Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe Close Up: Secret Projects of the
Luftwaffe Close Up offers an unparalleled and authoritative look at the
most unusual and important 'secret projects' aircraft designed and
developed in Germany during the Second World War. Detailed development
histories show exactly why these designs were created and how they
related to the successes and failures of Germany's wartime aircraft
manufacturing programme. Each volume uses the latest archival research
and features rare photographs and drawings alongside new artwork.
The story of the Messerschmitt Me 109's ultimate development, the Blohm
& Voss BV 155, begins in 1942 with plans to split the Me 109 family into
three branches - a standard fighter, a high-altitude fighter and a
carrier-based fighter. Initially these were known as the Me 409 but
later became the Me 155 A, B and C. The project was given to the French
to develop, where it stalled. But when Germany got its first taste of
what the USAAF's bomber force was capable of - suffering huge damage to
its war-critical industries as a result of massed raids on its factories
and cities - work on the Me 155 B was recommenced as a matter of
urgency. With the Me 262 consuming most of Messerschmitt's design
capacity, the project was then passed on to a sub-contractor: Blohm &
Voss. Richard Vogt, B&V's chief designer, quickly realised that
Messerschmitt had made very little progress on the design and was forced
to begin again almost from scratch. In just over a year, a prototype was
built and flown - but the war ended before production could begin.
