While World War II raged, pioneering aircraft and engine designers were busy developing the world's first practical jet-powered research aircraft to test and prove the new technology. This book exami

As Europe plunged into World War II, Hitler ordered the development of a hi-tech secret weapon capable of taking the war across the Atlantic - the Messerschmitt Me 264. Chosen from designs for an 'Am

Of the many futuristic military aircraft concepts created in the 1950s the North American XB-70 still stands out as the most awe-inspiring. With its huge, white partially-folding delta wing, its fuse

Half a century before the 'flying wing' B-2 stealth bomber entered service, John K. ‘Jack' Northrop was already developing prototypes of a large 'flying wing' strategic bomber, which would have been

At the dawn of the supersonic jet age, aircraft designers were forced to devise radical new planforms that suited the new power of the jet engine. One of the most successful was the delta wing. Al

The XB-40 and XB-41 were secret, little-known experimental modifications of the B-17F and B-24D, respectively, into heavily-armed bomber gunships sometimes referred to as "bomber escorters”. They wer

The Dornier Do 335 was conceived as a high-speed, all-weather fighter, and represented the pinnacle of piston-engined aircraft design. The Do 335 was a big aircraft, weighing just over 10,000kg when

The TSR2 is one of the greatest 'what-if' aircraft of the Cold War, whose cancellation still generates anger and controversy among aviation fans. It was a magnificent, cutting-edge aircraft, one of t

Even before the spectacular success of its X-1 rocket-powered aircraft in breaking the ‘sound barrier', the adventurous Bell Aircraft Corporation was already pushing ahead with a parallel project to