Reading the very interesting chapter about Lippisch's W-wing concepts it seems obvious that Convair's tailles concepts with forward swept wings of late 1945 and early 1946 like the XA-44 and its heavy fighter derivate were at least influenced by his work. Btw, Convair became Lippisch's employer in the US.
Luftwaffe: Secret Projects of the Third Reich by Dan Sharp
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athpilot
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And my preorder-list gets longer... 
www.mortonsbooks.co.uk
P.S.: Dan I don´t want to bother, but if I had a wish, I would like to see the Hü-211 in this series (or more genarl about Hütters projects). I know, you don´t want to for reasons, but...
MESSERSCHMITT ME 262: DEVELOPMENT AND POLITICS | Mortons Books
Book - Messerschmitt Me 262: Development and Politics
P.S.: Dan I don´t want to bother, but if I had a wish, I would like to see the Hü-211 in this series (or more genarl about Hütters projects). I know, you don´t want to for reasons, but...
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There is a later presentation Zobel gave to the German Academy of Aviation that has this;
I wonder if it influenced Hoerner at Messerschmitt who came up with something similar months later.
Pasoleati
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What is the format (size) of this series?Just saw (and preorderd) this:
View attachment 620920
SIGNED - SECRET PROJECTS OF THE LUFTWAFFE: BLOHM & VOSS BV 155 | Mortons Books
Book - Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe: Blohm & Voss BV 155
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It is typical Mortons "bookazine" format, A4 size and typically 130 pages plus thin paper covers, around 4 mm or 1/4" thick.
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Pretty sure I saw what I described in WH Smith's, but now I check out the Mortons "Book shop" page it is showing lots of forthcoming titles at higher prices, including both the individual series at &12.99 and what look like updated versions of the thematic Luftwaffe Secret series at £27.50. So now I really don't know what is going on either.
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Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe: Blohm & Voss BV 155 is being uploaded to the printers today. It's 116 pages long, softback and measures 248mm x 184mm (so a little smaller than a bookazine). The price is £12.99 or $19.99 in the US.
It's basically the full story of the BV 155's development, beginning with the Me 409 and encompassing the Me 155, Me 209, P 1091, Me 155 B, B&V P 205, BV 155 C-1 etc. It's also different from the only other BV 155 book in existence (1990's Monogram Close-Up 20 Blohm & Voss 155 by Thomas H. Hitchcock) and most other 'secret projects' books in being fully annotated with every source document used listed (of which there are about 140). The historical account of the BV 155 is based almost entirely on those documents rather than information from other people's books and as such it's about as definitive as I think it is possible to get.
Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe: Heinkel He 162 is the same format (although the exactly number of pages has yet to be decided). This is about half written and explores the development and project versions of the He 162 in detail. Again, every source document used will be cited in the notes.
Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe: Messerschmitt Me 262 is also the same format and is about the project versions, rather than the service career, of the Me 262. While I have all the material I need for this, I haven't started writing it yet.
Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe Volume 1: Jet Fighters is also about half written. The format is 288mm x 222mm, hardback with 250+ pages and the price is indeed £27.50.
It takes the original material from Luftwaffe: Secret Jets of the Third Reich and corrects it with all the new information I've accumulated over the last five years. It also includes all the material I've written about jet fighter projects in all the other volumes of Luftwaffe: Secret - slotting them into the overall development history. There will be new previously unseen material included too (so it's not simply an updated compilation of previously seen stuff). Like the other books, this will include annotations referencing all sources used - so skeptical readers can see where everything came from and that nothing is made up or based on flimsy information from old books and magazine articles.
Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe Volume 2: Bombers is the same format as Volume 1 and is in a similar state to Me 262, in that I have everything I need for it but haven't yet started writing it. The development history of German bomber projects during WW2 will be updated from my original Luftwaffe: Secret Bombers bookazine and again there will be additional bits added from the other Luftwaffe: Secret titles plus new material and source references.
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Thanks for the clarification!
I don't suppose there's any chance that the extra material and corrections in the bigger volumes might find its way into another bookazine? Having spent around £45 on the six issues to date, it'd be nice to round the set off rather than buy much of it all over again. The bookazine would probably reach a different market from the hardbacks, too. ~~~~
I don't suppose there's any chance that the extra material and corrections in the bigger volumes might find its way into another bookazine? Having spent around £45 on the six issues to date, it'd be nice to round the set off rather than buy much of it all over again. The bookazine would probably reach a different market from the hardbacks, too. ~~~~
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In recent times I've been asked for a compilation of previous bookazines or a hardback version of Luftwaffe: Secret Jets. Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe Volume 1: Jet Fighters is intended to accomplish both of these goals. It presents a much more complete picture of jet fighter development, correcting the errors of Luftwaffe: Secret Jets, providing new material and making the images from Luftwaffe: Secret Jets available again (in much better quality in some cases) without having to reprint the inaccuracies of that volume again. Wouldn't you prefer that to a straight reprint of Luftwaffe: Secret Jets in hardback form for £27.50? I could've done that instead - I was asked to do that instead - and it would have saved me a lot of time and effort. The price would have been the same because you're paying for the format.
As for bookazines, I still have plenty of unpublished material that isn't jet fighters - although my next one will probably be Luftwaffe: Secret Focke-Wulf Fighters, encompassing jets and piston engine fighters (and combinations thereof).
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Yes, absolutely, for the books you have done us all proud. If these two volumes do not become classics there is no justice in this world.
That will no doubt please F-W enthusiasts but for me it is a big break from the broadly requirement-focused format of the main series and a reversion to the well-worn manufacturer-focused format, it would be a different series.
I was thinking more of being able to buy an Issue 7, to complete the original series as it were, covering the new information for a mere £8.99 and 7 mm of shelf space rather than £27.50 and maybe 20 mm of space. It would be as well as the books, in no way a substitute. I am part of that market which has to watch the pennies and the lower price is a lot more attractive for buyers in my position (as I am sure you and Morton's are well aware). Repurposing information for multiple formats/outlets is becoming more common these days, so I was just hoping....
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Leaving aside the profiles bookazine, the series has already been split in two. The first three each covered a themed timeline - jet fighters, bombers and flying wings/tailless types - whereas the latter two each featured lots of separate little histories - 23 of them in Luftwaffe: Secret Designs and 32 (!) in Luftwaffe: Secret Projects. Doing Focke-Wulf fighters would be a return, for me, to the earlier format and give me a chance to follow a single thread in detail rather than constantly chopping and changing across different roles and manufacturers.
I probably have enough material for another odds and ends volume but that just feels less exciting to me at the moment than digging into Focke-Wulf and explaining aspects of development such as the Ta 153/152 in detail. As GTX knows, I have some interesting information about those designs which overturns many of the previously written histories. There's more to say, too, about the Ta 154 and developments of the Fw 190 itself such as the A-10 and the many different engine variations that were tried.
I've not signed a bookazine contract yet for 2020, however, as I'm presently working on the various books I've mentioned.
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Damping your enthusiasm is definitely a bad Idea. I'll try to save up the pennies, then.
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I really hope that you publish good copies of that '45 ta-183 schematic that you've posted snippets of. I started to make a 3d model of the 183 not too long ago, only to give up when I realized that the only real focke-wulf drawings I had were from october. Bentley and siengfield gunter published redraws of the those feburary(?) plans but they are lacking in a lot of details and some parts aren't in agreement with each other. It'd be nice to have the originals, even if they are really dirty, so I can get the right loft lines for the upper fuselage. Which is a detail most other 3d models of the 183 get wrong.
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Remind me - which snippets did I post? I have a lot of drawings...
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This is what you've posted snippets of;
Radinger/Schick say the V-4 was finalized on Feb 25 and this is pretty close to that date. There are numerous differences between this and most of the ta-183 drawings out there. I'd also assume there may be some later drawings than this - in particular the more conventional tail planned for testing on the II/183.
Radinger/Schick say the V-4 was finalized on Feb 25 and this is pretty close to that date. There are numerous differences between this and most of the ta-183 drawings out there. I'd also assume there may be some later drawings than this - in particular the more conventional tail planned for testing on the II/183.
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Here's the rest of that version of the drawing. I have another version kicking around somewhere which I think is in better condition. According to a Focke-Wulf production schedule I have dated March 20, 1945, work on creating the drawings for the Ta 183 V4 wasn't due to start until June 18, 1945. I've never seen any drawings showing the conventional tail of Projekt Mittelhuber (aka 'Entwurf III') fitted to Projekt Multhopp (aka 'Entwurf II', aka Huckebein). But there are later construction blueprints for the latter's T-tail.
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finally readed all the bookazine and I must congrat Dan Sharp for them because they are verry great in term of quality+I like how he correct the error he make/or complete his previous work in the next bookazine. Overall I like the use of the original document and the 3d view that got introduced in the luftwaffe secret design of the third reich ,it help to visualise the project . My only real complani would be that sometimes the pic are too small but beside ,the bookazine are great and inspiring for my model (+they help me to improve my understanding for english)
aerospace
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Unfortunately, I have found the article only now. The Heinkel P1074 project I published is by no means a "what-if", but the information comes from a Heinkel report written for Soviet authorities in 1945 after the end of the war. How many different versions of the P1074 there were in total is unfortunately unknown to me. There are always things to discover that were previously unknown - that's what makes aviation history so much fun!
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Since this
Since this is a thread about my book, I'll bite. The 'X-Projeckte' design in question was originally shown in a German magazine as a 'redrawing' only, courtesy of Uwe W. Jack (see below).
Looking at the list of Heinkel projects produced for the Americans at Penzig shortly after the war (also reproduced below), which I photographed at the Imperial War Museum, the P 1074 is shown as "Jaeger (1u. 2 mot. Druckschr.) 2 x Otto". This would appear to suggest that the fighter in question had two engines. The fighter shown by Mr Jack, and in the two drawings from an unknown 'Russian' source shown by @aerospace only has one.
Had the verifiable description of P 1074 matched the drawings exactly in terms of configuration, it would seem more likely that they were genuinely a representation of Heinkel's wartime P 1074.
The material that appears in my books is based on verifiable archival sources unless otherwise clearly stated. I make a point of doing this in order to avoid the kind of steady decent into fantasy that has overtaken other publications on this subject.
The Russian material that appears in my He 162 book, for example, clearly diverges at least a little from the actual wartime documents produced by Heinkel, and this is discussed. The postwar P 1078 designs too are somewhat suspect since they are wildly different from what was presented as P 1078 during wartime.
So what to make of this 'P 1074'? It seems to me that it might be genuine... or it might not. We don't know the source of the Russian documents (unless someone would care to enlighten me?) and that immediately raises doubts. The drawing configuration doesn't match the only known verifiable source on the P 1074, which raises further doubts. But it's not impossible that whoever produced these Heinkel designs for the Soviets (and we don't know who it was, or when they were producing them) created a faithful rendering of a wartime P 1074 variant that only had a single engine for some reason.
Had I been faced with the question of whether to publish it, I might have done so with strong disclaimers as to its unknown origin and variance from the known facts. I would have shown the 'original' drawings and not bothered with a 'redrawing'. The design shown in @aerospace's two renderings has no scale associated with it, but the redrawing asks us to accept that it has been drawn precisely to scale - that this is 'fact' and not someone's best guess. Unless there is another drawing we've not seen, this is perhaps an example of 'speculative' design.
Since this is a thread about my book, I'll bite. The 'X-Projeckte' design in question was originally shown in a German magazine as a 'redrawing' only, courtesy of Uwe W. Jack (see below).
Looking at the list of Heinkel projects produced for the Americans at Penzig shortly after the war (also reproduced below), which I photographed at the Imperial War Museum, the P 1074 is shown as "Jaeger (1u. 2 mot. Druckschr.) 2 x Otto". This would appear to suggest that the fighter in question had two engines. The fighter shown by Mr Jack, and in the two drawings from an unknown 'Russian' source shown by @aerospace only has one.
Had the verifiable description of P 1074 matched the drawings exactly in terms of configuration, it would seem more likely that they were genuinely a representation of Heinkel's wartime P 1074.
The material that appears in my books is based on verifiable archival sources unless otherwise clearly stated. I make a point of doing this in order to avoid the kind of steady decent into fantasy that has overtaken other publications on this subject.
The Russian material that appears in my He 162 book, for example, clearly diverges at least a little from the actual wartime documents produced by Heinkel, and this is discussed. The postwar P 1078 designs too are somewhat suspect since they are wildly different from what was presented as P 1078 during wartime.
So what to make of this 'P 1074'? It seems to me that it might be genuine... or it might not. We don't know the source of the Russian documents (unless someone would care to enlighten me?) and that immediately raises doubts. The drawing configuration doesn't match the only known verifiable source on the P 1074, which raises further doubts. But it's not impossible that whoever produced these Heinkel designs for the Soviets (and we don't know who it was, or when they were producing them) created a faithful rendering of a wartime P 1074 variant that only had a single engine for some reason.
Had I been faced with the question of whether to publish it, I might have done so with strong disclaimers as to its unknown origin and variance from the known facts. I would have shown the 'original' drawings and not bothered with a 'redrawing'. The design shown in @aerospace's two renderings has no scale associated with it, but the redrawing asks us to accept that it has been drawn precisely to scale - that this is 'fact' and not someone's best guess. Unless there is another drawing we've not seen, this is perhaps an example of 'speculative' design.
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I wonder about the mid to late war projects and those delivered to the winners, how much was pure fantasy to make the folk respionsible safe from being conscripted to a fighting organisation and/or a concerntration camp/gulag. The wunderwaffe topic actually has huge monetary balue which is why I wonder at the slow drip, drip, drip of so called facts.
Until professionals like Dan and others here write it, I have to decline belief.
Until professionals like Dan and others here write it, I have to decline belief.
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