Description
Author: Karl Ludvigsen, ISBN: ISBN: 9781783030194, Hardcover, Published in 2014, 286 pages
The Secret Life of Legendary Engineer Ferdinand Porsche Who Armed Two Belligerents Through Four Decades
Regarded as one of the great automotive engineers of the twentieth century, Ferdinand Porsche is well remembered today for his remarkable automotive designs including the Volkswagen Beetle and Auto Union Grand Prix cars. Yet there is another side to his extraordinary career, for he was an equally inventive designer of military vehicles and machinery. In this field too he excelled. Indeed the sheer versatility of his contribution is astonishing. Karl Ludvigsen's study is the definitive guide.
Porsche's work for the military spanned the first half of the twentieth century, from the early 1900s and through the First World War, when he was managing director of Austro Daimler, and the 1920s and 1930s when he was deeply involved in military engineering projects for Mercedes-Benz and others. Throughout the Second World War he was one of the key designers to whom Adolf Hitler turned when he sought a decisive advantage on the battlefield.
Karl Ludvigsen tells the complete story, detailing Porsche's relations with the Third Reich and the stream of advanced designs he was responsible for. Among them were the Kiibelwagen, the Schwimmwagen, the Type 100 Leopard tank, the controversial Ferdinand tank destroyer and the colossal Type 205 Maus tank. He also describes Porsche's creative work on aero engines, tank engines and even his manufacture of the V-1 flying bomb, for which he designed a turbojet engine.
Luclvigsen's account confirms the pre-eminence of Ferdinand Porsche as a brilliant and prolific engineer, one of the most remarkable of his generation.
About the Author:
KARL LUDVIGSEN is a world-renowned and prize-winning historian and author with over fifty books to his credit. He has made in-depth studies of the cars and histories of Volkswagen, Corvette, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz as well as the careers of leading Grand Prix drivers and designers. A former vice-president of Ford of Europe, Ludvigsen has had a life-long interest in engineering and military history. Among his most notable publications are Porsche: Excellence Was Expected, Battle for the Beetle and Cohn Chapman: Inside the Innovator.
