Cold War Combat Prototypes

During the Cold War a great many aircraft were built and flown but for various reasons never entered operational service. Some were losers in 'fly-off' competitions, others represented journeys up 'blind alleys' in aircraft development, and others were cancelled on dubious financial and/or political grounds. This book examines in detail the histories of these aircraft, and seeks to answer the following questions: What might the world's air forces be like today, had the aircraft in this book entered service? How much did German wartime design contribute to today's combat aircraft? To what extent did so-called 'experts' influence politicians in canceling major projects? Was Duncan Sandys really responsible for the disastrous planning decisions taken in Great Britain in the late 1950s? Could Great Britain have taken the lead in supersonic flight in 1946 - and kept it? Could supersonic VTOL have become a reality in the 1960s?