Despite the Allied authorities' ban on research, countless aircraft were designed and tested by the Luftwaffe and German manufacturers before World War II. The research went ahead at secret evaluation sites in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the USSR. After the outbreak of war this work continued. Many projects remained on the drawing board or at prototype stage because they were deemed unsuitable. In other cases the developers simply ran out of time or the Allied campaign blocked the supply of crucial raw materials. Aviation expert Manfred Griehl has painstakingly assembled a valuable selection of images which shows the remarkable range of projects dreamed up by German designers. Had these innovative projects ever been realised, the course of World War II could have been drastically different. Book jacket.