This is a very interesting book about the start of the German aviation industry written by Willi Polte, a World War I fighter pilot who went on to become a pioneer in the early days of what is now the national airline of Germany, Lufthansa. While the name Willi Polte is not well-known, the amazing fact is that by June 1932 he had already flown a million kilometers for Lufthansa and he could call himself a Luftmillionäre!

The title Und wir sind doch geflogen! roughly translates as "We Flew Against All Odds!". The foreword is by Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch who describes the difficult years in German aviation following World War I with the Treaty of Versailles sanctions against Germany and the decimation of its military. And, how with the help of pilots like Oberst Willi Polte, German aviation was slowly rebuilt and that with every flight aviators like Polte helped to re-establish Germany as a great National Socialist flying nation.

Author and famous pilot Willi Polte describes the end of his World War I flying career in November 1918, transporting mail in 1919 using converted World War I airplanes, working for the Deutsche Luft-Reederei (which later became Lufthansa), flying adventures to the Ukraine and Russia, crashing in Lithuania, testing new airplanes for Junkers, the new German-Russian Air Traffic Association and trips to Moscow from 1922 onwards, participation in the second FAI international touring aircraft contest in 1930 and other famous air competitions later in the 1930s, expanding the Lufthansa air network to the Far East and Africa in the 1930s, experimental flights for Hermann Goering in 1933 and 1934, flying to Cape Town in a Ju52, and many other adventures.

The rare 5-¼ x 7-½ inch, 356 page hard cover book contains many unique photos of Polte, the airplanes he flew, Hermann Göring, Erhard Milch, Polte's ID for his trip to China, Polte and Milch in Rome, Polte playing cards with Milch and Reichsminister Hanns Kerrl in the Balkans and snapshots from his expeditions to Sudan, China and many other far-away destinations.

This fascinating Nazi aviation history book was published by Verlag C. Bertelsmann of Gütersloh in 1941. It is in very good condition.

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