Just like the British did during WWII, the Germans also made use of any of their enemies aircraft that were not too damaged after being either forced down through some mechanical/electrical problem, or in some cases through the faulty navigation or bad weather by some allied aircrew, during what were the stressful times of WWII.
Many of the allied aircraft that the Germans were able to get hold of, which were also able to be got back flying again, showed the ingenuity needed to repair what were sometimes aircraft that the crews had crashlanded, after being damaged by either anti-aircraft fire, or some fighter attack.
When an aircraft was able to be got back to a flyable state the Germans used them to provide them with more information as to the technical and performance abilities of their enemy's aircraft designers and engineers. Sometimes even small increases in performance and other technical improvements to their fighter, bomber, and other types of aircraft, all provided the Germans with information that helped their own aircraft designers and technicians in the ever increasing demands for faster, more powerful and manoueverable aircraft, with bombers also being fitted with more and more accurate methods of not only navigation but also in aiming their bombs so that they landed nearer to the target than was often admitted.
Whilst the Germans managed to get a number of the enemy aircraft that crashed or landed in their territory into airworthy condition, it was also the careful investigation of wrecked aircraft that sometimes gave them far more information and clues as to the advancement in electronics, radio, and radar systems that the allied boffins were putting into their aircraft, which was done mainly to combat the technological advancements that were also being made by the Germans, in their fight against the ever growing strength of the allied aircraft ranged against them.
This book has quite a number of very interesting photos and articles, detailing where, when, and how certain allied aircraft came to be flown by some of their top test and operational pilots, with the aircraft being adorned with the symbols worn by the aircraft of the Luftwaffe. The pilots flying these enemy aircraft were tasked to see as to how each particular type of aircraft was able to perform, and to discover both its good points, though mainly those faults that would allow a German pilot to gain the edge over his opponent during when they might meet one of these aircraft in battle.
The British also flew a number of German aircraft, with some crashed aircraft on British soil able to be repaired, and then flown by specially selected pilots, who like the Germans would provided the information on that aircrafts good and bad points. This book is one that will be a valuable piece of WWII military aviation reference to those interested in this subject, but be warned, it is a book that is hard to put down once one starts to read it, and realise as to just what went on when the enemy managed to get hold of more than a smouldering aircraft wreck that didn't resemble anything that looked like the aircraft that it once had been.
