Well folks, this is the final volume of the Me-262 epic. Frankly, I doubt if there will be much to match these books for at least another 25 years if not longer. Sad that it is to say, but the ability to produce books pertaining to WWII really is dropping off quite rapidly. One gets the feeling that whatever documentation that has not been available to Western historians has pretty well been scoured in the last ten years since the end of the Cold War. When you add to that the rapidly declining numbers of WWII veterans, now is probably the last time that good first-hand information about all aspects of the conflict will be available. Those 18-24 year olds in 1943/44/45 are now well into their 70's and with male life expectancy hovering around 65, you don't have to be a mathematician to see the end coming.

Now onto the final volume of the book. I mentioned in the last review that the day to day operations and losses were pretty well done, giving information such as serial numbers and codes. As the war progressed to its end, this information was lost and not available so you won't find that data in this volume. The first sections cover April and May of 1945. Next is work regarding swept wings and tail surfaces and the flights of the Me-262v9. It also covers research into the V or butterfly tail surfaces.

A sub-section is devoted to Messerschmitt test pilot Hans Fay and his delivery of the first intact 262 to the allies in late March of 1945. A goodly amount of the book then goes into the operation post war of the 262 by the Allies. The first part is on British operations. A much larger section is devoted to Watson's Whizzers and the US testing of various 262s. Use by the French, Czechs, and Russians is also noted, but there is little information on either of these subjects.

The rest of the book has information on the Japanese Kikka as well as technical drawings and fold-outs of the 262. Final section is on surviving airframes and their status. As with the other volumes, there are a prodigious number of photos and the excellent artwork of Eddie Creek. It is a book that appeals to both the historian, enthusiast and modeler in this reviewer. Though the total cost of the series is $200.00, I feel that it is well worth the money spent and would do it again in a heartbeat. I'd really love to see the Bf-109 treated in a similar manner, though the number of volumes needed to properly tell the story would be incredible!

Highly recommended!

Review copy courtesy of my ever soaring credit card balance. 

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