During World War 2, Hitlers engineers had pioneered an incredible array of futuristic secret weapons, from the Me 262, the first operational jet fighter, to the deadly V2 inter-continental ballistic missile. With the Third Reich shattered and lying in ruins, in the summer of 1945, the Allies launched a frantic race to grab what they saw as the justifiable spoils of war. The Americans and Russians in particular were anxious to secure not only the aircraft and the research and production facilities, but also the key German scientists and engineers. This Nazi technology would define the balance of power in the phoney peace of the Cold War era, launching an arms race that shaped our modern world for decades to come. But what of Britains role in this supermarket sweep. The Race for Hitlers X-Planes tells the untold story of the British mission to Germany. JOHN CHRISTOPHER was originally trained as a graphic designer and became a professional balloon pilot just over 20 years ago. He now splits his time between the flying, working with airships, and writing on all aspects of transportation, but particularly aviation. This began with a 12-year stint as the editor of Aerostat, the main ballooning journal, and has led on to the publication of 16 books so far. Through his flying he has travelled extensively throughout Europe and to other parts of the world, and once spent six months flying among the temples in the Bagan region of Burma. - See more at: http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/the-race-for-hitlers-x-planes.htmlN.sthash.XDFw07eo.dpuf