Mistel -German Composite Aircraft and Operations 1942-1945

E-045: Classic Publication. Very Good. 2001. Hardcover. Hardcover. 4to. Classic Publications, Crowborough, East Sussex, UK. 2001. 288 pgs. Illustrated throughout. First Edition/First Printing. DJ has light shelf-wear present to the DJ extremities. Bound in cloth boards with titles present to the spine and front board. Book is bound upside down. No ownership marks present. Text is clean and free of marks. Binding tight and solid. This is a study of the origins, development and operations of Germany’s composite aircraft during the World War II. Known as the 'Mistel' concept, the designs were originally intended for use in peacetime as a means of extending the range of aircraft, but in 1942 a small team of pilots and engineers adapted the idea for military usage. Comprising Bf 109 or Fw 190 fighters as upper components mounted on top of 'war-weary' Ju 88 airframes fitted with massive hollow-charge warheads replacing their cockpit sections, these extraordinary machines were deployed for the first time off Normandy in July 1944. They were later used in sporadic missions over the Western Front before the Luftwaffe used them in numbers in a last-ditch attempt to try to halt the Soviet advances across the Oder, Warthe and Neisse rivers during the last weeks of the war. EB; 12.0 X 9.2 X 1.1 inches; 288 pages .