It ensured that whatever was decided in the Reich's Chancellery, and whatever was done in the front line and in the factories, defeat wouild result. In this, the first detailed, comprehensive history of the Luftwaffe since 1946, Matthew Cooper describes the disintegration of its high command and the disastrous leadership of Göring. He analyses the development of the Luftwaffe's strategy, and with it its aircraft, and its decisions regarding dive bombing, heavy bombers and jet fighters. He describes the Luftwaffe's campaigns and shows clearly how from the moment it was committed to battle in 1939 it was doomed to failure in any prolonged world war. With hindsight it is possible to see that its one chance of avoiding defeat lay in destroying the RAF in the summer of 1940 and this book carefully analyses just why, when it was within an ace of success, the Luftwaffe gave victory to its enemies.

Includes the Aerial Warfare In Europe During World War II illustrations pack with over 200 maps, plans, and photos. This book is a comprehensive analysis of an air force, the Luftwaffe, in World War II. It follows the Germans from their prewar preparations to their final defeat. There are many disturbing parallels with our current situation. I urge every student of military science to read it carefully. The lessons of the nature of warfare and the application of airpower can provide the guidance to develop our fighting forces and employment concepts to meet the significant challenges we are certain to face in the future.

The Luftwaffe - the German Air Force - played a crucial role in the Wehrmacht's blitzkrieg tactics, providing both air cover and air artillery for Germany's panzer troops on the ground. Germany's successful invasions of France, the Low Countries, the Balkans and the Soviet Union are due in no small part to the professionalism, dedication and skill of the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe gets behind this massive organization to reveal the workings of the German Air Force through its command structure, economic resources, production figures, recruitment, training and philosophy. Broken down by key campaigns and subject areas, the book includes reference tables, diagrams, color maps and charts, presenting all the core data in easy-to-follow formats. The Luftwaffe is an essential reference guide for anyone interested in the history and structure of Germany's wartime air force.

The Luftwaffe - the German Air Force - played a crucial role in the Wehrmacht's blitzkrieg tactics, providing both air cover and air artillery for Germany's panzer troops on the ground. Germany's successful invasions of France, the Low Countries, the Balkans and the Soviet Union are due in no small part to the professionalism, dedication and skill of the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe, 1935-45 gets behind this massive organization to reveal the workings of the German Air Force through its command structure, economic resources, production figures, recruitment, training and philosophy. Broken down by key campaigns and subject areas, the book includes reference tables, diagrams, colour maps and charts, presenting all the core data in easy-to-follow formats. The Luftwaffe, 1935-45 is an essential reference guide for anyone interested in the history and structure of Germany's wartime air force.

Wolfgang W. E. Samuel, Colonel, US Air Force (Ret.), interweaves his story and that of his family with the larger history of World War II and the postwar world through a moving recollection and exploration of Fassberg, a small town in Germany few have heard of and fewer remember. Created in 1933 by the Hitler regime to train German aircrews, Fassberg hosted Samuel’s father in 1944–45 as an officer in the German air force. As fate and Germany's collapse chased young Wolfgang, Fassberg later became his home as a postwar refugee, frightened, traumatized, hungry, and cold. Built for war, Fassberg made its next mark as a harbinger of the new Cold War, serving as one of the operating bases for Allied aircraft during the Berlin Airlift in 1948. With the end of the Berlin Crisis, the airbase and town faced a dire future. When the Royal Air Force declared the airbase surplus to its needs, it also signed the place's death warrant, yet increasing Cold War tensions salvaged both base and town. Fassberg transformed again, this time into a forward operating base for NATO aircraft, including a fighter flown by Samuel's son. Both personal revelation and world history, replete with tales from pilots, mechanics, and all those whose lives intersected there, Flights from Fassberg provides context to the Berlin Airlift and its strategic impact, the development of NATO, and the establishment of the West German nation. The little town built for war survived to serve as a refuge for a lasting peace.