Using rare first-hand accounts from Me 262 pilots, Robert Forsyth
examines what it was like to fly the world's most advanced interceptor
in the deadly skies over Germany in 1944-45.
Right from its operational debut in the summer of 1944, the Me 262
outclassed anything the Allies had in terms of speed and firepower
ratio, offering a formidable punch with four 30 mm Mk 108 nose-mounted
cannon, and a Jumo 004 jet engine.
The problem the Luftwaffe faced, however, was one of numbers. Towards
the end of the war, availability of machines and trained pilots was
scarce, and it is only thanks to the exploits of a handful of veteran
Jagdwaffe aces such as Adolf Galland, Walter Krupinski and Johannes
Steinhoff, that the aircraft made a significant impact on the air war
and was the source of considerable concern to the Allies.
Filled with specially commissioned artwork including action-packed
ribbon diagrams, battlescenes, armament views and maps, Robert Forsyth
offers the definitive technical and historical guide to the
state-of-the-art Me 262, using rare photographs and pilots' first-hand
accounts.