ron Ferguson leaves unanswered in his book can in fact be answered - such as the precise date of its cancellation - and some blanks can be filled in, as well as providing the colour of verbatim accounts of meetings on the He 219..." 

"..My point is that even if something doesn't seem immediately relevant to the aircraft developments I might be writing about at the time, I aim to collect and absorb absolutely everything to do with every aspect of German WW2 aircraft development. It is the only way, I believe, to get a complete picture of what was happening!.."

"..I have also been helping Francis L. Marshall with updates for his Bf 109 T book - such as providing the original specification for a carrier fighter from 1935 (making the overall development programme several years longer than originally thought).It's amazing how much is still out there to be found and how uncovering this material about 'projects' can literally rewrite the history of famous in-service types!.."

 With excellent production values  "Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe  -Jet Fighters " is  a large book of over 300 pages and some 600 photos, drawings, diagrams and conference translation transcripts printed on glossy paper which describes the convoluted genesis of the jets and jet projects that were under development or attained operational status during the period 39-45. To quote another reviewer writing on Twitter, " ..a fascinating analysis of original German sources that haven‘t been tapped before, doing away with old myths and providing new insights. Highly recommended! .."