The rise and fall of the Luftwaffe: The life of Field Marshal Erhard Milch

Irving met Erhard Milch in Dusseldorf in the late 1960's, and admits that he was intrigued by the life of this old man who was once Gorings Deputy, the second most powerful man in the German Air Ministry, the chief architect and mobiliser of the Luftwaffe, a Field Marshal and the man Hitler said knew more about aviation than any other in Germany.
It is obvious that Irving respected and liked Milch (you don't spend four years researching someone's life if you don't respect them and I doubt you can spend four years with someone without ending up liking them) The feeling was mutual as Milch gave all his diaries and notebooks to Irving. It is natural then to expect this book to be the most authoritative, well researched and detailed account of Milch's life. That it is. It is also one of the best histories of the Luftwaffe. The book tells the story of the Luftwaffe from the earliest days with the formation of the Air Ministry in 1933 through to its eventual defeat. Defeat was not by way of battle or any specific incident but was indicated by the Luftwaffe's impotence and total inability to stop the massive allied bombing raids on the Reich beginning in late 1943.
Wheras the story of the Luftwaffe is about Milch and Goring it's also about others such as Ernst Udet and aircraft designers such as Willy Messerschmitt and Ernest Heinkel. It's about the successful planes Messerschmitt Bf109, Focke Wulf 190, Junkers 87 (Stuka) and the abject failures such as the Me 210 and He 177. There is discussion of those great 'might have beens' such as the Dornier 355 (front and rear, push-pull design) and perhaps the greatest example of a design that was too little, too late - the Me 262 jet fighter. Armaments, radar, production quotas, innovations and secret projects are all mentioned. So is the politics and infighting (such as the dislike that Milch and Messerschmitt had for each other) and the inefficiencies, bureaucracy and meddling that characterised the Air Ministry. If you have an interest in the Luftwaffe then this is a good item to add to your collection.