Aerei Messerschmitt: libri illustrati di storia e guide

Me 209 V1 (X Planes of the Reich)

Rare history of the the secretive and seldom photographed Messerschmitt Me 209 V1, V2, V3, and V4 prototypes.

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Me 210 / 410 Zerstörer Units (Osprey)

Intended as a progressive development of the twin-engined Bf 110 Zerstörer ('destroyer' or heavy fighter), the Me 210 first took to the air in September 1939. However, due to a lack of sufficient flight-testing before being declared service-ready, the Me 210 suffered from a less than satisfactory reputation in respect to its flight characteristics and weak undercarriage.
After enhancements were made to the fuselage and wings, and the power of the plane was increased, the Me 210 became the Me 410 in late 1942. By this stage of the war much was expected of the two types, which were forced to fly in very dangerous skies over North Africa and in the defence of the German homeland.

Both aircraft were deployed as heavy fighters, fighter-bombers, reconnaissance platforms and interceptors, seeing service with a number of different units. The Me 410 was fitted with 30 mm cannon, 21 cm underwing mortars and the colossal 5 cm BK cannon that was intended to pack a punch against the USAAF's four-engined bombers which threatened the Reich in large numbers from 1943 onwards.
In this title, supported by contemporary photography and full-colour artwork, Robert Forsyth tells the complex story of the Me 210 and 410, detailing their development and assessing their capabilities as combat aircraft.

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Messerschmitt Me 263 (X Planes of the Reich)

The Messerschmitt Me 163, designed by Alexander Lippisch, wasn't quite finished even though it went into serial production. The RLM called upon Heinrich Hertel of Junkers Flugzeugbau to give the aging 163 a complete make over and a make up for all the initial items it lacked - that is a cruising HWK 509 bi-fuel liquid rocket engine with a dual combustion chamber, tricycle landing gear, C and T-Stoff fuel tanks in the wings to provide longer flight duration, and so on.

Although Hertel's machine was not flight tested under power prior to war's end, the new and improved version now known as the Me 263 was test flown post war in the USSR.
David Myhra has assembled previously unpublished photos, state-of-the art digital images, and photos of a 263 scale model to make this book on the 263 a one of a kind photographic reference.

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Messerschmitt Me 264 Amerika Bomber (Osprey)

As Europe plunged into World War II, Hitler ordered the development of a hi-tech secret weapon capable of taking the war across the Atlantic - the Messerschmitt Me 264. Chosen from designs for an 'Amerika Bomber' tendered by Messerschmitt, Junkers and Focke-Wulf, this ultra-long-range aircraft would be capable of attacking cities in the United States. Just one month before the attack on Pearl Harbor and the American entry into World War II Hitler was promising, privately, to wage a 'new war' against the USA after his victories in Europe.

Dazzling digital artwork and 50 rare archive photographs perfectly complement the detailed analysis offered by Robert Forsyth as he examines the development, intended role and influence of the aircraft that Hitler planned to use to bomb New York City.

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Secret Messerschmitt Projects - Studies, projects and prototypes for single-engine fighter aircraft

The P1101 was Messerschmitt's second jet aircraft after the Me 262. Designed as a fighter, the test version of this type was to serve as an experimental aircraft to test the swept wing concept.
After World War II, the P1101 was brought to the U.S.A. and served there, among other things, as a testbed for the similar developments. Photos and data of this astonishing, yet understandably unknown aircraft with its futuristic technology are rare.

This book is a comprehensive documention. where not only the development history with all the important data concerning the P1101 is gathered, but also photos, detailed facts and figures about this aircraft.
While there are innumerable German technical publications about well-known, mass-produced Messerschmitt aircraft, the authors have been successful with this book in supplementing these works with the portrayal of the last almost completed Messerschmitt aircraft.

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The Messerschmitt 210 / 410 Story

In 1938, the Reichsluftfahrtsministerium (German Air Ministry, RLM), issued a requirement for a new twin-engine heavy fighter to replace the Me 110. This type of combat aeroplane was known as Zerstörer (Destroyer). The first prototype flew in September 1939.
The Me 210 proved very difficult to fly, having numerous deficiencies. It was said to be deadlier to its crews than the enemy. Nevertheless, the Luftwaffe ordered the Me 210 into production. Operational trials began in late 1941, but it was eventually acknowledged that the aircraft had to be redesigned in order to be accepted into Luftwaffe service.

The whole Me 210 debacle proved a huge scandal. A redesigned variant, the Me 410 began to reach Luftwaffe units in mid-1943. Even if the Me 210 and Me 410 were similar in appearance, the latter had to be redesigned to avoid the extremely poor reputation of the Me 210.
The Me 410 proved a quite successful aeroplane, being used as a heavy fighter and for reconnaissance duties. Its closest Allied equivalent was the British DH 98 Mosquito.

More than 1,500 Me 210/410s were built in Germany and Hungary, with only two Me 410s surviving today.

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The Messerschmitt Me P.1101 (X Planes of the Reich)

Powered by a single HeS 001A turbojet engine, Woldemer Voigt, who had artfully crafted the Me 262, ran out of time before he could make the 1101's design "jell" as he struggled to produce the world's first variable wing sweep, ultra light weight interceptor, and armed with Germany's state-of-the art wing-mounted air-to-air guided missiles.
Post-war, Bell Aircraft sought to carry on Voigt's planning and resolved to make the complicated mathematics of light weight, variable wing sweep and wing-mounted weapons come together in a single aircraft design. The result was the Bell X-5, and it too, was disappointing.

This photographic history of the Me P.1101 by David Myhra features mostly previously unpublished photos, three-view line drawings, and stunningly realistic photos of a 1101 scale model.

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Willy Messerschmitt - Pioneer of Aviation Design

Willy Messerschmitt (1898-1978) was indisputably one of the most significant of Germany's aeronautical design engineers.

This book examines Messerschmitt's life as a designer, aircraft builder, and businessman; it begins with the Harth-Messerschmitt gliders (1913-1923), winds its way through the sportplanes of the 1920s and 1930s, the M 18 and M 20 passenger airliners, the Bf 108 Taifun commuter plane, the Bf/Me 109, 110, 210, 410 military aircraft, and continues on to the Me 261, 264, 321, and 323 behemoths, as well as the Me 262 jet powered combat plane and swing-wing P.1101.
The activities of the Messerschmitt AG after World War II, with the forced interruption of German aircraft production and Professor Messerschmitt's foreign developments in Spain and Egypt, are also given a thorough treatment.

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Messerschmitt - Pionnier de l'aéronautique allemande de 1914 à nos jours

Messerschmitt, if this name evokes the first jet fighter to fly in operation, the Me262, it is also the famous M109 unfortunate adversary of the Spitfires in the Battle of Britain. But beyond military aviation, Messerschmitt refers above all to its creator, Willi Messerschmitt, a brilliant pioneer of German aeronautical construction.
It is the story of this firm born in the aftermath of the Great War - today become the great Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB-EADS) group whose production, with more than one hundred thousand employees, goes from the Airbus to the Ariane rocket - that this volume reveals, for the first time, thanks to archive documents, unpublished photographs and original plans.
Today, Messerschmitt remains at the forefront of innovation among the greatest in aeronautics with more than 150 models created in 70 years.

The 350 illustrations, the detailed plans of the most famous aircraft, both civil and military, and the precisely documented history of this volume devoted to this legendary manufacturer make this work a must-have in the history of aviation. Nothing as complete on the subject, apart from a few monographs on certain models.

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Die Messerschmitt-Werke im Zweiten Weltkrieg

Using the Regensburg Messerschmitt works as an example, this volume presents an exciting and complex documentation of the German armaments industry during the Second World War.
After years of research, interviews with contemporary witnesses and previously unknown photographic material, the author has succeeded in creating a compelling documentation of an important chapter in German aviation history.

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