That the heavy fighters were called zerstorer (destroyers) was emblematic of the confidence the Germans placed in their heavy fighters. They were considered the elite of the Luftwaffe arm, and they ...

In the mid-1930s, Nazi Germany had a problem. Its twin-engined medium bombers, such as the Heinkel 111, had a range of perhaps 1,500 miles. However, the Luftwaffe’s single-engined fighter plane, the ...