The Luftwaffe blazed a trail during World War II with some of the most advanced aviation technology the world had seen. America was left desperately playing catch-up, using a combination of information gleaned from defectors, battlefield trophies and combat crew reports to help them understand the German technology in the skies above Europe. This book explores these American efforts to uncover the secrets of the Luftwaffe and reveals how the race into Germany at the end of the war further fuelled technology advances that were to become central to the space race and need for aviation dominance throughout the Cold War.