BOOK
/PERIODICAL:

Jet Planes of the Third Reich.
The Secret Projects. Vol 1

BY:

 Manfred Griehl

PUBLISHER
/PRICE:

 Monogram Aviation Publications
$49.95

REVIEW BY:

Scott Van Aken

NOTES:

 

After several years of waiting, the Monogram book on Secret Projects finally arrived at my door about a week ago. Those of you not familiar with Monogram books should know that they are considered to be the finest reference available on whatever the subject is. They are also renowned for being late in their publishing schedule. However the result is always well worth the delay and their books sell out fast.

This latest addition to their Luftwaffe references is on the paper projects and almost aircraft. Volume one is on single-engined fighters, interceptors, and multi-engined heavy fighters. In the 200 pages you will find drawings, photos of prototype or mockup airframes as well as full color drawings of what the aircraft may have looked like in service. The book isn't an in-depth analysis of each type, but a survey of all known aircraft and in that light very useful to the modeler and enthusiast.

For those of us who first got an interest in 'Luftwaffe '46' by reading David Masters book, 'German Jet Genesis' back in the mid 1980's, the genre has really grown in the last 15 years with much additional information being uncovered every year.

Some of the designs are incredibly fanciful while several of them would have reached prototype or production status had the war lasted just a few more months longer. Indeed, several designs directly influenced American, Russian, and Argentine aircraft in the post-war period.

If you have any interest at all in the genre, this is the book to get.