Germany’s air ministry was quick to grasp the potential of the jet engine as early as 1938 and by 1939 several German aircraft manufacturers were already working on fighter designs that would utilize this new form of propulsion. Rocket engines too were seen as the way of the future and companies were commissioned to design fighters around them. As the Second World War began, the urgent need to bring these advanced new types into production saw a host of innovative aircraft designs being produced which would eventually result in Messerschmitt’s Me 262 jet fighter and the Me 163 rocket-propelled interceptor. And as the war progressed, efforts were increasingly made to find better ways of utilizing jet, rocket and latterly ramjet engines in fighter aircraft. Aviation companies from across Germany set their finest minds to the task and produced some of the most radical aircraft designs the world had ever seen. They proposed rotating wing ramjet fighters, arrowhead-shaped rammers, rocket-firing bat-winged gun platforms, sleek speed machines, tailless flying wings, tiny mini fighters and a host of others ranging from deadly looking advanced fighters to downright dangerous vertical launch interceptors. Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe Volume 1: Jet Fighters 1939-1945 by Dan Sharp, based on original research using German wartime documents, offers the most complete and authoritative account yet of these fascinating designs through previously unseen photographs, illustrations and period documentation from archives around the world.

Designs from Germany's aerodynamics engineers detail proposed military aircraft, including wing span and area, aspect ratio, length, height, weight, speed, and armament.

This eagerly awaited companion volume to the enormously popular volume on fighters looks at the might-have-been strategic German bombers. Filled with transatlantic jets and projects that were on the drawing board or in prototype form at the war's end. Full color action illustrations in contemporary markings and performance data tables show vividly what might have been achieved had the war continued beyond 1945.

8= x 11 150 b&w photos 110 color illustrations The two previous volumes in this hugely popular series have covered Fighters 1939-1945 and Strategic Bombers 1935-1945. This new addition takes a close look at a varied range of aircraft types, principally described as ground-attack and special-purpose types, but which includes Kampfzerstvrer (multi-purpose combat aircraft), multi-purpose and fast bombers, explosive-carrying aircraft intended to attack other aircraft, air-to-air ramming vehicles, bomb-carrying gliders and towed fighters, and airborne weapons and special devices (rockets, cannons, flame-throwers, etc.) As in the first two volumes, the technical descriptions and histories of about 140 aircraft types are brought to life by many specially created full-color artworks, showing the projects, often in unit markings, as they might have appeared if they had come to fruition and/or if the war had continued beyond 1945. This series has proven indispensable for historians and notably for modelers, whose imaginations are fired up by these revelations.

Surprisingly, secret Japanese planes of World War II remain an area that has been largely ignored due to scarcity of information. They do, however, have a large base of interest as unlike the majority of secret Luftwaffe programs that were resigned to the drawing board, the vast number of aircraft featured within this book actually flew or were in development. The book begins with an overview of the IJN and IJA through the early years to 1945, and their secret technical exchanges with the Luftwaffe throughout the war. It is divided into two sections dedicated to the two armed forces, with a total of 34 aircraft examined, each with its history, performance, and combat records laid out in an easy to read fashion. The book provides photographs, technical drawings, and stunning color renditions of the aircraft in combat. Notable emphasis is placed upon the supersonic kamikaze aircraft, the Amerika bomber, and the ways in which the Japanese improved on German technology, particularly the Me 262 and Komet. Secret Japanese armaments are also covered in detail, with information uncovered on guided missiles, rockets, and cannons. A gripping read for aviation and military enthusiasts around the world!

Featuring the obscure, the unusual, the unbuilt and the unseen. The secret is out - Secret Projects is back. This is a new title in this highly acclaimed series, this time looking at concepts developed by the US aircraft industry in the years immediately prior to and during World War 2. This book includes and describes the major fighter and bomber proposals form the American aircraft industry which embrace various fighter and interceptor concepts, medium, heavy and intercontinental bombers, attack aircraft and anti-submarine aircraft, both for the USAF and US Navy. Particular emphasis is placed on 'Circular Proposals' - a system of submitting designs against requirements circulated around the industry by the Army Air Force in the 1930s and early 1940s. The illustrations show drawings and photographs of unbuilt designs merged with the history and photographs of real aeroplanes. Very little has been published previously about American projects from this time period and much of the material will not have been seen widely before. it will therefore be fascinating reading for all lovers of the previously highly successful 'Secret Projects' series and aviation historians.

The story of Germany's WW2 bomber development programmes.