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The German bomber fleet operated as a terror weapon of the Nazi regime during the early years of the Second World War – bombing and killing thousands of innocent civilians during the Blitz. As the tide of battle turned, the Luftwaffe’s attention was refocused on the deserts of North Africa and the frozen steppes of the Eastern Front, where bombers and ground-attack aircraft played a key role in supporting German army units.Luftwaffe Bombers offers more than 200 highly detailed full colour profiles from world renowned artist Claes Sundin, covering all of Germany’s most famous bomber, dive-bomber, close-support and ground-attack types – the Dornier Do 17 and Do 217, Heinkel He 111 and He 177, Junkers Ju 87, Ju 88 and Ju 188, Henschel Hs 123 and Hs 129, Focke-Wulf Fw 190, Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Me 262, and Arado 234.The markings of aircraft piloted by famous and infamous German bomber and anti-tank ‘aces’ such as Ju 87 tank-buster extraordinaire Hans-Ulrich Rudel, the leader of the world’s first jet-bomber strike Dieter Lukesch and Hs 123 Knight’s Cross holder Josef‘Bazi’ Menapace are meticulously reproduced, based on original photographs, alongside a wide range of schemes from every year of the war and every front.Offering a host of different colour schemes and detailed notes, this is indispensable reading for enthusiasts and modellers alike

Germany’s air ministry was quick to grasp the potential of the jet engine as early as 1938 and by 1939 several German aircraft manufacturers were already working on fighter designs that would utilise this new form of propulsion.Rocket engines too were seen as the way of the future and companies were commissioned to design fighters around them.As the Second World War began, the urgent need to bring these advanced new types into production saw a host of innovative aircraft designs being produced which would eventually result in Messerschmitt’s Me 262 jet fighter and the Me 163 rocket-propelled interceptor.And as the war progressed, efforts were increasingly made to find better ways of utilising jet, rocket and latterly ramjet engines in fighter aircraft.Aviation companies from across Germany set their finest minds to the task and produced some of the most radical aircraft designs the world had ever seen. They proposed rotating wing ramjet fighters, arrowhead-shaped rammers, rocket-firing bat-winged gun platforms, sleek speed machines, tailless flying wings, tiny mini fighters and a host of others ranging from deadly-looking advanced fighters to downright dangerous vertical launch interceptors.Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe Volume 1: Jet Fighters 1939-1945 by Dan Sharp, based on original research using German wartime documents, offers the most complete and authoritative account yet of these fascinating designs through previously unseen photographs, illustrations and period documentation from archives around the world.

The development of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk – the world’s first in-service combat aircraft specifically designed to be undetectable by radar – was a huge leap forward in military aviation technology. It was followed by the stealthy F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II; yet for every type that has entered service there have been dozens of secret projects and proposals for stealth fighters which never reached production. In US Stealth Fighter Projects, aerospace engineer Scott Lowther brings to light some of the fascinating might-have-been designs for fighters intended to attack and destroy their opponents before even being detected.

Hundreds of thousands of classified documents were captured from Germany’s aircraft manufacturers and aviation ministry at the end of the Second World War, including details of ‘secret project’ aircraft designs created by firms such as Focke-Wulf, Messerschmitt, Heinkel, Dornier and Blohm & Voss.  Ongoing new research in archives around the world has revealed many previously unknown plans and proposals for aircraft that were radical, revolutionary or just plain weird.  In this latest volume in his series on German wartime aircraft development, author Dan Sharp reveals a wealth of new discoveries – including never-before-seen drawings and designs. Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe examines Focke-Wulf’s designs for enormous fighters built around bomber engines, aviation minister Erhard Milch’s unusual rival to the Heinkel He 219 night fighter and Messerschmitt’s alternative version of the push-pull twin engine Dornier Do 335. Also revealed are the long-buried secret history of the Blohm & Voss BV 40’s repurposing as a suicide bomber, how an American-born car designer came up with the idea for Focke-Wulf’s Ta 154 night fighter and the competition that would see Focke-Wulf, Dornier and Blohm & Voss go head-to-head with plans to design the Luftwaffe’s last all-new piston engine fighter in 1944-45. Hundreds of original and previously unseen documents have been used to compile this unrivalled look at some of Germany’s least-known Second World War project designs, featuring a host of period drawings and illustrations.

When it came to daring raids, Germany’s airborne troops had a secret weapon during the Second World War: the DFS 230 combat and assault glider. Successful German attacks at Eben Emael, Corinth, Crete and Gran Sasso are synonymous with the type – which could carry nine fully-equipped troops, dive towards its target at an angle of 80 degrees and land within 20m of it.It was also frequently used for freight and could quietly deliver up to 1,200kg of cargo, even into areas considered too difficult and hazardous for successful supply drops by conventional means. For particularly difficult landing areas, it could optionally be fitted with up to three machine guns.Designed during the mid-1930s, the DFS 230 entered service in 1939 and was operated throughout the war in every theatre where German forces were involved in the fighting. A DFS 230 was probably the last aircraft type to put down in the inferno of Hitler’s encircled capital city just days prior to the dictator’s suicide on April 30, 1945.The type could be towed into the air by almost any powered combat aircraft – from an He 111 bomber to a Bf 109 fighter – dropping its wheeled landing gear on take-off and touching down on a skid.More than 1,600 DFS 230s were built from 1939 to 1943 and up to a dozen are thought to survive today.In Eagles of the Luftwaffe: DFS 230, Luftwaffe historian Neil Page, author of the two-part Luftwaffe Fighters series from Tempest Books, explores and explains both the type’s development and its service history.

Dozens of top secret bomber designs were drawn up by the Germans during the Second World War, including gigantic flying wings, sleek jet bombers, asymmetrical bombers with the cockpit and weapons turrets on the ends of their wings and even enormous carriers for single-seat suicide bombers.Starting with Heinkel’s He 177, the most advanced bomber design of its day in 1936, author Dan Sharp looks at the huge variety of bomber projects produced during the days of the Third Reich, uncovering a host of original and previously unseen documents to offer an unrivalled look at bombers such as the Arado E 470, E 555 and previously unknown Arado types, Junkers Ju 488, Focke-Wulf Ta 400 and Fw 300, Blohm & Voss P 163 and BV 250, Messerschmitt P 1107 and P 1108, He 343 and the so-called Daimler-Benz projects.Secret Projects of the Third Reich Volume 2: Bombers 1939-1945 is a companion volume for Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe Volume 1: Jet Fighters 1939-1945 and includes numerous new and period illustrations.

The piston engines that powered Second World War fighters, the men who designed them, and the secret intelligence work carried out by both Britain and Germany would determine the outcome of the first global air war.  Advanced jet engines may have been in development but every militarily significant air battle was fought by piston-engined fighters.Whoever designed the most powerful piston engines would win air superiority and with it the ability to dictate the course of the war as a whole. This is the neverbefore- told story of a high-tech race, hidden behind the closed doors of design offices and intelligence agencies, to create the war’s best fighter engine. Using the fruits of extensive research in archives around the world together with the previously unpublished memoirs of fighter engine designers, author Calum E. Douglas tells the story of a desperate contest between the world’s best engineers – the Secret Horsepower Race.

Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) was the largest motorcycle maker in the world. The firm enjoyed a reputation for building quality, affordable machines, aimed at riders of all types, from the commuter to the sportsman. BSA was a byword for good, honest motorcycles for generations of riders.The BSA story from the early 1900s to the dark days of 1973, plus the later revivals and the rebirth of the marque in 2016 under new ownership, is illustrated with more than 200 evocative period images as well as press cuttings and sales literature.

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.

As British and American forces closed in from the west, the Russians pushed in hard from the east, and the RAF and USAAF bombed Germany every night and day, the beleaguered Luftwaffe went all-out in a last effort to defend the Fatherland during the last months of the Second World War.Spitfires Over Berlin tells the story of the desperate battles that took place over the Western Front from January 1 to May 8, 1945.True stories of aerial combat, courage and daring from all sides of the conflict illustrate the dramatic tale of the war’s closing chapter - from the battle between the Spitfire XIV pilots of 350 Squadron and Fw 190s over the western fringes of Berlin to the murder of a downed P-51 Mustang pilot by civilians and carefully planned ramming attacks on American bombers.Also featured are the ‘dogfight’ between a Piper L-4H Grasshopper and a Fieseler Storch, what led a disgraced Luftwaffe pilot to fly the lethal BP 20 Natter rocket-powered interceptor, the French aces who flew for the Soviets, the fate of the US pilots who shot down a flight of Mistel combinations and much more.

“…full of history, exploits, war stories, stunning photographs and art and insignia, a work of love for an aircraft much admired aviation enthusiasts the world over.” -SeapowerHalf Century, Baby! marks the 50th anniversary of the first two Grumman F-14A fleet squadrons (VF-1 and VF-2) receiving their first Tomcats during the summer of 1973. This lavishly illustrated volume tells the story of the aircraft from the beginning to its sunset of service with the US Navy in 2006; the longest operational career of any Naval Fighter to date. Preeminent Tomcat historian and former Tomcat RIO Dave Parsons explains the history of the F-14 decade by decade through the words of the aircrew who flew it. Artist Mads Bangsø brings his superlative illustration talents to the forefront with more than 120 F-14 profiles as well as highly accurate fully rendered recreations historical events featuring the Tomcat, highlighting the interesting markings of the aircraft (including helmets) as well as other aircraft associated with the Tomcat Community. The book features pertinent colour photography throughout, interwoven with the illustrations to complement the text.

When the German army launched Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of the Soviet Union - on June 22, 1941, it was expecting to face and easily defeat outdated and obsolete tanks and for the most part it did, but it also received a nasty shock when it came up against the T-34. With its powerful gun and sloped armour, the T-34 was more than a match for the best German tanks at that time and the Germans regarded it with awe. German Field Marshal von Kleist, who commanded the latter stages of Barbarossa, called it ‘the finest tank in the world’. Using original wartime documents author and historian Peter Samsonov, creator of the Tank Archives blog, explains how the Soviets came to develop what was arguably the war’s most revolutionary tank design.

The West was stunned when the Soviet Union dropped its first atomic bomb in August 1949 and a year later the Korean War showcased Russia’s incredible technological progress in the form of the MiG-15 - a fighter capable of besting anything the RAF had to offer at that time. In the wake of the Second World War, funding for the RAF’s Fighter Command had fallen away dramatically but now there was an urgent need for new jet fighters to meet the threat of Russian bombers head-on. Britain’s top aircraft manufacturers, including Hawker, English Electric, Fairey, Vickers Supermarine, De Havilland, Armstrong Whitworth and Saunders-Roe, set to work on designing powerful supersonic aircraft with all-new guided missile systems capable of meeting a Soviet assault and shooting down high-flying enemy aircraft before they could unleash a devastating nuclear firestorm on British soil.The result was some of the largest, heaviest and most powerful fighter designs the world had ever seen - and a heated debate about whether the behemoths should be built at all as guided weapons became ever more advanced. This is the story of Britain’s secret cold war fighter jet designs, fully illustrated with a host of drawings, illustrations and photographs.

This volume features the street scenes, fashions, road vehicles, adverts, street furniture and of course the trams of Leeds 50 years ago. Over 150 black and white photographs will revive strong memories of times past.

All the vehicles of the BR era to the mid-1990s are described here, from the humble and ubiquitous four-wheelers to the rarer multi-axle monsters. The text is supported by many photographs and almost 150 dimensioned drawings and diagrams. The book also examines and explains the principles of loading and securing, and how those principles were applied to a huge range of traffic.

The first true dining car in the USA was Pullman's 'Delmonico' of 1868 and the concept arrived in Britain 125 years ago in the shape of the Great Northern Railway's ' Prince of Wales' of 1879. Thus was born the unique and magical experience of ' dining at speed' - enjoying a meal served at one's seat while an ever - changing landscape unfolds beyond the window.