ww2 aviation books

[hurricane]

a couple of months ago popey recomended reading 'piece of cake' by derek robinson.i'm not finished with it yet so i dont' want to offer up an opinion but i will say it is is not a put you to sleep quickly type of book.any other recomended books from the IL2 crowd?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piece_of_Cake_(novel

[flynlion]

"Samurai" by Saburo Sakai, "First and the Last" by Adolf Galland and "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller are 3 that come to mind right away. There's dozens of others

"Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason is a must read for Vietnam era helicopter stuff.

[Robotic Pope]

If you want more of Hornet squadron and Robinson's black humor mixed with rather graphic combat, Then I can recomend the sequel "A good clean Fight" where they are now in the sahara desert, flying Tomahawks. Unlike Piece of cake, you also hear the story from the Luftwaffe and Afrika Korps point of view, aswell as the SAS patrol that they are hunting.
I've only read those two of his. I keep meaning to read Robinson's WWI books but can never decide what order to read them in (There are 2 prequels to his first book "Goshawk Squadron").

For another WWII fiction you can't get much better than Len Deighton's "Bomber". An epic story about Lancaster crews, German night fighters, and inocent German civilians in a night of hell.

If you prefer some non-fictional epicness (haha even says epic on the cover) then "Vulcan 607" by Rowland White is where its at. Its about the first retaliation strike against the Argentines in the Falklands war, and how in hell do you get an almost retired high altitude bomber designed in the 1940's, to the other side of the planet to do a low level attack on an airfield while avoiding modern SAMs, when the aircraft has no in flight refueling capability and the crew has no training in those areas. Then add a very stormy night to the unbeleiveableness. Its a must read.

I've got a few more that I'll post later.

[bobbysocks]

actually i have been reading "The Poltava Affair" by Glenn Infield. it is a book about the "shuttle" missions to the USSR and is very enlightening in many ways. the shuttle missions where where the US took B 17s and/or 24 off from italy and the uk...escorted by mustangs to bomb targets deep in axis territory. its not full of daring and edge of seat excitement but will show the dynamics of the "allies" and ....well, i will let you decide. you can probably find the book cheap....i got it of a co-worker whop bought it at a second hand store for pennies. but it is a worthwhile read.

[RuffMonk]

Well if you're looking for pure historical information, then I'd have to suggest the Eastern Front air battle series by Christer Bergstrom which I used to generate my Battle of Stalingrad historical missions. They go into GREAT detail about the aerial engagements as well as the ground battles as well! They are full of great illustrations and actual WWII photos throughout the entire read for each book. I've only read the first three however, but I can only imagine that the last is just as good though.

- Barbarossa: The Air Battle: July - December 1941
- Stalingrad: The Air Battle: November 1942 - January 1943
- Kursk: The Air Battle: July 1943
- Bagration to Berlin: The Final Air Battles in the East 1944 - 1945

Another great read for historical information which I'm currently using for my Sicily series is "Messerschmidts Over Sicily" by Johannes Steinhoff which chronicles his brief stint in the Mediterranean. It's based off of the war diary he kept while serving with the Luftwaffe and is very descriptive and well written.

Lastly, again for purely historical information would be the "Air War Chronology, 1939 - 1945" by Myron J. Smith Jr. which is a volume of books that I think is supposed to cover every documented aerial engagement in all theaters during WWII. I stumbled across a portion of this series in a University library while looking for historical sources in which to base my Sicily series upon. It breaks down each day of the war by theater and then gives a brief overview of the engagement which includes the aircraft that were involved, the action they took and in some case the response from the opponent. For example here is one entry that I'm using for the second battle in my historical series:

July 4 1943
Mediterranean 11579) Escorted by 1st and 14th FG P-38s, US 2nd, 97th, 99th and 301st BG (H) B-17s assail Gerbini aerodrome.

[olife]

hello guys!

nice tfread!

my favorites ,i recommend :

1-"le grand cirque"("the big show")by pierre clostermann ,first french ace of ww2 in the RAF .
2-"feux du ciel" by pierre clostermann too
3-"until the end with ours messerschmmitts" by adolf galland

[MATALIEBRES]

This weekend I was thinking of reading "I flew for the Fuhrer '(ich für den Führer Flucht) by Heinz Knoke, greeting friends.

[WildBoar44]

Try these from various Authors...all a very good read

"Gun Button to Fire"...............Tom Neil DFC ****
"Hurricane Combat"................ K W Mackenzie DFC AFC *****
"Ginger Lacey , Fighter Pilot.....Richard Bickers ( Must) *****
"Tail Gunner".........................R C Rival DFC ***
"Rear Gunner Pathfinders".......Ron Smith DFM ****
"Tumult in the Clouds"............LT-Col James A Goodson ( P51's ) *****
"Enemy Coast Ahead"............Guy Gibson VC ************ !!!!
"The Last Enemy"...................Richard Hillary ****
"Reach for the Sky's...............Paul Brickhill *****
"Eagles Wings "....................Hajo Herrmann ( Luftwaffe) ***


Just my ratings.... * = Poor.............. ***** = Brilliant

[WildBoar44]

Originally Posted by olife

hello guys!

nice tfread!

my favorites ,i recommend :

1-"le grand cirque"("the big show")by pierre clostermann ,first french ace of ww2 in the RAF .
2-"feux du ciel" by pierre clostermann too
3-"until the end with ours messerschmmitts" by adolf galland

Olife-....... Monsieur Pierre Clostermann DFC volé Typhoons avec 247, 56 et 3 e Escadron de la RAF ... Vous pouvez me téléphoner et lire son livre à moi par téléphone dans votre acsent française de fierté pour mon histoire de temps de lit s'il vous plaît! Lol!


Olife- ....... Mr Pierre Clostermann D.F.C flew Typhoons with 247 , 56 and 3 Squadron RAF... You can ring me up and read his book to me over the phone in your proud French acsent for my bed time story please !! Lol !

[Robotic Pope]

Originally Posted by Robotic Pope

If you want more of Hornet squadron and Robinson's black humor mixed with rather graphic combat, Then I can recomend the sequel "A good clean Fight" where they are now in the sahara desert, flying Tomahawks. Unlike Piece of cake, you also hear the story from the Luftwaffe and Afrika Korps point of view, aswell as the SAS patrol that they are hunting.
I've only read those two of his. I keep meaning to read Robinson's WWI books but can never decide what order to read them in (There are 2 prequels to his first book "Goshawk Squadron").

For another WWII fiction you can't get much better than Len Deighton's "Bomber". An epic story about Lancaster crews, German night fighters, and inocent German civilians in a night of hell.

If you prefer some non-fictional epicness (haha even says epic on the cover) then "Vulcan 607" by Rowland White is where its at. Its about the first retaliation strike against the Argentines in the Falklands war, and how in hell do you get an almost retired high altitude bomber designed in the 1940's, to the other side of the planet to do a low level attack on an airfield while avoiding modern SAMs, when the aircraft has no in flight refueling capability and the crew has no training in those areas. Then add a very stormy night to the unbeleiveableness. Its a must read.

I've got a few more that I'll post later.

A radio dramatisation of "Bomber" is being aired on BBC radio 4 extra this friday. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017...sodes/upcoming