David Masters (3)

This book is an account of all the German jet (and rocket) types either built or projected during the Second World War. Its inclusion of types projected but unbuilt makes it an early entry in the sub-genre of "Luftwaffe '46" literature. As such, it veers from types that actually flew (from the pioneer Heinkel He.178 to the Messerschmitt Me.262 and Arado Ar.234), via types that were still in the prototype stage (such as the Horten Ho.229 flying wing and Kurt Tank's Ta.183) and those that were show more being mocked up in their early development stages (such as the Focke Wulf 'Flitzer', a twin-boom design remarkably like the British De Havilland Vampire) to a whole panoply of weird and wonderful designs of varying degrees of practicality that were sketched, seemingly on the backs of envelopes. The odd thing is that many of these designs are drawn from an official report to the RLM (Reichsluftsministerium) that gave an overview of types being projected to go into development or production in the 1946-50 timeframe!

As these aircraft are organised by manufacturer/designer and designation, you can be reading about an actual production aeroplane one minute and some vague design concept the next. Dr. Sänger's sub-orbital bomber is perhaps the most extreme of these ideas given form!

The conceptual drawings are fairly basic line sketches; the cover art, depicting a 1946-era Second Battle of Britain shows various German paper planes engaging RAF Meteors and Vampires over the White Cliffs of Dover.

Since this book was produced , the interest in paper aeroplanes of the Luftwaffe has grown, and interested readers will probably find more resources, discussions and sheer wild speculation on the Internet! show less