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I've found some excellent military aviation books at the Internet Archive site. The first one is Horten Ho 229: Spirit of Thuringia. I have this book and it's an excellent one on the Ho 229 (or Go 229, if you prefer the Gotha nomenclature) and the Horten flying wing developments in general.

If you scroll down a bit you'll see "Download Options". There are many put probably the easiest is to right-click on PDF and save it.

Until recently you had to be a proper aviation nerd to know about this aircraft but now, due to computer games, it's quite famous. I'm a fan of flying wings and it's such a cool looking thing. It also passes the "actually flew in WW2" test...just.

https://archive.org/details/horten-ho-2 ... 8/mode/2up

Here's one for the He 162. This aircraft really demonstrates the state of Nazi Germany in the last year of the war. Some advanced engineering and aerodynamics coupled with shortages, desperation and the ruthless use of slave labour.

https://archive.org/details/docer.tips_ ... -162-spatz.

More Luft 46 stuff...

https://archive.org/details/jet-planes- ... 1-pdfdrive

Luftwaffe ground attackers, real and paper...

https://archive.org/details/luftwaffe-s ... 1/mode/2up

German WW2 helicopters is a very interesting topic. They led the world in helicopter development and discovered how amazingly useful they were. They had plans to mass produce them but Allied bombing kept destroying the production facilities. Unfortunately I can't find an online copy of the utterly brilliant Helicopters of the Third Reich but this seems very good at first glance.

https://archive.org/details/rotorcraft- ... 7/mode/2up

Japanese secret WW2 projects are often forgotten. The Pacific war started with a curious mix of aircraft. Apart from the Zero, which was quite modern (although lacking a powerful engine, self-sealing fuel tanks, armour and structural strength), many aircraft were akin to what would have been frontline European types in 1938 or so.

America was wrongfooted with mostly obsolescent or frankly obsolete aircraft but quickly brought quality stuff like the P-38 Lightning, Hellcat, Corsair and several others to the theatre in numbers. The Japanese struggled to counter these with new aircraft in anything like the numbers required, couldn't keep up with Allied pilot training and had quality control problems. This led them to consider advanced concepts by mid war but the effort basically came to naught. The U.S. was developing advanced aircraft like the B-29 and P-80 as a matter of course.

https://archive.org/details/proyectos-s ... -japoneses

This one is a monster. It's 32 books about the WW2 Luftwaffe in a zipped file of 3.6 GB, so beware. Pretty much everything is covered including fighters, bombers, transport, reconnaissance and campaigns.

https://archive.org/details/Luft2234882 ... 1/mode/2up

Another big one. This has numerous books on individual and groups of Luftwaffe aircraft and is a zipped file of 1.2 GB.

https://archive.org/details/Luft_3/Arado-234/mode/2up

More Jerry stuff

https://archive.org/details/german-airc ... I/mode/2up

A change of pace. The air war in Korea.

https://archive.org/details/korea-air-w ... 5/mode/2up

Cold War U.S. bombers

https://archive.org/details/b-58-hustle ... r/mode/2up

The FW 190. One of my favourites.

https://archive.org/details/fw-190-3/Fw-190_1/mode/2up

British Cold War secret fighter projects.

https://archive.org/details/bsp_20210113

British Cold War bomber projects.

https://archive.org/details/proyectos-s ... itanicos-3

Secret Luftwaffe strategic bomber projects.

https://archive.org/details/proyectos-s ... trategicos

British Cold War hypersonic projects.

https://archive.org/details/proyectos-s ... itanicos-1

I have this in hardcover. It's very good. Flying wing projects. Right...that should keep you going for a bit

https://archive.org/details/psav_20200512

It's interesting to see how everyone learned you needed tricycle gear on a jet. I remember reading test pilots had to step on the brakes to get the tail up before it could leave the runway with the two wheel configuration on the Me262.

Great post. So much to read.

Lobster wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 2:42 pm It's interesting to see how everyone learned you needed tricycle gear on a jet. I remember reading test pilots had to step on the brakes to get the tail up before it could leave the runway with the two wheel configuration on the Me262.

Great post. So much to read.

My pleasure. I haven't read the vast majority of this stuff yet. Although I have some of the actual books, I only found these today.

Taildraggers were the default undercarriage until the late 1930s because they were simple, light and probably the best for the unpaved airfields that were common then. Accidents were common though, as pilots couldn't see very well, especially as the engines got bigger. So tricycle u/c was being adopted in newer designs, like the P-38 and P-39, despite a small weight penalty. Without a big prop on the front, jets could also have a shorter u/c, so a tricycle arrangement was a total no-brainer, even without aerodynamic considerations. The Me 262's engines were below the wing, meaning its u/c was a bit longer.

Wow, Christmas in July!

Thanks for the sackful of presents Neilster!