Messerschmitt Me 328 Development & Politics (Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe) - Hardcover

Sharp, Dan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1911704206 ISBN 13: 9781911704201

Publisher: Mortons Media Group, 2024

Synopsis

There was huge excitement when Argus engineer Günther Diedrich succeeded in building a pulsejet powerful enough to propel a car up to 100km/h in 1941 – it was simple, cheap and lightweight, and before long Germany’s premier fighter manufacturer Messerschmitt had come up with a simple, cheap and lightweight airframe on which to mount it – the Me 328.The new aircraft was first pitched as an interceptor, then as a parasite bomber for attacks on America, then as an airborne version of the infamous Soviet Katyusha rocket launcher, to fire heavyweight rocket-bombs at Allied shipping. Prototypes were built and flown both as gliders and under pulsejet power, and when Nazi fanatics needed an aircraft suitable for suicide attacks against high-value Allied targets, their first choice was the Me 328. Yet the type never fulfilled the grandiose ambitions of those who designed, built and supported it.Dan Sharp unravels a development history that was anything but straightforward to find out exactly what happened to the Luftwaffe’s most enigmatic ‘secret project’ aircraft. Messerschmitt Me 328 Development & Politics is based on extensive archival research of contemporary German documents and includes numerous previously unpublished period drawings as well as 50 new full colour profile artworks.

About this title

About the Author

Dan Sharp studied history at the University of Liverpool before beginning a career in journalism. Having spent several years as the news editor of a regional daily newspaper, he switched to motorcycle magazines. His previously published works on aviation have covered subjects ranging from German Second World War projects to Concorde. He lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mortons Media Group
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1911704206
• ISBN 13: 9781911704201
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 150