Willy Messerschmitt - Pionier der Luftfahrt und des Leichtbaues

"Professor Willy Messerschmitt (1898-1978) was indisputably one of the most significant of Germany's aeronautical design engineers, and the aviation world is indebted to him for a wide variety of forward-looking developments and pioneering solutions to design problems - virtually all of which were based on his maxim: "lighter is better." This book examines Messerschmitt's life as a designer, aircraft builder, and businessman; it begins with the Harth-Messerschmitt gliders (1913-1923), winds its way through the sportplanes of the 1920s and 1930s, the M 18 and M 20 passenger airliners, the Bf 108 Taifun commuter plane, the Bf/Me 109, 110, 210, 410 military aircraft, and continues on to the Me 261, 264, 321, and 323 behemoths, as well as the Me 262 jet powered combat plane and swing-wing P.1101. The activities of the Messerschmitt AG after World War II, with the forced interruption of German aircraft production and Professor Messerschmitt's foreign developments in Spain and Egypt, are also given a thorough treatment. The concluding chapters deal with activities of the Messerschmitt development department in Munich, focusing on the Rotor-Jet convertiplane studies and the establishment of a new development team under the auspices of the Enwicklungsring Süd (EWR) for the VTOL VJ 101. In May 1969 there followed the merger of the Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm GmbH (MBB), today a part of the Deutsche Aerospace AG (DASA). This volume includes detailed data tables for all Messerschmitt aircraft types flown, as well as for numerous drawing-board projects, plus many previously unpublished photos from the archives of Messerschmitt." -- English translation book jacket.