The Ultimate Flying Wings of the Luftwaffe

by Justo Miranda

When the Allies crossed the Rhine, Hitler decreed to go down fighting to the last man. A strange triangular bomber launched the 'Nicht löschbares Feuer' over London, destroying the city. Later, a black boomerang of sixty metres dropped two tons of anthrax over Washington and New York, making them inhabitable for fifty years. Thankfully, the inextinguishable firebomb was a figment of H. G. Wells' imagination. However, the construction of the secret flying wings had commenced at the start of 1945. Indeed, one fighter took to the skies on its only test flight. If these radical fighters of the Luftwaffe had been pressed into service earlier, they may well have changed the outcome of the Second World War. Profusely illustrated with technical drawings and fascinating data and information on the Luftwaffe's most radical fighter and bomber projects, The Ultimate Flying Wings of the Luftwaffe chronicles these revolutionary designs. A fascinating book for the military historian, modellers and those interested in aviation, this shows how close Hitler may have come in winning the war.

232 pages, Hardcover

First published February 19, 2015

Reviews

[Ralph]

To many aviation and WW2 historians the Luftwaffe investment of time and dwindling resources into flying wing aircraft was the last, desperate attempt to save the doomed regime. Justo Miranda makes a good case (though a chilling one) that, really, all Germany needed to turn the tide of war was just a little more time. Had the Normandy invasion failed, Germany would have had more than enough time to turn these revolutionary designs into production line aircraft, invisible to radar and perhaps armed with atomic bombs. The book is profusely illustrated with technical and speculative schematics. As I looked at the designs, I could not help but think of the Northrop B2 Stealth Bomber, which shares many aspects with these Nazi designs. The author contends that Northrop's own Flying Wing, developed from Jack Northrop's pre-war designs was scrapped to divert Soviet attention from the natural stealth properties of flying wings. Given the fact that Russia subsequently adopted conventional designs to carry its massive atomic bombs (clunky knockoffs of stolen American technology), he may be right. Additionally, he asserts that the strange aircraft that became known as "flying saucers" were actually stealth prototypes developed from German research. He might be right about that as well. The book would have benefited from an index.