Rocket and jet aircraft of the Third Reich

Om tyske jet- og raketdrevne flyprojekter designet og udvikle, men ikke prøvefløjet før hen imod slutningen af den 2. verdenskrig. Flere af projekterne blev senere overtaget af de allierede og videreudviklet efter krigen. Dette bind I indeholder udviklingen af tyske dagjagere og interceptors.

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.

Fighting Hitler's Jets brings together in a single, character-driven narrative two groups of men at war: on one side, American fighter pilots and others who battled the secret “wonder weapons” with which Adolf Hitler hoped to turn the tide; on the other, the German scientists, engineers, and pilots who created and used these machines of war on the cutting edge of technology. Written by Robert F. Dorr, renowned author of Zenith Press titles Hell Hawks!, Mission to Berlin, and Mission to Tokyo, the story begins with a display of high-tech secret weapons arranged for Hitler at a time when Germany still had prospects of winning the war. It concludes with Berlin in rubble and the Allies seeking German technology in order to jumpstart their own jet-powered aviation programs. Along the way, Dorr expertly describes the battles in the sky over the Third Reich that made it possible for the Allies to mount the D-Day invasion and advance toward Berlin. Finally, the book addresses both facts and speculation about German weaponry and leaders, including conspiracy theorists’ view that Hitler escaped in a secret aircraft at the war’s end. Where history and controversy collide with riveting narrative, Fighting Hitler’s Jets furthers a repertoire that comprises some of the United States’ most exceptional military writing.

WINNER OF THE DEXTER PRIZE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY Launched by the Third Reich in late 1944, the first ballistic missile, the V-2, fell on London, Paris, and Antwerp after covering nearly two hundred miles in five minutes. It was a stunning achievement, one that heralded a new age of ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles. Michael J. Neufeld gives the first comprehensive and accurate account of the story behind one of the greatest engineering feats of World War II. At a time when rockets were minor battlefield weapons, Germany ushered in a new form of warfare that would bequeath a long legacy of terror to the Cold War, as well as the means to go into space. Both the US and USSR's rocket programs had their origins in the Nazi state.

In 1944, in response to the bombing of German cities and factories by the Allies, an inventor named Erich Bachem developed 'Projekt Natter' ('Viper'), an extraordinary, highly-secret, vertical take-off, semi-expendable, single-seat rocket-fighter armed with a nose-mounted 'honeycomb' of 73-mm or 55-mm spin-stabilized air-to-air rockets as well as 30-mm cannon. The Natter was intended to offer high-speed defense of key targets. Once blasted into the air from its vertical launch tower, the pilot of the Natter was to climb towards an enemy formation using an internal rocket, target an enemy bomber and fire his battery of rockets. He would then use the remaining kinetic energy to climb higher than the bombers in order to mount a ramming attack. Just before impact, the pilot was to trigger a mechanism that would activate an ejection seat and separate the rocket unit, which would return to earth by means of an automatically deployed parachute for reuse. Relatively little has been published on the Natter and this book will provide a detailed and definitive account of this unusual but fascinating aircraft. This will be required reading for all those interested in the history of the Luftwaffe during World War II, particularly for those fascinated by the radical and revolutionary projects which German aircraft designers contrived toward the end of the Nazi regime.

Following on from the success of volume 1, Friedrich Georg's second book in the series covers unconventional short- and medium-range weapons. In particular, this volume includes a wealth of information about the V-rocket programme, not just the more familiar V-1 and V-2, but special variants of these two rockets as well as later experimental craft and weaponry. Following a fascinating examination of pre-war efforts to build flying bombs, the author examines the V-1 and V-2 projects in great detail. Particular attention is paid to special variants that have previously received little coverage. These include the V-2 A-4 'America Rocket', and V-2s designed to carry nuclear and radiological warheads. The capability of the Germans to deploy such weapons is also discussed. A large number of weird and wonderful projects that never left the drawing board are examined, including the FR-35, V-6, V-101, Waterfall and Naval EMW A-7 rockets. The fascinating final section examines German plans to utilise such rocketry against London and Paris in 1945, as well as recounting the activities of V-weapons on other fronts, including Italy, Yugoslavia and the Eastern Front. The text is supported by b/w photographs and 16 superb pages of colour artwork, including profiles, computer-generated images of designs that never flew, and pictures of the author's own models.