He.1000

Signed and dated on the half title page by

Dr Ernst Heinkel

With best wishes! 
Ernst Heinkel
August 1956

Hutchinson First Edition, first printing 1956.  287 pages and well illustrated with photos.

The book is in Fine condition with bright red cloth covers. It is clean, tight and bright with the slightest hint of spotting to the endpapers and page edges. The clipped dustjacket is in Near Fine condition with some small closed tears and a touch of loss at the corners. The dramatic and colourful jacket is hard to find in decent condition and this is a lovely example which looks smart in its protective cover. 

Dr Ernst Heinkel was an aviation pioneer making his first flight in 1911 in a self built machine.  With little training and no experience, he proved to be a designer of genius, building sea planes and bombers (the 3 engine Gotha) for the German and Austrian navies in WW1.  By the late ’30s he was making successful attacks on the World Speed Records. He pioneered the world’s first rocket engine and turbo-jet engine aircraft to successfully fly as well as designing and building some  impressive multi-engine bomber and transport aircraft. The book also illuminates the chaotic conditions at the heart of the Luftwaffe during WWII and describes his relationships with the political and military figures of Nazi Germany.

In July 1945 Heinkel was captured and was sent to Farnborough for interrogation by the British. After de-Nazification and with Germany forbidden from manufacturing aircraft by the Allies, Heinkel used his company’s facilities to build private transportation including scooters and his famous bubble car. He published his autobiography ‘Stürmisches Leben’, in 1956 and the same year was translated into English as ‘He 1000′ in its British edition and ‘Stormy Life: Memoirs of a Pioneer of the Air Age’ in its US edition.  Heinkel died in 1958 but in 1981 his reputation as a pioneer led to him being inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

An important and collectable aviation book with the clear and rare signature of one of the world’s best known aircraft designers.