Messerschmitt Me 262

Messerschmitt Me 262: Arrow to the Future tells the dramatic story of the Me 262's combat career as a fascinating chain of events in which planning, luck, and even blind stupidity played important roles. Even by today's engineering standards, magnificent is the only word to describe the effort to bring the plane's jet engines, which eclipsed the performance of all contemporary aircraft, from the laboratory to production in an amazingly short time. Arrow to the Futrue also tells the story of the people who flew the Me262 in combat. Their complete accounts bring their missions to life and set the plane in the historical context of the war. The German narratives are complemented by the accounts of Americans who flew against the Me 262 - for instance, the team of crack USAAF pilots known as "Watsons's Whizzers," who literally stole a fleet of jet aircraft from German airfields at the end of the war. Also described are the postwar efforts to test and preserve the Me 262. Included is a des