The German Fighter Since 1915

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{detailed description}The first German fighter, the Fokker E1, was not built until nearly a year after the outbreak of the First World War. However, an emergency programme rapidly established the aerial superiority that came to be known as the 'Fokker scourge'. New designs from the Allies required constant improvement from the German side, to counter Increasingly large numbers of their opponents in the air. Over 167 fighter types were tried in an attempt to regain air supremacy but in the end this very diversity reduced the value of the aircraft industry's heroic efforts. For ten years after the war, Germany was forbidden to design or produce aircraft, and although the restriction was relaxed to allow commercial types clandestine steps had to be taken to re-establish the makings of an aviation industry. From 1933 rearmament began on a serious basis but although significant technical advances were made, the hurried nature of development produced many shortcomings. The Second World War was to show up these defects in both technology and planning, and once again German designers were forced to pit skill and ingenuity against overwhelming odds. An immense final effort produced the first practical jet aircraft, but it was too late to stem the tide of defeat. The German aviation industry was reborn a decade or so after capitulation in 1945, but since then military aircraft like the Alpha Jet and the Tornado have been produced as the result of collaborative ventures with other European countries. This book, by a man with nearly 60 years' personal experience of the German aircraft industry offers a unique inside view of its struggles and triumphs in this most innovative area of aircraft design.

Cover illustration: An original painting by Keith Woodcock depicting maintenance work being carried out on two of the pre-production Dornier Do 335A-O fighter aircraft during trials.
{Author / Publisher / Date}by Rüdiger Kosin
1988 1st English language edn. (large format)
{condition}fine, in spine faded d/j.
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