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The first operational military jet in the world, towards the end of the Second World War the ME 262 was to be the German ‘miracle weapon’. Mano Ziegler was involved from its inception and contributed to the design, testing, and training and even served in it operationally.

Could the ME 262 have broken the Allied supremacy in the air? Why did it take so long to come into service and why were hundreds of German pilots sacrificed in developing it? Why did the ME 262 prove not to be the unparalleled success claimed by Goering and why were German cities left dangerously exposed against Allied bombing campaigns? These are only some the important questions this new book answers.

Mano Ziegler, born 7 June 1908, had a lifetime fascination with flight. At the age of eight, he wrote to Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, the famous ‘Red Baron’, asking to be allowed to fly with him. Richthofen even replied, telling him, ‘Yes, we'll fly together!’ When war broke out in 1939 he became a pilot in the Luftwaffe, and from 1943 until the war's end, he flew the Me 163.