Messerschmitt
Aircraft Designer
Ishoven, Armand van
First Edition
The story of the man and his aircraft, from his early Bavarian childhood to Germany's collapse in 1945. With a keen insight into the rise and demise of Hitler's Luftwaffe, the author brings to life the work and times of Professor Willy Messerschmitt, creator of a wide and remarkable range of commercial and military aircraft, who began his career as an early gliding enthusiast and rose rapidly to fame and fortune in the German aircraft industry.
He describes in detail nearly all the aircraft types and projects with which Messerschmitt was involved until 1945: the early M 18 airliner, his first commercial success; the M 35 with which Willy Stör became national aerobatic champion in both 1935 and 1936; Messerschmitt's masterpiece, the Bf 109, chosen as the Luftwaffe's Standard fighter to the fury of Heinkel and in preference to Heinkel's own He 112; the aptly named 'Gigant', the Me 321 transport glider which had to be towed into the air by no fewer than three Bf 110s; the revolutionary twin-jet Me 262, hailed by Hitler as his 'Blitzbomber' although designed specifically as a fighter. Throughout, he draws attention to Messerschmitt's unique style of aircraft design, whose main characteristics can be recognised even in the early M 18.
He also describes the influence exerted upon Messerschmitt's career by many of the key figures in Hitler's Germany: Erhard Milch, director of Luft Hansa and later Secretary of State for the Reich's Mimstry of Aviation, whose personal animosity towards Messerschmitt culminated in his enforced resignation as chairman of his own company; Ernst Udet, whose championship of Messerschmitt and especially of his Bf 109 ended tragically with his suicide in 1941; Rudolf Hess, who conned Messerschmitt into equipping a Bf 110 for his notorious flight to Scotland; and, of course, Adolf Hitler himself, who showered Messerschmitt with awards and medals, and whose gross overestimation of the Luftwaffe had disastrous consequences for Germany's conduct of war.
Hardcover with dust jacket
216 Seiten / pages
with 200 photos and drawings
good condition
London - 1975 - Gentry Books Limited
Art.Nr. 13430
