On March 30, 1945, the USAAF captures their first flight-worthy Me 262 A-1a and starts the wheels in motion that leads to Colonel Harold Watson to sending 10 Me 262s to New York City. Five were given to the US Navy and five were kept by the USAAF. Enjoy all 11 volumes of "Messerschmidts Over America” in text and photographs!

On March 30, 1945, the USAAF captures their first flight-worthy Me 262 A-1a and starts the wheels in motion that leads to Colonel Harold Watson to sending 10 Me 262s to New York City. Five were given to the US Navy and five were kept by the USAAF. Enjoy all 11 volumes of "Messerschmidts Over America” in text and photographs!

On March 30, 1945, the USAAF captures their first flight-worthy Me 262 A-1a and starts the wheels in motion that leads to Colonel Harold Watson to sending 10 Me 262s to New York City. Five were given to the US Navy and five were kept by the USAAF. Enjoy all 11 volumes of "Messerschmidts Over America” in text and photographs!

Dramatic story of World War II in the air How the U.S. built an air force of 2.3 million men after starting with 45,000 and defeated the world's best air force Vivid accounts of aerial combat Winner, 2011 San Diego Book Awards for Military & Politics In order to defeat Germany in World War II, the Allies needed to destroy the Third Reich's industry and invade its territory, but before they could effectively do either, they had to defeat the Luftwaffe, whose state-of-the-art aircraft and experienced pilots protected German industry and would batter any attempted invasion. This difficult task fell largely to the U.S., which, at the outset, lacked the necessary men, materiel, and training. Over the ensuing years, thanks to visionary leadership and diligent effort, the U.S. Army Air Force developed strategies and tactics and assembled a well-trained force that convincingly defeated the Luftwaffe.

On March 30, 1945, the USAAF captures their first flight-worthy Me 262 A-1a and starts the wheels in motion that leads to Colonel Harold Watson to sending 10 Me 262s to New York City. Five were given to the US Navy and five were kept by the USAAF. Enjoy all 11 volumes of "Messerschmidts Over America” in text and photographs!

“[A] perfect blend of sympathetic career biography and gripping military history . . . a definite winner for all World War II military history buffs” (Library Journal). In July 1944, the Allies were stunned by the appearance of the Messerschmitt Me 262, the world’s first operational jet warplane. More than one hundred mph faster than any other aircraft in the skies, the Me 262 gained scores of victories over Allied fighters and bombers, and by the end of the war, many of the Luftwaffe’s greatest aces had clamored to be in their cockpits. Sharks of the Air tells the story of Willy Messerschmitt’s life and shows how this aeronautical genius built many revolutionary airplanes—not excluding the Luftwaffe’s mainstay, the Me 109—and culminating in the Me 262. It describes how his various warplanes fought in Spain, Poland, France, Britain, the USSR, and Germany, and it provides thrilling accounts of air battles drawn from combat reports and interviews with veterans. And finally, this biography gives “insight into the life of a man who played a role in the Nazi war machine, but is not defined by it” (Scale Aviation Modeller International). Aspects of Messerschmitt’s life never before made public are revealed, including his love affair with the beautiful Baroness Lilly Michel-Rolino, a rich aristocrat who left her husband to live with Willy. Author James Harvey “uses his 40 years of flying experience and experience of aviation to tell the fascinating story of Messerschmitt and how, given the right conditions, Messerschmitt and other German aircraft designers could have changed the course of WWII” (Military Scale).

On March 30, 1945, the USAAF captures their first flight-worthy Me 262 A-1a and starts the wheels in motion that leads to Colonel Harold Watson to sending 10 Me 262s to New York City. Five were given to the US Navy and five were kept by the USAAF. Enjoy all 11 volumes of "Messerschmidts Over America” in text and photographs!

On March 30, 1945, the USAAF captures their first flight-worthy Me 262 A-1a and starts the wheels in motion that leads to Colonel Harold Watson to sending 10 Me 262s to New York City. Five were given to the US Navy and five were kept by the USAAF. Enjoy all 11 volumes of "Messerschmidts Over America” in text and photographs!

In an account of unusual power, Luftwaffe ace Johannes Steinhoff recounts the final days of the German air force on Sicily in June and July 1943. Facing crushing odds—including a commander, Hermann Göring, who contemptuously treated his pilots as cowards—Steinhoff and his fellow Messerschmitt 109 pilots took to the skies day after day to meet waves of dreaded Flying Fortresses and swarms of Allied fighters, all bent on driving the Germans from the island. A captivating narrative and a piercing analysis based on the author’s personal World War diary, this book is a classic of aerial combat. A concluding chapter assesses the war's lessons for air forces.

Setting the stage : technology and the series book -- Birdmen and boys, 1905-1915 -- Aces and combat : World War I and after, 1915-1935 -- Interlude : Charles A. Lindbergh and Atlantic flight, 1927-1929 -- The golden age, I : the Lindbergh progeny, 1927-1939 -- The golden age, II : the air-minded society, 1930-1939 -- World War II and modern aviation, 1939-1945 -- Aftermath : a-bombs, rockets, and space flight, 1945-1950.