The Ultimate Piston Fighters of the Luftwaffe

This book provides a fascinating glimpse at what might have been a very interesting chapter in military aviation, had the Second World War not closed in so rapidly on Hitler's Third Reich. The year 1943 marked the beginning of the end of the Luftwaffe; the limitless resources and industrial capacity of the United States was brought fully to bear on a Germany reeling from its first series of catastrophic military defeats in North Africa and Stalingrad. There were a few realists in the German military hierarchy who understood after America joined the conflict that German industrial output could never hope to keep pace with their Allied adversaries. Thus began the desperate search for and frantic development of the so-called 'wonder-weapons,' whose devastating lethality (the Germans hoped) would force the Allied nations to sue for peace. This obviously never happened, and many in the German military hierarchy were slow to realize that they could never recapture the momentum of the opening phase of the war in which Blitzkrieg served them so well. In the ensuing struggle for the survival of the Third Reich, German scientists and engineers advanced the science of aeronautics by leaps and bounds; their achievements markedly outpacing comparable research and development in Great Britain and the United States. Nevertheless, inept strategizing and an astounding lack of foresight and planning by Adolf Hitler soon became apparent as the war situation dramatically worsened for Germany beginning in 1943. In a nutshell, Nazi Germany was not the least bit materially prepared for a war of prolonged duration. In the latter stages of the conflict, Luftwaffe pilots found themselves outnumbered in the air by ratios of nearly 100 to 1 as by this time the majority of experienced German pilots and commanders were already dead or were being killed off in the increasingly lopsided aerial battles on the Eastern and Western Fronts. Teenaged boys with less than 36 hours of experience flying planes were thrust into Focke Wulf cockpits and sent up into the air against better equipped and vastly more experienced USAAF and RAF pilots. To make matters worse, the petrol/gasoline shortage caused by round-the-clock Allied bombing raids was severe enough to ground the remnants of Luftwaffe fighter squadrons in the last several months of the war. German pilots could do nothing except watch helplessly from their bases on the ground as the American and British bombing armadas droned overhead--virtually unopposed. It became evident to many in the German High Command--except for Hitler and Hermann Goering--that superior machines and wonder weapons would not defeat the formidable adversaries of Germany as had been hoped. Many of the innovative designs, new engines, and advanced airplane prototypes showed considerable promise, but for Germany it was always too little and too late in the game to make any difference in their war effort. The successful development of the worlds first jet-propelled fighters in 1943-4, in particular the Me-262, understandably convinced Hitler and the Luftwaffe High Command to abandon or suspend production of many piston-engined airplanes and prototypes then in production (with a few notable exceptions) in favor of their latest technological triumph. Jet engines represented the obvious future of military aeronautics, and Germany's industrial resources in 1943-5 were dwindling too rapidly to consider the tactical advantages the newer piston engined planes in various stages of development might offer. Despite the fact that hostile forces were closing in rapidly on Nazi Germany, manufacturers like Daimler Benz, Jumo, and BMW were somehow still capable of cranking out piston-powered engines producing 2,000 hp with power-boosting systems--at the time a logistical triumph. There were even prototypes that could generate 3,000 hp, and BMW/Argus projects that could reach an estimated 4,000 hp! What surprises me the most about these piston-engined superperformers is that many of them, in my humble opinion, could have outperformed their earliest jet counterparts if given more trials, time, and opportunity. The interesting schematic diagrams provided by the author Justo Miranda provide much detail and background information about each particular plane--although it is important to remember that with a few notable exceptions many of these planes never made it off the drawing board. The last few chapters of the book relate to advanced weapons systems, a few of which were utilized effectively at the very end of the war in the jet fighter squadrons. As an avid modeler and amateur historian I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It provides much fuel for thought, and many of these futuristic designs seem plausible even now, some 69 years after the conflict has ended. Well done, Mr Miranda.

The book provides a list of the various projects that each aircraft manufacturer in Nazi Germany had as the war in Europe drew to a close. Many of the drawings reproduced here were not even close to a prototype being built and really represent potential ideas rather than something coming close to an 'ultimate piston fighter'. The commentary provided by the authors is very, very brief and is limited to comments on a particular project. I found this disappointing as I would have liked to have had an explanation of why these projects were important and to what extent they had been developed, if at all. The commentary does not provide a narrative that could link the various design concepts together. Nor does it explain how some of the more fanciful designs might have been feasible or even capable of threatening the Allied aircraft operating at the time. I still found the book interesting for the designs that were reproduced and it does appear (I say 'appear' as I am not an expert) to be comprehensive in its coverage of the projects from each aircraft manufacturer. If you do want a better idea of the state of the German aviation industry at the end of the war, the ideas that designers were considering as well as an explanation of the technology and presents all of that in the context of the time, then I would recommend 'Last Talons of the Eagle' by Gary Hyland. This book is useful if you already know something about the subject it covers.

Excellent discussion of the final German Luftwaffe piston engine warplane designs at the end of World War II. Each design is discussed in text to give the historical context in which the designs were developed or initiated. Tables summarized the design parameters. Excellent three- or four- view line drawings show each airplane described.There is also much discussion on the development of the advanced piston engines being developed as the basis for the airplane designs. Some of the aerodynamic concepts developed weren't used in American or Soviet warplane designs until the 1950s or 1960s. The only slight negative is that the book is obviously a translation of the original German, so there is occasionally some strange syntax. But that issue was pretty rare overall and wasn't enough to detract from the general excellence of the book.

I guess I never really appreciated how lucky we were , given that these perhaps ( Quite superior ) forward thinking aircraft never made it to the SKY . Wasn't a German swept wing (even variable sweep) wing VERY similar to an American >>>> X <<<< Aircraft . I think even forward sweep wings were investigated / reviewed / dreamed of (We were lucky they couldn't find Fuel,Pilot's or a saferunway with safe airspace above !

Nicely done bit of detailing here by Justo Miranda. This "up his game" considerably from his previous works and it's nice to see him being this successful. The contents are well detailed, well grouped, and provide excellent reference information for these aircraft and for the proposed designs as well. So, this is worth it for not only the fans of World War Two Luftwaffe aviation but also the Luft 46 crowd as well as the "What If?" fans.

I loved the content of this book! I would have loved to see some artists renderings however and not just the 3 view drawings. The binding was less than stellar as it has already begun to crack in the center. A very interesting read though.

This was an excellent book from the point of viewing concepts and a brief history but the narrative was highly disjointed and the chapters didn't have a historical reference point.In my opinion, this could have been a great book if there was a historical back story.In addition, there wasn't maps which described where the production would have been done.

Good info on what may have been. With data and illustrations.

The Ultimate Piston Fighters of the Luftwaffe contains lots and lots of good line drawings of piston fighters that Germany was considering. And it is ones that few have ever heard about. There's some technical details for them and a little other text for background. The multitude of the weird and wonderful is what drew me to this book - and that is what I got. The short texts would have benefited from some additional proof reading. A little more punctuation would have improved my impression. It could also be that some line breaks were removed to make everything fit the layout?

I was bit disappointed with this book but that's due to the fact that I am not part of it's target audience; the book is mostly a collection of (good) line drawings which I guess will be of greater interest to modellers; there is some text about the historical context and the research that went into these airplanes but not as much as I had hoped for since that is what I'm really interested in. But even then I still found information on fascinating aircraft designs I had no previous knowledge of and I decided to keep it. The quality of the printing is good and to be fair the book deserves at least a 4 star rating and probably a 5 if you're a modeller.

Very good overview of several German WW2 projects for improved piston-engined fighters. However, with this kind of publiactions I always wonder if the author have the right focus and also includes the whole picture. What I personally miss are the Me309, the He112 and He 100. These were actually built in few numbers, so maybe thats disqualify them. Instead, I think the author diverges slightly from the subject with some ground attack aircraft projects.

As others here have said, this is interesting, but the main readership, modellers will be dis appointed that the reduction in the page size has made the stated scale of the drawings wrong.

Never thought I would find anything new about Piston engine aircraft so this was a surprise.A number of new designs to me so it was a good buy.