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Fighting Hitler's Jets: The Extraordinary Story of the American Airmen Who Beat the Luftwaffe and Defeated Nazi Germany
Fighting Hitler's Jets brings together in a single, character-driven narrative two groups of men at on one side, American fighter pilots and others who battled the secret “wonder weapons” with which Adolf Hitler hoped to turn the tide; on the other, the German scientists, engineers, and pilots who created and used these machines of war on the cutting edge of technology. Written by Robert F. Dorr, renowned author of Zenith Press titles Hell Hawks! , Mission to Berlin , and Mission to Tokyo , the story begins with a display of high-tech secret weapons arranged for Hitler at a time when Germany still had prospects of winning the war. It concludes with Berlin in rubble and the Allies seeking German technology in order to jumpstart their own jet-powered aviation programs. Along the way, Dorr expertly describes the battles in the sky over the Third Reich that made it possible for the Allies to mount the D-Day invasion and advance toward Berlin. Finally, the book addresses both facts and speculation about German weaponry and leaders, including conspiracy theorists’ view that Hitler escaped in a secret aircraft at the war’s end. Where history and controversy collide with riveting narrative, Fighting Hitler’s Jets furthers a repertoire that comprises some of the United States’ most exceptional military writing.
298 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
About the author
Robert F. Dorr
82 books41 followersAuthor of "HITLER'S TIME MACHINE."
Author (1955- ); Air Force veteran (1957-60); retired Foreign Service officer (1964-89).
Author of about 75 books on the Air Force and on military history and operations.
Author of the weekly "Back Talk" column in Air Force Times newspaper, the monthly "Washington Watch" column in Aerospace America magazine; the monthly "Front Line" column in Combat Aircraft magazine; the monthly "Washington News" column in Air International magazine; the "The Way It Was" photo feature in Warbirds magazine; the "History Mystery" feature in Air Power History magazine, and other stuff.
I live in Virginia with spouse and Labrador retriever, have grown sons, new iMac. "HITLER'S TIME MACHINE" was published in December 2014
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 29, 2015
My friend and fellow USAF veteran Robert F. Dorr, AKA Bob, has written yet another first-rate WWII aviation book, one I highly recommend to my fellow aviation and military history buffs. In this one, Bob discusses der Luftwaffe’s “Wunderwaffen” (wonder weapons), such as the famous Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (“Swallow,” the first jet fighter to ever be used in combat), the Me 163 Komet (“Comet,” duh, first rocket fighter to be used in combat), the V-1 “buzz bomb” and V-2 rocket….as well as lesser known German warbirds—some of which never went past the experimental phase or even the design/conceptualization phase—such as the Arado 234 “Blitz” jet bomber, Me P.1011, Heinkel He 162, Bachem Ba 349, Junkers 290, and the especially bizarre-looking Blohm und Voss P.170. The author provides superb detail on both the strengths and weaknesses of these various platforms vis-à-vis the strengths and weaknesses of the Allied warbirds in the European Theatre of the war.
As the title indicates, the author gives the personal stories of the intrepid U.S. Army Air Force fighter pilots and bomber crews who bravely faced and fought Hitler’s frightening new “wonder weapons.” However, Bob gives the reader more than just what the title suggests, he also tells some of the personal stories of some of the German men who *flew* Hitler’s jets, such as Hans Busch and Willi Kriessman.
Moreover, Mr. Dorr delves into the various senior political and industrial leaders of Nazi Germany who either helped or hindered (depending on the personality of the platform) the development and combat deployment of the Reich’s ground-breaking (no pun intended) aerial technologies; from Hitler (whose foolish decision to develop the Me 262 as a bomber rather than a fighter proved to be a blessing for Allied airmen) to Goering to Himmler to the sycophantic Willy Messerschmitt (who, despite his namesake, actually contributed virtually nothing to the design of the Me 262. Fascinating insights here.
Dorr even gives some insights into how the study of captured German technology influenced the design and performance of U.S. jet fighters in the Korea War. Among other things, the author reveals that, contrary to official U.S. Air Force records, it was NOT USAF F-80 Shooting Star pilot 1st Lt Russell Brown who got history’s first jet-versus-jet aerial kill, but rather U.S. Navy F9F-2 Panther pilot Lt. Cdr. William Thomas Amen (the “killed” plane was still a MiG-15)… as a USAF veteran myself, I must ruefully concede having to swallow a bit of inter-service rivalry pride reading that bit!
A few minor technical nitpicks here, hence my decision to rate the book 4-stars rather than the full 5-stars:
(1) The correct translation/equivalent rank of "Generalleutnant" be Lt. Gen. as opposed to Maj. Gen. (p. 74)
(2) On p. 89, I realize that the author is quoting 1st Lt. Donald F. Snow, but nonetheless, the P-40 was *not* a Navy carrier plane, during Midway or at any other point in the war; it was a USAAF asset."
(3) On p. 164, I presume that by "2.75mm rockets," the author actually meant 2.75 inch rockets?
(4) Am seeing two conflicting quotes on p. 145: Luftwaffe pilot Hans Busch is quoted as saying "Yes, we had checklists..." but then USAF historian Walter J, Boyne is quoted as saying "Checklists were not used." A tad confusing, so which one is correct?"
(5) On p. 165: "...claims by gunners were hugely exaggerated; there is good reason to believe that a bomber would have been just as safe without them." I respectfully find that a tad hard to believe; exaggerations or not, the gunners still got their share of kills against the Luftwaffe (if memory serves as right, one B-17 gunner was even officially credited as an ace with 5 kills), andI would tend to think that being able to fight back against the enemy, as opposed to being an unarmed helpless victim, is always a good thing.
Those nitpicks aside, Bob Dorr has nonetheless written a very good book, well-worth reading and keeping in one’s personal library for future reference. Last but not least, the author ends the book with a nostalgic personal story from his senior year of high school, that of getting up-close-and-personal with a captured (and sadly neglected) captured Me 262 at the Navy Laboratory in Washington, DC; Bob ended up snapping a picture of the plane that is included for posterity in the photo section of the book.
A fine addition to any aviation history buff’s book collection. Well done, Mr. Dorr!
As the title indicates, the author gives the personal stories of the intrepid U.S. Army Air Force fighter pilots and bomber crews who bravely faced and fought Hitler’s frightening new “wonder weapons.” However, Bob gives the reader more than just what the title suggests, he also tells some of the personal stories of some of the German men who *flew* Hitler’s jets, such as Hans Busch and Willi Kriessman.
Moreover, Mr. Dorr delves into the various senior political and industrial leaders of Nazi Germany who either helped or hindered (depending on the personality of the platform) the development and combat deployment of the Reich’s ground-breaking (no pun intended) aerial technologies; from Hitler (whose foolish decision to develop the Me 262 as a bomber rather than a fighter proved to be a blessing for Allied airmen) to Goering to Himmler to the sycophantic Willy Messerschmitt (who, despite his namesake, actually contributed virtually nothing to the design of the Me 262. Fascinating insights here.
Dorr even gives some insights into how the study of captured German technology influenced the design and performance of U.S. jet fighters in the Korea War. Among other things, the author reveals that, contrary to official U.S. Air Force records, it was NOT USAF F-80 Shooting Star pilot 1st Lt Russell Brown who got history’s first jet-versus-jet aerial kill, but rather U.S. Navy F9F-2 Panther pilot Lt. Cdr. William Thomas Amen (the “killed” plane was still a MiG-15)… as a USAF veteran myself, I must ruefully concede having to swallow a bit of inter-service rivalry pride reading that bit!
A few minor technical nitpicks here, hence my decision to rate the book 4-stars rather than the full 5-stars:
(1) The correct translation/equivalent rank of "Generalleutnant" be Lt. Gen. as opposed to Maj. Gen. (p. 74)
(2) On p. 89, I realize that the author is quoting 1st Lt. Donald F. Snow, but nonetheless, the P-40 was *not* a Navy carrier plane, during Midway or at any other point in the war; it was a USAAF asset."
(3) On p. 164, I presume that by "2.75mm rockets," the author actually meant 2.75 inch rockets?
(4) Am seeing two conflicting quotes on p. 145: Luftwaffe pilot Hans Busch is quoted as saying "Yes, we had checklists..." but then USAF historian Walter J, Boyne is quoted as saying "Checklists were not used." A tad confusing, so which one is correct?"
(5) On p. 165: "...claims by gunners were hugely exaggerated; there is good reason to believe that a bomber would have been just as safe without them." I respectfully find that a tad hard to believe; exaggerations or not, the gunners still got their share of kills against the Luftwaffe (if memory serves as right, one B-17 gunner was even officially credited as an ace with 5 kills), andI would tend to think that being able to fight back against the enemy, as opposed to being an unarmed helpless victim, is always a good thing.
Those nitpicks aside, Bob Dorr has nonetheless written a very good book, well-worth reading and keeping in one’s personal library for future reference. Last but not least, the author ends the book with a nostalgic personal story from his senior year of high school, that of getting up-close-and-personal with a captured (and sadly neglected) captured Me 262 at the Navy Laboratory in Washington, DC; Bob ended up snapping a picture of the plane that is included for posterity in the photo section of the book.
A fine addition to any aviation history buff’s book collection. Well done, Mr. Dorr!
October 22, 2014
This book was on an interesting subject and, in the beginning, I thought it might be good. Unfortunately, I did not like the way it was written. The structure of the chapters just got to be annoying, jumping between subjects maybe three times per page. The chapters did not flow. It was difficult to get interested in a subject or personal story because just as I was, new topic. It seemed for a while that every section in this book was going to end with "little did he know that he would soon be fighting Hitler's jets". I get it, it was on the cover, no need to tell me on every page.
September 15, 2026
Interesting subject matter; poorly written. I learned the P-80 shooting Star was actually fielded during WWII, but the author totally skipped the story where a P-80 killed Richard Bong, our top WWII ace during testing. I also was distracted by several repetitions in the text.
April 28, 2023
A bit disorganized and sloppy but interesting.
December 30, 2014
Having previously read Hell Hawks, Mission to Tokyo and Mission to Berlin by Robert Dorr, I was definitely anticipating liking this book. Unfortunately, it came up short in many ways.
The book has a great premise: a history of the German jets and “wonder weapons” and their use against the Allies in World War II. Filled with personal recollections from both Allied and German personnel, this book is set up to tell an important piece of how the Allies triumphed over Nazi Germany and how the Nazis could have changed the outcome of the war by doing things differently. For the most part the book lives up to its premise and gives the reader a better understanding of how advanced the Nazis were in many ways and how World War II’s outcome could have been vastly different if some of the “wonder weapons” could have been brought into the fighting earlier than they were.
Unfortunately, the book leaves much to be desired. The narrative timeline bounces all over the place, both within the book as a whole and even within chapters. The author repeats little anecdotes about characters in the book, as well as translations of German words and military ranks. The proofreader must have taken the day off as well as there are quite a few typographical errors and incorrect dates sprinkled throughout the text—very surprising for a book published by Zenith. Add all these together and it makes for a book which was hard for me to enjoy because I kept getting let down. To be honest, if this was the first book I’d ever read by Robert Dorr, I probably would never pick up another one.
The book has a great premise: a history of the German jets and “wonder weapons” and their use against the Allies in World War II. Filled with personal recollections from both Allied and German personnel, this book is set up to tell an important piece of how the Allies triumphed over Nazi Germany and how the Nazis could have changed the outcome of the war by doing things differently. For the most part the book lives up to its premise and gives the reader a better understanding of how advanced the Nazis were in many ways and how World War II’s outcome could have been vastly different if some of the “wonder weapons” could have been brought into the fighting earlier than they were.
Unfortunately, the book leaves much to be desired. The narrative timeline bounces all over the place, both within the book as a whole and even within chapters. The author repeats little anecdotes about characters in the book, as well as translations of German words and military ranks. The proofreader must have taken the day off as well as there are quite a few typographical errors and incorrect dates sprinkled throughout the text—very surprising for a book published by Zenith. Add all these together and it makes for a book which was hard for me to enjoy because I kept getting let down. To be honest, if this was the first book I’d ever read by Robert Dorr, I probably would never pick up another one.
February 8, 2014
A well written account of U. S. Forces fighting new jet technology in World War II.
May 28, 2016
Well written history that added to my knowledge of WWII.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews