Me-262 Volume 2 by Eddie Creek and J Richard Smith
Published by Classic Publications, 1998

Approx $55.00. 220 Pages.  

This is Volume 2 of the four dedicated to the most famous German Jet of WW2; the Me-262.  Volume 1 contained the preliminaries on the 262.  Go here for a review of that book. In Volume 2, the initial deployment as well as some of the project aircraft are discussed.  In addition to the suberb drawings by Eddie Creek are some rare color photos of the 262 in unit service as can be seen by the image below.  

It is truly remarkable that considering how few 262s were actually built, that there would have been so many different projects utilizing the 262.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear that a goodly portion of production was delegated to the tests and other non-combat usage.

A quite telling portion of the book explains how poorly the pilots were prepared for this advanced aircraft.  Several pilots went into combat with as few as three familiarization flights.  Many aircraft were lost to accidents caused by the supposition that this aircraft could be handled just like a piston-powered aircraft.  

Detailed information on the early 262 units like Kommando Nowotny and KG 51 are presented. Including the lack of success as bombers where Hitler refused to allow the planes below 4,000 meters on thier bomb runs.  They were lucky to hit entire towns much less a specific target.

A highly recommended book to anyone who has an interest in this fascinating aircraft..