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This was the Enemy: The Luftwaffe 1945, by Charles E. MacKay
WWII Aviation

This was the Enemy: The Luftwaffe 1945

Charles E. MacKay: Glasgow aviation historian, not the Victorian poet Charles Mackay (1814-1889).

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Paperback | A5, 148 by 210 millimetres | 387 grams packed for post
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Catalogue record

Published
8 May 2025
Publisher
Charles E. MacKay Books
Pages
288
Format
Paperback
Size
A5, 148 by 210 millimetres
ISBN
9781838056780

Cite this book

MacKay, Charles E. (2025). This was the Enemy: The Luftwaffe 1945. ISBN 9781838056780. https://charlesmackaybooks.com/books/enemy-luftwaffe-1945

About this book

This was the Enemy

the Luftwaffe 1945 ISBN 9781838056780

This is the first volume in the series. 288 pages, profusely illustrated with many unknown and rare illustrations.

Starts at 1919, includes co-operation with the Soviet Union at Lipetsk, designed to circumvent the Versailles Treaty

Gives an account of the rebirth of the German Air Force as the Luftwaffe covering organisation and planning.

Commences with the Condor Legion in Spain in 1936 with newly researched statistics on how the campaign was organised. It looks at the controversy of Guernica and the return of the Legion to Germany in 1939 under von Richthofen.

Then the war with Poland is described, the intrusion into Norway and Denmark, the campaign in western Europe and the demise of France. The Luftwaffe met its match in the Royal Air Force and actions from Norway to the Battle of Britain in September 1940 are fully described.

The aircraft companies are mentioned as is the development of the German piston aero-engine and Gas Turbines. This includes Jumo, BMW and Heinkel Hirth gas turbines and the failed work of von Ohain and Max Hahn.

The appendix covers armament and the U-234 being captured with Ulrich Kessler in the Atlantic in May 1945 and Heinkel with his Nazi tendencies.

Highly recommended for the enthusiast and general reader alike.

Frequently asked questions

What does The Luftwaffe 1945 cover?

It is the first volume of This Was the Enemy. It starts in 1919 with the secret co-operation with the Soviet Union at Lipetsk, follows the rebirth of the Luftwaffe and the Condor Legion in Spain, then the campaigns of 1939 and 1940 through to the Battle of Britain, and covers the aircraft companies and the development of German piston aero-engines and gas turbines.

How did Germany rebuild its air force after Versailles and test tactics in Spain?

In 288 A5 pages (ISBN 9781838056780), Volume One traces the clandestine German fighter-pilot school at Lipetsk in the Soviet Union, agreed in 1925, the secret organisation of the Luftwaffe, and the Condor Legion's 1936-1939 campaign in the Spanish Civil War including Guernica, Wolfram von Richthofen and newly researched statistics on how the campaign was organised.

What aero-engine, gas turbine, and late-war naval intelligence topics are included?

Alongside the campaigns in Poland, Norway, Denmark, France, and the Battle of Britain in 1940, the book examines German piston aero-engines, Junkers Jumo, BMW, and Heinkel-Hirth gas turbines, Hans von Ohain and Max Hahn's early turbojets, and the May 1945 Atlantic capture of submarine U-234 carrying Luftwaffe General Ulrich Kessler.

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In the same series: This Was the Enemy

  1. Vol.
    1
    This was the Enemy: The Luftwaffe 1945
    This book
    £12.89
  2. Vol.
    2
    NewThis Was the Enemy Volume Two: Aeroplanes, Armament, Bombs, Downfall
    288 pages · 2025
    £12.89
  3. Vol.
    3
    NewThis Was The Enemy Volume Three: Supplement
    218 pages · 2026
    £15.03
  4. In the
    series
    NewThe Fedden Mission to Germany Final Report
    214 pages · 2026
    £14.95

See the whole This Was the Enemy series

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