German Jet Aces of World War 2 (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 17)

The Third Reich's last ditch efforts to sweep the massed Allied bomber formations from the skies of Germany centred around the new crop of jet 'wonder weapons' that were issued to the Jagdwaffe from mid-1944 onwards. Far in advance of anything the Allies had even in the experimental phase, types like the Me 262, He 162, Me 163 and the Ar 234 could perform their combat sorties with relative impunity. However, paucity in numbers and unreliable jet engines eventually cancelled out any technological edge that these aircraft offered.

Hugh Morgan is the Director of an autistic charity based in the Midlands. He has long been fascinated by the aviation world, and has written several very successful titles for Osprey.

John Weal is Osprey's primary Luftwaffe author and artist. He has written, illustrated and/or supplied artwork for several titles in the Aircraft of the Aces series. He owns one of the largest private collections of original German-language literature from World War 2, and his research is firmly based on this huge archive.

Iain Wyllie was one of Britain's leading - and most prolific - aviation cover artists. A native of Northern Ireland, he trained as a naval draughtsman and became a full-time aviation artist in the late 1980s. He has been responsible for creating numerous cover artworks for Osprey Publishing's hugely successful Aircraft of the Aces and Combat Aircraft series since 1994. His artwork is synonymous with originality of subject, intricate detail and technical accuracy.

MIKE CHAPPELL comes from an Aldershot family with British Army connections stretching back several generations. He enlisted as a teenage private in the Royal Hampshire Regiment in 1952 and retired in 1974, as RSM of the 1st Battalion The Wessex Regiment (Rifle Volunteers), after seeing service in Malaya, Cyprus, Swaziland, Libya, Germany, Ulster and home garrisons. He began painting military subjects in 1968 and has gained worldwide popularity as a military illustrator. Mike has written and illustrated many books for Osprey.

Mark Styling is better known to readers of Osprey Publishing's Aircraft of the Aces and Combat Aircraft series as the profile artist for such books as Hellcat Aces of World War 2, Japanese Army Air Force Aces 1937–45 and P–61 Units of World War 2. A full-time commercial artist, Mark works from his home in the East London suburb of Hackney.