The First and the Last

And we know that everything that came after it, every jet that has ever lifted off a runway anywhere in the world carries some piece of what those engineers built.

Sources for today's story include Adolf Galland's own memoir, The First and the Last, which is essential reading for anyone interested in the Luftwaffe.

Jeffrey Ethel and Alfred Price wrote the definitive account of early jet combat in World War II fighting jets.

And John Foreman and S.E. Harvey's research into Jagdverband 44 fills in the final chapter.

Think about the angel pushing Galland through the German sky.

Think about the question Hitler asked at that demonstration, and what the world might look like today if he had simply said, "Build me a fighter." Much of what I covered today draws from Richard Hallion's work on the history of jet aviation, the archives at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, and Adolf Galland's own memoir, The First and the Last.

Find more at radiohangar.com. I'm Taildragger.

Keep the blue side up.