German Jet Aces of World War 2 (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 17)

Testing the He-176, then the He-178, the new weapon to enter Germany's arsenal has flown; the jet! The jets were a success, but Hitler rejected the new plane, trusting that Germany's airpower with the old Bf-109 will be enough to battle the Allies. What a big mistake! If he would have brought the jet into service, it would have dominated the skies over the Allied nations. Development on new jet aircraft still occurred, however, and the introduction of the Me-262 took place in 1943. The Me-262 was a truly awesome weapon, with about 100 mph. over the Mustang, and with four to six 30-mm cannon (there was even a type that had the 50-mm cannon!), the jet was truly amazing. But Hitler made his second mistake with the jet; he made almost all the `262s bombers! If he would have let Heinkel and Messerschmitt build jet fighters and bombers early on, the Germans would have won the air war. If the jet would have been in the hands of many experten, the '262 would have blown any plane out of the sky. It's truly a shame the jet didn't come into service earlier, (but it was fortunate for the Allies). Then there was the He-162, not a pretty jet, and with smaller armament than the Me-262 (2 20-mm cannon compared to 4 30-mm). It was not very popular with it's pilots. And last, the rocket-powered Me-163. Probably the most dangerous to the enemy and the Me-163s' pilot. Using extremely dangerous fuels, if the two fuels touched, a certain death to the pilot, and if the fuels touched the pilots' skin, his skin would be eaten alive! The rocket also had a short time radius, meaning less time engaging enemy bombers. German aerial warfare is my favorite subject in WWII, and John Weal has not disappointed me again! The book is layed out wonderfully. It starts with the test flights of the He-176 and -178, then explains about the Me-262 and the pilots who flew them, then about the Me-163 and He-162 and it's pilots. A big plus with this book is the information on Adolf Galland (One of my favorite aces), plus Günther Lutzow, Walter Nowonty, Wolfgang Spate, Kurt Welter, Rudolf Sinner and Hellmut Detjens, (read about the latter when his jets' engine sputters and where the heck he lands! It raised my eyebrows when I read it!). In all, the book is great; well drawn color plates of Me-163s, Me-262s, He-162's and even an Ar-234! Many photos of aces and planes, wonderful in-depth facts of the aces who flew the next generation of aircraft. A Recommended book.

Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces volume 17, German Jet Aces of World War 2, is an interesting account of the difficulties of introducing a revolutionary weapon system in the midst of a major conflict. This volume provides considerable detail on the German jet units and pilots, as well as the aircraft themselves. Overall, this volume is an excellent succinct history of the Luftwaffe's jet fighter units in the waning days of the Second World War. German Jet Aces of World War 2 begins with a short introduction on the early German jet aircraft prototypes in 1939-1942. The most important issue addressed in this section is the torpid pace of the German jet development effort. Despite the facts that the Luftwaffe had flown a jet prototype in August 1939 and the first practical jet fighter (the Me-262) by July 1942, the Germans squandered their technological advantage by not beginning to form operational units until 1944. At that point, Hitler famously interfered with the jet program by demanding that the Me-262 be fielded as a bomber instead of a fighter. Few sources note that Hitler reversed his mistake six months later and ordered the Me-262 deployed as a fighter. Normally, Hitler gets the blame for fatally delaying the Me-262 program, but it seems questionable to assert that Hitler's 6 month delay was more egregious than the nearly 2 year delay imposed by the Luftwaffe hierarchy. Indeed, it is possible that without Hitler's backing none of the jets would have entered service before the end of the war. The second chapter covers the earliest Me-262 units, such as "Kommando Nowotny" and Ekdo 262. These units were small in size and primarily established as operational test and training units, rather than as combat units. The third chapter deals with JG-7, the largest and most important user of the Me-262 in 1944-1945. The formation of JG7 was plagued by problems and although the unit conducted a few combat sorties in late 1944, it was not capable of large-scale operations until the spring of 1945. In March and April 1945 JG7 was able to employ 20-30 jets at a time instead of the previous scrambles of only 2-4 jets. The authors note that the combination of the fast Me-262 fighter and the new R4M air-to-air rockets posed a serious threat to Allied air formations over Germany. In all, JG7 claimed 500 Allied aircraft in the last two months of the war. However, the German jet units were rapidly whittled down by the relentless attrition of combat and non-combat losses. The American P-51 fighter pilots quickly realized that the jets were vulnerable in their long, slow landing runs and began to ambush them their airfields (15 Me-262s were lost in one such attack). Non-combat losses due to the finicky jet engines were high and the aircraft proved to have a steep learning curve even for experienced pilots. The fourth chapter deals with several "oddball" jet units like Lieutenant General Galland's pick-up team JV44 and a small nig

Hugh Morgan and John Weal in this volume primarily write of the people and aircraft in Germany's use of the Me 262 jet fighter during World War 2. There are many great black and white photographs from that era contained here, as well as lots of text about the history of the Me 262. Also, there are some color line drawings included of actual aircraft with their flight colors and a bit about the history of each. There is also a short appendice listing Luftwaffe jet aces and jet fighter units. In addition, the authors discuss the rocket powered Me 163 with photographs and it's history as well, and a few other jet powered German aircraft are briefly covered. I found this to be a fascinating read about very advanced aircraft for their time, sometimes misused by the Luftwaffe.

Usual excellent effort by Weal, who uses a time-based narrative to tell the "story" of the jet aces. In addition to the Me 262, the stories of some of the brave souls who flew the Me 163 are also told.Lots of great photos and color profiles are included. If you are interested in the Luftwaffe this is not to be missed!