[caldrail]

I'm a huge Luftwaffe fan. But I think the RLM was encumbered with Hitler's mania and Udet's poor organisational skills early on.

Hitlers mania was imposed on the RLM, who sometimes tried to persuade their fuhrer away from some of his dafter decisions. Unfortunately, nazi politics were deeply competitive and constant in-fighting between influential individuals within the RLM meant that it was difficult to reach a coherent plan of action. They also seemed easily swayed by some manufacturers and were totally deaf to others.

Before the war, Willy Messerschimtt was offered a seat at a German university in the aerodynamics department. He enquired of the RLM whether he should continue as boss of his own aeroplane manufacture or become a scholar. He was advised to do the latter.

As for Udet, well, maybe he wasn't the best bureaucrat in the world, but he was an excellent pilot. When he finally lost his patience over the wrangling and bitter sniping between adherents of Heinkel 112 and Bf109 prototypes, he stepped in to sort it. He had of course already dismissed the 109, saying it would never make a figher, but having flown it in mock combat and becoming it's most vocal supporter, he ensured the wicked little fighter became the Luftwaffe's principal fighter aeroplane of WW2.

I should also point out that the untimely detah of Wever meant that the leading light of Luftwaffe rearmament (scheduled to be complete in 1942) was absent at the start of the war.

I think many of the "special projects" represented wishful thinking, voracious competitiveness for limited resources and as a result quite a few were not only totally unrealistic, but were never seriously intended to enter production, let alone achieve design goals.

I agree. The projects were mostly paper doodles and represent the cutting edge of designers imaginations, though you have to say some of it was astonishing.

The limited resources are very much the case. It wasn't until the middle of 1944 that German production reached its height, soon to wither under allied air and ground assault. Transports were no longer built. Most of the training schools closed to reintroduce skilled pilots to operational squadrons. Strategic materials were becoming scarce and alternatives were being tried with little success. The factories were being dispersed into woodland camps and salt mines, hardly conducive to quality manufacture, never mind the enforced labour that worked on the products. With the Ploesti oilfields under threat, Germany was forced to make synthetic fuels at sites already targeted by allied bombers.

The thing is though, right up until the end, Germany was producing airframes. It's just that they had few pilots, not enough fuel, and safe means to deliver the aircraft.

[quote]Only G