Luftwaffe Secret Projects: Fighters, 1939-1945

When this book was first published in 1997 it was the first time that Germany's incredible fighter projects of 1939-45 had been revealed in this detail - showing the technical dominance that their famed designers could have achieved if time allowed - shapes and layouts that do not look out of place today.

Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering was so convinced in 1940 that his Luftwaffe was invincible that he decreed that only refinements of existing types need be considered - there was no need for more research and development as the war would be short and sharp. The Battle of Britain and the flawed invasion of the Soviet Union changed all that. Germany needed all the technological muscle it could muster. From mid-1941 onwards the brakes were off and some of the finest minds in aerodynamics turned their thoughts to war-winning fighters of a new generation.

Momentum was gained at an incredible pace, moving through advanced piston-engined designs to produce jet fighters using aerodynamic concepts that the Allies seemed unable to match. Thankfully, the time-lag generated by the German leadershiop allowed little in the way of hardware to appear operationally by 1945.

With access to much previously unpublished information the authors bring to life futuristic shapes that might have terrorised the Allies had the war gone beyond 1945. Full colour action illustrations in contemporary unit marking show vividly what might have been achieved. Careful comparison with later Allied and Soviet aircraft show the legacy handed on, right up to today's stealth aircraft.