Recommended Books

[Feldgrun]

What are books that you would recommend regarding WWII aviation, tactics, pilot biographies, diaries, etc. (in English)? 

[Giggles]

Depends upon thine angle, thine interest. 

And most of all upon your politics.  

 

We have had massive amounts of political correctness and fact changing in books about the war.  And as a result the best ones are the oldest ones.

[Gambit21]

1 hour ago, Feldgrun said:

What are books that you would recommend regarding WWII aviation, tactics, pilot biographies, diaries, etc. (in English)? 

 

Do a search - we’ve discussed this many times.

[Ram399]

59 minutes ago, Giggles said:

We have had massive amounts of political correctness and fact changing in books about the war.  And as a result the best ones are the oldest ones.

Careful now, this has never been the place for political discussion and its currently even less so.
Historians examine, interpret- re-examine, and then re-interpret.  There's nothing wrong with that and it gives us something to do with those near useless degrees.
 

 

1 hour ago, Feldgrun said:

books that you would recommend

Adolf Galland's The First and the Last is pretty good- if only because it was written by Galland himself and provides a unique first hand perspective.

Fire in the Sky by Eric Bergerud is another good one on the air war in the South Pacific, has a bit of everything from historical events to fighter and group tactics.

So far as pilot biographies go my favorite is still Adam Makos' A Higher Call.  It takes some liberties as more of a historical narrative than a biography, but it certainly makes the events and people seem far more alive rather than just words on a page.  Its also just a great story all around.

As for just general WW2 aviation books, the Osprey Combat Aircraft and Osprey Aces series are solid and short- featuring first hand accounts and some nice illustrations on either a unit by unit or aircraft by aircraft basis.  One of my first books on WW2 aviation was their Bf-109 Aces of the Eastern Front which I got ahold of at age 5 or so and thoroughly wore out.
 

[Feathered_IV]

I'm guessing you like books about Germans doing German things that are told from a German point of view?  If so you will certainly enjoy the Stackpole Military History series.  

[Eisenfaustus]

I liked "Allied fighter aces", "Luftwaffe fighter aces" and "Luftwaffe bomber aces" by Mike Spick.

 

The ospray books are also a good start although they sometimes come off a little cheesy. Yet I really liked their warrior series giving a little insight into the training and fighting conditions of various aircrews on all sides.

 

The book that got me really interested in WWII fighter combat to start with was "the blonde knight of germany" yet reading it again not long ago I realized it was also quite cheesy and clearly anti-soviet.

 

"Stuka pilot" by Rudel and "I flew for the Führer" by Knoke are written by hardcore Nazis which clearly reads between the lines of otherwise thrilling autobiographies.

 

Gallands book is good but he is very busy showing that he did everything right and all blame for atrocities as well as military failure lay with Hitler and Göring"

 

The best autobiography I read so far was "The war Diary of Hauptmann Lipfert"

 

Geoffry Wellums "First light" was also a great autobiography of a british fighter pilot.

 

On the history of Americas strategic campaign against Germany I found "Masters of the Air" quite compelling.

[SCG_Tzigy]

Little sampler..

The Big Show
Over Fields of Fire
Stuka Pilot
Thunderbolt!
Alert in the West
To Fly and Fight
Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvering
In Pursuit. A Pilot's Guide to Online Air Combat

[MasterBaiter]

A Higher Call

[percydanvers]

On 3/5/2022 at 11:12 PM, Feldgrun said:

What are books that you would recommend regarding WWII aviation, tactics, pilot biographies, diaries, etc. (in English)? 

 

It's maybe a bit... "basic" but I am personally very much enjoying Osprey's new Dogfight series. It's only two books right now but I'm digging the format. It's a nice sampling of light technical data, tactics and action packed anecdotes. That and the "Aircraft of the Aces" and "Combat Aircraft" series with them can let you take a dip into a particular topic to see if you want to go deeper and more technical. 

 

If you're into the Eastern Front and willing to spend a bit, I've found Black Cross Red Star is a pretty engrossing overview of pretty much everything that was happening in the air over Russia. 

[JimTM]

I highly recommend "A Thousand Shall Fall" by Murray Pedan. Murray was a Canadian bomber pilot who flew Stirlings and then B-17s. The book covers his early training in Canada followed by his experiences flying bomber missions from Britain and later on flying air defence suppression missions in B-17s.

Edited March 11, 2022 by JimTM