Nest of Eagles: Messerschmitt Production and Flight-Testing at Regensburg 1936-1945

This book offers a unique and highly detailed insight into the workings of one of Nazi Germany's main wartime aircraft production centers - the famous Messerschmitt works at Regensburg as well as the neighboring airfield at Obertraubling. It is illustrated with many rare German photographs of aircraft construction, test-flying and the visits and meetings of key Nazi and Luftwaffe personnel at Regensburg, most of which will not have been seen by an British audience. The Regensburg factory was responsible for the output of some of Germany's key military aircraft during the Second World War, including the Messerschmitt Bf 109, Me 210 and Me 410 fighters, the Me 163 rocket interceptor, the Me 262 jet fighter, and the massive Me 321 and Me 323 'Gigant' series of heavy lift transport aircraft. The factory at Regensburg was built on a green-field site in 1936 following Augsburg's reluctance to allow Messerschmitt to expand his factory there in the light of pressure from the Reich Air Ministry to increase aircraft production. Despite being the target of heavy US bombing raids between 1943-45, the plant produced 170 Bf 109Es, 779 Bf 110s and 34 Me 210s prior to being attacked. Production reached its peak in October 1944, when it built 755 Bf 109 G/Ks out of annual total of 6,318 such aircraft. A further 1,074 fighters were produced in 1945. By drawing on rare company documents and first-hand accounts from factory test-pilots, former Luftwaffe and Messerschmitt personnel, the author explores the factory's origins in the pre-war years, the production and testing of the early and later variants of the famous Bf 109 fighter, the fiasco of the Messerschmitt Me 210 twin-engine heavy fighter which took the company to the edge of bankruptcy, as well as the output of the Komet rocket fighter and the Me 262 jet. There are detailed accounts of Allied air attacks in 1944 and their effects on production; an account of the little-known Regensburg factory defense flight, which, equipped with Bf 109s and flown by civilian test pilots, took on Allied heavy bombers in aerial combat over southern Germany in 1943; and a detailed study of the so-called 'forest factories', the emergency satellite production centers established in nearby forested areas to disperse output and avoid the Allied bombing.

About the Author :
Born in 1952, Peter Schmoll has held an interest in the history of World War 2 since he was a boy. He is presently an area fire chief, responsible for the operations of 52 professional firefighters in southern Germany. His research for Nest of Eagles (originally published in Germany as Messerschmitt-Giganten und der der Fliegerhorst Regensburg-Obertraubling 1936-1945 [2002] and Die Messerschmitt-Werke im Zweiten Weltkrieg [2004]) took several years, during which he corresponded with and interviewed many former eyewitnesses, workers and pilots at the Messerschmitt Regensburg facility, as well as consulting various archives and collections in Germany and the USA.