My essay topic will explore how policy implemented by leaders of the Luftwaffe may have led to its downfall in the Second World War.
So far I have one source, Luftwaffe: A History by Harold Faber, and my three-angled argument is based on how the Luftwaffe failed to prioritize (in regards to it's focus on being the 'flying artillery' of the Heer), it failed to adapt like its enemies in each front, and that it failed to innovate (I read somewhere that they didn't use any new aircraft designs until the latter parts of the war when it was too late, and that the ju-52 had been over a decade old by the end of the war).
Based on that, I'm wondering if my angles of investigation are solid, and if I can be pointed to some more sources that would help back my arguments up.
Thank you in advance.
It might be worth considering the wider economic and strategic issues of the Luftwaffe, much like Germany as a whole, geared to a short war of conquest (bolstered by early successes) rather than a sustained, industrial war of attrition, thus focused heavily on front-line combat numbers at the expense of reserves and training, underpinning many subsequent problems. The production of shorter range tactical bombers rather than long range four engine types, for example, was driven in part by the simple fact that more could be built, raw numbers being more impressive to Hitler and Göring than theoretical capability.
Regarding new designs, perhaps "failed to successfully innovate" might be a slightly better way of phrasing it as there were efforts to introduce new aircraft. With a proliferation of types in service, partly due to the numbers craze, there was an attempt to streamline production just before the war to focus on the Bf 109, Ju 88, Me 210 and He 177; the latter two types suffered from painfully protracted development programmes, entering service late and in small numbers. With the exception of the Fw 190 it's hard to think of a truly successful new type entering service until 1944, leaving the Luftwaffe dependent on pre-war (though generally improved) designs such as the Bf 109 and Bf 110, He 111, Ju 87, Ju 88 and, as you say, the Ju 52. By the time jet and rocket aircraft reached squadrons the situation in terms of fuel, materials and numbers of trained pilots largely negated their wider impact.
For sources, Williamson Murray's [Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe 1933 - 1945] (http://www.au.af.mil/au/aupress/digital/pdf/book/b_0012_murray_strategy_for_defeat.pdf) and E. R. Hooton's The Luftwaffe: A Complete History, 1933-45 are good overviews. Adam Tooze's The Wages of Destruction looks at the German economy, putting the Luftwaffe into a wider context, or to focus in more specifically on aircraft manufacturing there's Daniel Uziel's Arming the Luftwaffe: The German Aviation Industry in World War II.