The first operational military jet in the world, towards the end of the Second World War the ME 262 was to be the German miracle weapon. Mano Ziegler was involved from its inception and contributed to the design, testing, training and even served in it operationally. Could the ME 262 have broken the Allied supremacy in the air? Why did it take so long to come into service and why were hundreds of German pilots sacrificed in developing it? Why did the ME 262 prove not to be the unparalleled success claimed by Goering and why were German cities left dangerously exposed against Allied bombing campaigns? These are only some the important questions this new book answers.

The Me 262 was the world's first operational military jet. Hitler believed that it would become Germany's 'miracle weapon' and took a great personal interest in its development. Pilot Mano Ziegler was involved from its inception and contributed to its design and testing. Could the Me 262 have broken Allied supremacy in the air? Why did it take so long to come into service and why were hundreds of German pilots sacrificed in developing it? Most important of all, why did the Me 262 prove not to be the unparalleled success that Goering claimed it would be and what role did Hitler play in this ultimate failure? These are some of the questions this compelling book answers.

Fighting Hitler's Jets is the personal story of the American fighter pilots who defeated the German Luftwaffe in the spring and summer of 1944, only to find themselves up against Adolf Hitler's Wunderwaffen, or “wonder weapons.”

Book illustrated with photos and cutaways of all types of German aircraft form the Second World War.

During World War 2, Hitler's engineers had pioneered an incredible array of futuristic secret weapons, from the Me 262, the first operational jet fighter, to the deadly V2 inter continental ballistic missile. With the Third Reich shattered and lying in ruins, in the summer of 1945, the Allies launched a frantic race to grab what they saw as the justifiable spoils of war. The Americans and Russians in particular were anxious to secure not only the aircraft and the research and production facilities, but also the key German scientists and engineers. This Nazi technology would define the balance of power in the phoney peace of the Cold War era, launching an arms race that shaped our modern world for decades to come. But what of Britain's role in this supermarket sweep? The Race for Hitler's X-Planes tells the untold story of the British mission to Germany.

One of the most significant innovations in modern warfare has been the appearance and development of air power, a technology which demanded technical and financial investment on a whole new scale and which ultimately changed the fundamental nature of war itself. This book covers the history and development of the German air force from 1935 to 1945, with descriptions and illustrations of almost all of the Luftwaffe's airplanes, including fighters, jet fighters, dive-bombers, ground attackers, medium and heavy bombers, jet bombers, seaplanes, flying boats and carrier planes, transport and gliders, reconnaissance and training aircrafts, helicopters, and many futuristic projects and other rarities.

This book provides a complete history of the clandestine WW II Luftwaffe and its origins under the patronage of Lufthansa, secret training of its personel in Russia and Italy. Combat proving of its airplanes with the Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War. Units, deployments, personel, airplanes and sub-types, thw 'secret weapons' and the world's first combat jets. Hitler's less than cordial relations with Goring, the RLM and German Aviation industry

In the early morning hours (4 am) of 27 August 1939, five days before the outbreak of what would become World War Two, a small group of people gathered at the Ernst Heinkel AG grass airfield at Marienehe near Rostock. They were there to witness the first flight of the first turbojet-powered aircraft in history, the Heinkel He 178, piloted by company test pilot Erich Warsitz. This is the history of this magnificent aircraft, pieced together by author David Myhra, PhD from documents and reports long thought nonexistent. Computer artist Jozef Gatial has contributed the colored plates in the middle of this book, to show how the He 178 would have looked in real life.

The Me 262 was the first of its kind, the first jet-powered aircraft. Although conceived before the war, with the initial plans being drawn in April 1939, the Stormbird was beset with technological (particularly the revolutionary engines) and political difficulties, resulting in it not entering combat until August 1944, with claims of nineteen downed Allied aircraft. The performance of the Me 262 so far exceeded that of Allied aircraft that on 1 Sepember 1944, USAAF General Carl Spaatz remarked that if greater numbers of German jets appeared, they could inflict losses heavy enough to force cancellation of the Allied daylight bombing offensive. The story of how the Stormbird came to be is fascinating history, and it comes to life in the hands of noted historian Colin Heaton. Told largely in the words of the German aces who flew it, The Me 262 Stormbird provides the complete history of this remarkable airplane from the drawing boards to combat in the skies over the Third Reich. Features two forewords, one by Jorg Czypionka, Me 262 night fighter pilot, and another by historian and author Barrett Tillman.

This is the story of the Arado 234, an aircraft that on one day in 1944, in the skies above Normandy, heralded the beginning of a new era in aviation: the jet era...??For more than a century, the aviation industry has experienced continual change and upheaval. Many individuals have contributed to this field of developmental aviation over the course of time. One of these key players is Heinrich LÙbbe, a man who marked the evolution of aerial transportation through his cultivation of technological excellence. From flying lessons given to him by his friend Roland Garros, to the creation of the Arado business, LÙbbe made a significant impact and left a lasting legacy.??His machines, the first jets in the world, were flown by exceptional pilots such as Horst G_tz and Erich Sommer, known as "des moustachus" (the moustachioed). In Hitler's Germany, the Arado jets were put to work in a variety of contexts. Perhaps most significantly, they were employed in the task of photo-reconnaissance during the Battle for Normandy, following the iconic landings of June 1944. In this role, they brought back extraordinary images from the invasion beaches, revealing with astounding detail the positions and plans of the allied forces.??These images, previously unseen by the public, shed new light on the battle, whilst at the same time proving the Germans' indisputable superiority in the field of jet aviation. The fact that American troops hastened to transfer the Arado AR234 and Messerschmitt 262 to the USA to uncover all their secrets post-war says a lot about how they were viewed in the eyes of the enemy.??In addition to many top-secret aerial images, this book is enriched with around twenty photographs from the personal archives of Erich Sommer, the Arado pilot, which have never before been published. The book is packed with both colour and black and white images and represents an impressive pictorial history of the world's first jet.