Jet Planes of the Third Reich: The Secret Projects, Volume One by Manfred Griehl

Book: Jet Planes of the Third Reich: The Secret Projects Volume 1
Author: Manfred Griehl
Company: Monogram Aviation Publications
Cost: $50 Canadian, on sale
ISBN: 0-91414-36-7
Copyright: 1998

Modelers, as a group, tend to want to know every single thing there is about a particular subject, vehicle or battle. Let's face it, modelers are, to put it bluntly, obsessed with the details. A good number of modelers agonize over the hues of decals and paints, the authenticity of markings, and the placement of warning labels; we painstakingly spending hours pouring over photographs, walking around the real object of our curiosity, shooting hundreds of pictures or digging into government archives to find out as much as we can about whatever it is we're building.

To this satisfy the hardcore modelers' nearly pathological need for information, there are a vast number of increasingly specialized publications available. However, what happens when a modeler's taste turns beyond the esoteric? What happens if we want to build planes that NEVER EVEN EXISTED? Where is it possible to find good diagrams, colour schemes and information about performance, armament and weights?

Well, if you're like me, and your particular passion is WWII Luftwaffe experimental projects, then you look no further than Monogram's excellent Jet Planes of the Third Reich: The Secret Projects Volume 1. It seems that within the last decade there has been an upsurge in interest in what has become known as Luft '46. The term Luft 46 embodies all the secret projects and design studies associated with the Luftwaffe's efforts to produce ever faster, more advanced aircraft in the closing years of WWII. Jets, rockets, turboprops, missiles - everything related to the future of aerial warfare as seen by German aircraft designers, scientists and RLM officials falls under this broad blanket. For many, there is a fascination with the unknown, and building a model of a plane that is at once both historical and futuristic is the ultimate rush.

The problem, of course, has been finding reliable information about the aircraft projects. As with anything related to Nazi Germany, it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, and there has been a lot of misinformation surrounding German projects in the past. There are numerous websites dedicated to the subject, but unfortunately many of them are closer to conspiracy theory sites than legitimate modeling resources. The best website out there is the excellently researched and (to my eyes, at least) propaganda-free www.luft46.com, which deserves at least a visit from everyone with even a passing interest in the subject.
However nice the internet may be, it's still not the same as a book. You can easily take a book on vacation. A book doesn't need batteries, and you can take it anywhere and guarantee it will boot up correctly. Unfortunately, print resources dealing with Luft '46 projects are few and far between, and many that do exist cannot justify their hefty price tag and thin content.

I am glad to report that Mr. Griehl's efforts in Jet Planes of the Third Reich: The Secret Projects Volume 1 go a very great distance in correcting this problem. This book, which I will henceforth refer to simply as SPV1, is among the very best resources that the Luft '46 modeler and enthusiast can hope to obtain.

SPV1 is the first of two volumes (and contains the full Chapter 1 and at least part of Chapter 2). The first chapter contains an exhaustive breakdown and description of all Luft '46 fighter projects, while Chapter 2 contains some information about Zerstorers. There are other chapters that cover night fighters and transports, but they're in the second volume, SPV2.

The book opens with several forwards and introductions from a number of individuals, including the author and a fellow who worked and Blohm and Voss during the war. Following this is a short introduction to the subject of German aeronautical industry, and the structure of the Luftwaffe high command. The rest of the book contains descriptions of various projects undertaken by the German aircraft industry throughout the war.

Chapter 1 makes up the bulk of the information presented in SPV1. It contains an exhaustive breakdown of single and multi-engined single-seat reaction engined fighter projects. I use the term 'reaction engined' because the text includes aircraft that were to be powered by jets, rockets, turboprops, pulsejets and ramjets. The breadth and depth of the coverage afforded in this chapter is truly amazing.

The informative text is supported in most cases by photographs of mockups, or wind tunnel models, where available. Line drawings are plentiful, and there are a number of excellent technical drawings of the Ho IX/Go 229 flying wing near the middle of the book. In many cases, artist's conceptions of the various aircraft are included to give the designs 'life,' and allow the reader to see what an operational aircraft might have looked like. These paintings are not only well done, but priceless for those who are looking for paint schemes for their models.

That leads me directly to a problem that can plague this kind of book. I have seen a number of secret project type books that present a lot of model photos. Clearly, as a modeler myself, I'm not against someone wanting to display their kits. However, I don't want to pay for it, and I feel it greatly reduces the credibility of a book to rely heavily on either actual kits or computer generated 3-D renderings to fill picture space. Thankfully, SPV 1 doesn't fall into this trap. There are a few model pictures, but they are small in number compared to photos and paintings, and that's acceptable. This fact alone was what made me decide to buy the book.

In addition to the high quality artwork, those who are truly into this subject will appreciate the technical charts at the back of the book that outline the performance and armaments specs for the various projects, organized by company and colour coded for easy reading. This is another feature often left out of other such works. A comprehensive index is found at the very end of this book, and is of immense use.