Customer Reviews

Last Talons of the Eagle: Secret Nazi Technology Which Could Have Changed the Course of World War II

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wow. Reading this makes me ponder the lost opportunities the Nazi's had, and thankfully squandered.

Lots of great information and photographs in the book. I suggest this to anyone interested in WWII aviation, aviation history or German air power.

A very interesting aspect to this book is that our current (I write this on June 16, 2000) stealth capabilities were all tested german aircraft 60 years ago!

Like I said, happily, they lost.

The book's strength is the wide range of projects covered. However, it would have been a better read if the authors had deleted their own running commentary and perhaps reviewed a few Allied reports regarding the various aircraft mentioned. Many were captured by the Allies and even those in the one-off situation were evaluated. Paper projects were also evaluated since whatever the Germans had not finished by the end of hostilities, someone else did if the idea was felt worthwhile.

I must also agree with another reviewer's comment about misrepresentation. The Horten brothers is one good example. I wonder where the authors got their information regarding the flying wing "as too outrageous to be practicable." I suggest anyone reading this pick up a copy of Nurfluegel by Reimar Horten and Peter F. Selinger. The text is in German and English. An excerpt: "In 1910, the German aircraft designer Hugo Junkers filed Patent # 253788, which predicted that the flying wing would be the final solution to aircraft development."

A good book if you can ignore the author's occasional flights of fancy and unsupported conclusions otherwise stated as fact, since, at the time, whatever could be done by the Germans was being done.

This is a great book for anyone with an interest in WW2 German technology.Europe would have been a much different place if the Nazi leadership had decided not to interfere with research and development of the German Luftwaffe. I would recommend this book as a starting point for research,or an introduction to collecting books on this subject.It is by no means exhaustive in it's coverage of German technology,but it is nonetheless a very interesting and surprising read.I gave this book three stars for the content alone, and if I have any critisism it was that it should have covered a greater range of subjects ie.Panther tanks fitted with night vision etc.,and more photos and drawings.This is a book that deserved a A4 size hardbound format but I gave a extra star for it's presentation.

A well written and researched book.Packed with facts and astonishing information on Germany's, ahead of their time aircraft, and the beurocracy that surrounded them. This book certainly proves that necessity is the mother of invention. What would have happened had the German efforts come to fruition? We can perhaps only ever have an incling on how close they were to success. Heartily recomended!

I cannot believe I paid money for this book. There book is filled with factual errors and misrepresentations. I will not be so bold as to call them outright lies, but the information is wrong. I finished it just to see if it got better but it didn't. The book perpetuates myths left over from the war and more that have been fabricated since. There are no notes to check the authors' reputed "sources," the research is shoddy, and the text is laughable. This should be in the section under histical fiction - not history. As a historian I would suggest that the authors stick to sculpture and theatre (see bios)! I was very dissapointed with this book but not surprised at the content from two amateurs.