Too little, too late -- On the drawing board -- Test flights -- In the field -- Competition and innovation -- The stormbird takes wing -- A questionable political decision -- First encounters -- Challenges of the jet -- Night and day -- Fighting the fighters -- Fighting the bombers -- Kommando Mowotny -- The death of Nowotny -- Kommando Nowotny carries on -- Victories in the face of defeat -- Allied forces fight back -- The last death throes of JG-7 -- Galland and the squadron of experts -- The loss of Steinhoff -- Back in the air -- Galland's last mission -- The end of the war and JV-44 -- Operations Lusty and Paperclip : the post-war scramble for jets -- Appendix 1 : "My last mission / by Joe Petersbur -- Appendix 2 : German ranks and medals -- Appendix 3 -- Additional ME 262 data