Me262: Hitler's Jet Plane

Mano Ziegler, born on 7 June 1908, had a lifetime fascination with flight. At the age of eight, he wrote to Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, the famous ‘Red Baron’, asking to be allowed to fly with him. Remarkably, Richthofen replied, telling him, “Yes, we’ll fly together!”. When war broke out in 1939, Ziegler became a pilot in the Luftwaffe, and from 1943 to the war’s end, he flew the Me 163 with Jagdgeschwader 400. After the war, Ziegler escaped from Russian captivity and – having returned to Berlin – continued to fly and write newspaper articles. His arresting account of the Me 262 fills a crucial gap in the history of the Luftwaffe and of aviation in general.