Messerschmitt Me 264 Amerika Bomber -- Osprey X-Planes No.2

ov-101

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by Robert Forsyth (Author), Jim Laurier (Illustrator), Gareth Hector (Illustrator)

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 "Amerika Bomber" tendered by Messerschmitt, Junkers, and Focke-Wulf, this ultra-long-range aircraft would be capable of attacking cities in the United States. Just one month before the attack on Pearl Harbor and the American entry into World War II, Hitler was promising, privately, to wage a "new war" against the USA after his victories in Europe. Dazzling digital artwork and 50 rare archival photographs perfectly complement the detailed analysis offered by Robert Forsyth as he examines the development, intended role, and influence of the aircraft that Hitler planned to use to bomb New York City.

Series: X-Planes
Paperback: 80 pages
Publisher: Osprey Publishing (September 20, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1472814673
ISBN-13: 978-1472814678
 

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Oh good information!! Thanks a lot. :D
 
What's Osprey X-Planes No.1? Did I miss something?

Also, I'd love to know whether this has been revised and updated from the original version, published 10 years ago. If it's got new stuff in, I'll bite.
 
newsdeskdan said:
What's Osprey X-Planes No.1? Did I miss something?

Also, I'd love to know whether this has been revised and updated from the original version, published 10 years ago. If it's got new stuff in, I'll bite.

Osprey X-Planes No.1--Bell X-1
 
ov-101 said:
newsdeskdan said:
What's Osprey X-Planes No.1? Did I miss something?

Also, I'd love to know whether this has been revised and updated from the original version, published 10 years ago. If it's got new stuff in, I'll bite.

Osprey X-Planes No.1--Bell X-1

Ah - thanks!
 
So this book deal with mainly Me264B six engine Amerika bomber?
 
blackkite said:
So this book deal with mainly Me264B six engine Amerika bomber?

No, assuming it's based on the earlier book, it's a general look at the Me 264, covering all versions. To be fair, the Me 264 was originally conceived as a long-range bomber with only four engines. Its apparently simple and relatively lightweight design is how it won the competition against much larger and heavier Focke-Wulf and Junkers designs. Unfortunately, Messerschmitt's victory was based on inaccurate figures. The Me 264 actually couldn't do what Messerschmitt had promised and would not have been able to reach America and come back. When the RLM realised its mistake - having carried out due diligence on the stats supplied by Messerschmitt - the long-range bomber competition had to be run again.
Messerschmitt was in the embarrassing position of having partially completed the first prototype of an aircraft that was no longer the leading contender to meet the specification. In essence, the Me 264 prototypes as-built were the unfortunate result of a mathematical error.
 
Oh thanks a lot.
Messerschmitt did a mistake again!!! :eek:
Anyway I need this book. ;)
 
blackkite said:
Oh thanks a lot.
Messerschmitt did a mistake again!!! :eek:
Anyway I need this book. ;)

Yes, Messerschmitt seem to have been masters of the overly optimistic performance estimate...
 
To be published on September 22 to come...
 
Yup, got that. But sometimes the publish dates in one country are quite a bit later than in others - US vs UK, for instance. So, perhaps some folks live in places where it's been on the shelves earlier than what Amazon US has it listed at.
 
My copy of this arrived today. It is, as expected, essentially a stripped back summary of what appears in 2006's Messerschmitt Me 264 Amerika Bomber: The Luftwaffe's Lost Transatlantic Bomber. In some ways, however, this actually works in the title's favour. The more compact format means what was a slightly rambling tale becomes much more tightly focused and concentrated on the most important points.
Just as the blurb says, the text is well-written and authoritative. Forsyth is still rather kind to the Me 264 and Messerschmitt in general though, lightly passing over the small matter of the firm's horrendous distance calculation mistake on p16 (which meant the whole competition had to be run again, wasting months of valuable time) and barely referencing the fact that series production of the Me 264 was cancelled outright in mid-1943 on p60. And it must be mentioned that the erroneous information about the Arado E 470 that appears in the original book (sourced from Griehl and Herwig - who both misunderstood the nature of the project) has been carried over.
The pared back choice of images is well made and the new artwork from Gareth Hector and Jim Laurier is lovely. If you're looking for an easy reference guide to the Me 264, this book has more than enough material to satisfy at a very reasonable price.
 

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