Aviation books: historical and fiction

[Das Attorney]

I'm looking to get a book about Hartmann's life. I was trawling the wiki pages about WWII aces and the guy has had one of the most interesting life stories I have read up on - aviation or not.

I've a couple of books on Amazon;

German Fighter Ace Erich Hartmann: The Life Story of the World's Highest Scoring Ace

The Blond Knight of Germany

Can anyone recommend one of these (or a different one I haven't heard of)?

BTW - I'm over in the UK and don't speak other languages (much to my discredit) so books must be in English only I'm afraid.

Thanks

[Sternjaeger II]

I have The Blond Knight of Germany, definitely a great read!

I actually have two copies: a paperback and a first edition with Hartmann's and writers autographs

[5./JG27.Farber]

Dont get Blonde Knight of Germany. The first 2 chapters are the authors knoshing each other off about how well they know Erich Hartmann... The book is repetative and I believe the co-authors (it took two of them to write one book) wrote the book in seperate buildings let alone seperate rooms! Its like they both wrote the book and then used the best chapters from each... They have to recap when ever they reiterate an incident in his life. Its like an American program where they recap after the break... Its annoying!

Seriously, its bad. The bits in it by Hartmann (which are miniscule) are golden but the rest of it besides some skeches and pictures is just pulp... However around the last 40% of the book about his captivity in Soviet Russia for 11 years is worth reading and is proberbly the least known part of Hartmann...

I think there is one whole chapter in about a Russian Ace where the book just goes of on a tangent.

You could proberbly pick up a second hand (nearly new) one for less than a tenner and see for yourself.



Its the only Hartmann book I have, however I would recommend:

German Fighter Ace
Hans-Joachim Marseille
by
Franz Kurowski

This book is out of print? Its fairley expensive but extremley high quality and a good read. It was about 70 but I got mine for £40.00 Its A4 Hardback with glossed pages on some serious paper, almost like card. Lots of photo's and no messing around. Franz Kurowski is a pen name, he has written allot of books including some for children. The reason he used various pen names was because he was a DAK soldier. He was there in Arica and sometimes does detract into the ground war and conditions although this is a welcome addition to the book in setting the scene and conditions. Especially in the view of the situation at the front.

and also

Stuka Pilot
by
Rudel.

This book gives a good view of the Eastern Front and the highest decorated soldier in the Whermacht.


I would definatley recommend:

Luftwaffe Fighter Aces
by
Mike Spick.

A great all round view of the Luftwaffe with some comparisons of other air forces. It looks at things differently and focus's on many different areas not just day fighting.



I write reviews on the books I read for my unit who in turn do the same. Unfortunatley the old reviews seem to be on our old forums and cannot be retrieved. Only the last book review I did can which is this:

STUKA PILOT
The war memoirs of Hans Ulrich Rudel
by Han Ulrich Rudel

First Impressions:

This book doesnt not mess around. The first chapter covers his childhood inspiration to be an airman. After which we are straight into business. The book is translated straight from German and this is evident in some of the words chosen and structure of the sentences. Sometimes but not often, this makes it a little hard to read. However one soon picks up the pace on these perculiar sentences and it become allot less of a problem. The book itself is A5 size with some picture pages but mostly text. It is unique in the fact it was written by himself whereas the other books I have reviewed for you are written by others.


What sets this book apart:

Rudel was the most decorated Soldier in the Whermacht- bar none. If this alone does not make it worth a read I dont know what will.


Over all:

This book is great and is a great insight into the man, the missions and the Eastern front. I did not finish the book disliking Rudel like I did with the book on Rommel that I reviewed earlier. He is an officer though and through and took great care of his men. Rudel is not a boaster, he takes everything in his stride. He does not make a big deal out of virtually anything, even when it is suspected his rear gunner or he himself maneavuer kills a russian Ace or sinks a battle cruiser. There is very little if any political leanings in the book considering Rudel tried after the war to start a political party simular to the NSDAP. Rudel was a professional soldier and always went beyond the call of duty for his sense of duty to his country and his fellow airmen. Even when he was prohibeted from flying at least three times by Hitler and Goring and even after loosing a leg to a bofors, he continued to serve his country. My only annoyance is that some things as usually with these books are translated in to English which I do not understand , like ranks and unit names. Other thatn that its good.

I really liked the book and would recommend it.

ISBN: 978-1-84768-000-6


All of this is of course my opinion

On another note, if anyone reading this is interested in history and the Luftwaffe we are recruiting like minded people for both 5./JG27 and 9./ZG26. We are European Squadron with members from Arizona to Finland from the ages of 18 to 62 (sorry Weiss). You can find out more about us and apply here: http://www.5jg27.net/

[335th_GRAthos]

Thanks 5./JG27.Farber




~S~

[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by 5./JG27.Farber

Dont get Blonde Knight of Germany. The first 2 chapters are the authors knoshing each other off about how well they know Erich Hartmann... The book is repetative and I believe the co-authors (it took two of them to write one book) wrote the book in seperate buildings let alone seperate rooms! Its like they both wrote the book and then used the best chapters from each... They have to recap when ever they reiterate an incident in his life. Its like an American program where they recap after the break... Its annoying!

Seriously, its bad. The bits in it by Hartmann (which are miniscule) are golden but the rest of it besides some skeches and pictures is just pulp... However around the last 40% of the book about his captivity in Soviet Russia for 11 years is worth reading and is proberbly the least known part of Hartmann...

I think there is one whole chapter in about a Russian Ace where the book just goes of on a tangent.

You could proberbly pick up a second hand (nearly new) one for less than a tenner and see for yourself.

dude I dunno what you expect from a pilot's bio... it's still a great read, even by today's standards, because it covers the whole career of the pilot as a whole. What were you expecting "aerial victory report x 352"? It's a very well written book with a lot of interesting insights on Hartmann the pilot and the man.
It might not have reached your expectations (whichever they are), but to say it's seriously bad is ludicrous to say the least

[5./JG27.Farber]

Read what you have quoted, I didnt say it was all bad. It has some good points which you have quoted from my post but its not a great book.

This is my Opinion! - as I stated at the bottom of my post. Everyone is entitled to their own.

[csThor]

That "Blonde Knight of Germany" is a horrible Cold War abonimation aimed mainly at the US population of the 60s and 70s to show just how bad the big bad Russkies are and how gallant their german opponents were. You can read it, but you need to be aware of this Cold War background and underlying intention all the time.
I don't think there is another bio of Hartmann ATM and most of the older literature on the Luftwaffe is pretty much the same as above. Here in Germany we call that the "justification books". There are a few modern bios on Luftwaffe pilots, most notably Christer Bergström's "Graf & Grislawski" which is bounds and leaps above those "ancient" tomes.

[5./JG27.Farber]

Originally Posted by csThor

...Here in Germany we call that the "justification books"....There are a few modern bios on Luftwaffe pilots, most notably Christer Bergström's "Graf & Grislawski"

I will have to remember that! At £102.00 I wont be getting it soon. Which is a shame because all the reviews on Amazon are really good for it.

[JG52Uther]

Originally Posted by csThor

There are a few modern bios on Luftwaffe pilots, most notably Christer Bergström's "Graf & Grislawski" which is bounds and leaps above those "ancient" tomes.

THIS is the book to get. Fantastic book.

[Majo]

Salutes,

A new book about de FW 190 has hit the stands.

"Focke Wulf FW190 Volume 1" by the well known authors about German aircraft J. Richard Smith and Eddie J. Creek.

Please can someone give me some feedback about the book since it seems that the publishers are Ian Publishing
and I already have quite a few books about the subject from the same house and others?

Thank you in advance.

Majo.