Customer Reviews

Secret Aircraft Designs of the Third Reich: (Schiffer Military/Aviation History)

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Myhra has produced an excellent summary of German advanced aircraft designs during the "Third Reich". What sets this work apart from similar offerings by Masters and Schlick and Meyer is the coverage given to the designers of the aircraft and the companies which built them coupled with the use of colour photographs of scale models. On the down side, the book could have done with more proof reading to remove some of the repetition in the text and numerous minor typo's. It was also let down by some very poor quality illustrations, some of the line art looks like it was drawn using a ZX Spectrum home computer from the early '80's. In general the illustrations are poorly organised and of greatly variable quality. I would hope that a second edition would correct these minor flaws, a tie up with Dan Johnson's excellent web site, Luft 46 would allow the illustrations to be greatly improved.

Probably the most thorough treatment of projected German aircraft, Myhra's book also suffers from inexplicable lapses: pictures are duplicated, line drawings are pixilated, and illustrations often so jumbled that one does not always know which plane is being described. The use of models and digital imaging is appreciated, but there is so little editorial control over layout that any benefit is lost. A great muddle of a book that even includes a photograph of a Messerschmitt sewing machine. If only it had been better edited.

David Myhra gives the reader an unsurpassed look at the technological brilliance of the Third Reich. History buffs and aviation enthusiasts alike will be astounded by the rare photographs included in the book as well as stories behind the designs, which sometimes surpass the wildest fiction one could imagine. The most complete book on Nazi X Planes(especially in terms of visual content)"Secret Designs" makes you feel glad that Hitler and Goering made so many crucial mistakes that prevented many of these planes from ever becoming airborn and wringing havoc with the less advanced American designs of WWII.