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Author Topic: need book recommendations  (Read 444 times)

Offline anonymous

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need book recommendations
« on: September 10, 2004, 02:31:01 PM »
guys i dont know much at all about air combat in world war two. give me three books to read. one on pacific one on europe one on the whole shebang. if you see your recommendation mentioned by someone else mention it again. ill look at the list and see which books mentioned most. thanks for your time.
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Offline Karnak

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« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2004, 02:43:00 PM »
Books don't tend to be that general.

Most of mine are aircraft specific.  Other common books are memoirs or biographies.  Some to look into would be about Erich Hartmann, Adolf Galland, Johnie Johnson, Francis Gabreski, Douglas Bader, Robert Tuck, Saburo Sakai and Bud Anderson.  There are many others too.

There are also various Osprey series books that may be of interest to you.
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Offline Soulyss

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« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2004, 02:46:05 PM »
Are you looking for the cut and dry history A, then B, then C happened?  or something more analytical? Interested in first hand accounts?  There's a lot of bio's written by various pilots that do a good job of conveying what it was like to be there, but their scope is understandibly limited.
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Offline Guppy35

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« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2004, 03:30:30 PM »
Hmmm, you make it tough with only 3 options.

Three that would give you some flavor would be

Steve Birdsell="Flying Buccaneers"  Its a history of the 5th Air Force in the Pacific but gives a real good taste of the airwar there from beginning to end.

Roger Freeman-"The Mighty Eighth"  Covers the 8th Air Force war from England.

Cajus Bekker-"Luftwaffe War Diaries"  A fairly good look at the airwar from the Luftwaffe perspective.


There are tons of others, and as an RAF fan I know I've missed on that with the three titles I gave and that I missed the Soviet side and the Japanese side, but you said 3 titles :)

Dan/Slack
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Offline Pongo

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« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2004, 03:30:46 PM »
Malta 1942: The Spitfire Year.
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Offline Crumpp

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« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2004, 08:22:23 PM »
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Offline MRPLUTO

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« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2004, 08:30:26 PM »
anonymous--

 These are three excellent books worth tracking down and studying.  They aren't from each of the categories you wanted, but so it goes...enjoy.

===================================

Two books by EDWARD H. SIMS

Fighter Tactics and Strategy 1914-1970

The Greatest Aces

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By Norman Franks:  Aircraft Versus Aircraft

===================================


I admit that the first and third books aren't just about WW2, but they mostly are, and make very valuable reading.

 

MRPLUTO
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Offline Crumpp

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« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2004, 08:32:14 PM »
Quote
By Norman Franks: Aircraft Versus Aircraft


Good book.

Crumpp
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Offline Vudak

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« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2004, 11:25:20 PM »
If you have a particular plane you'd like to read up about, check out the "Osprey Aircraft of the Aces" series...  They have numerous titles for just about any plane or theatre (they had 33 titles as of 2003, I believe, so probably have a few more by now).

They are short reads (for example, "Bf109 Aces of North Africa and the Mediterranean" is only 99 pages, start to end of index) But they are interesting.  You can find them at Amazon I'm sure.

- BTW just noticed Karnak already mentioned this, but I gave the full title of the series, so there :p
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Offline Angus

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« Reply #9 on: September 14, 2004, 03:29:18 AM »
For Airwarfare history and tactics in both wars, Simm's book mentioned above is excellent.

Also Johnny Johnson's "Full Circle"
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Offline xHaMmeRx

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« Reply #10 on: September 14, 2004, 07:39:39 AM »
A couple of other good reads are:

"Samurai" by Saburo Sakai (sp?) - Japan's leading ace to survive the war

"The Blonde Knight of Germany" - can't remember the author, but is the biography of Erich Hartmann

"The First and the Last" - autobiography by Adolph Galland but deals very much with the rise and fall of the Luftwaffe from his point of view

"Gunther Rall:  A Memoir" by Gunther Rall

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Offline dtango

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« Reply #11 on: September 14, 2004, 09:30:46 AM »
For the whole shebang - good, digestable read is: Clash of Wings by Walter J. Boyne.  (already mentioned by crumpp).  Great sweeping overview of the different theaters around the world.  Probably one of my favorites.

For a USAAF operations view for the ETO, MTO, and PTO - Winged Victory by Geoffrey Perret.  A little bit dryer reading but again a nice look at the broad picture including air force build-up.

A couple of perrenial favorites for me of specific campaigns:
Miracle at Midway by Gordon W. Prange
The Battle of Britain by Richard Hough and Denis Richards

Tango, XO
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Offline Furball

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« Reply #12 on: September 14, 2004, 12:56:00 PM »
i have a really nice book called "Battles with the luftwaffe" by Janes.

great pilot quotes & pictures.
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Offline Angus

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« Reply #13 on: September 14, 2004, 07:34:42 PM »
How is that big fat book
"Fire in the sky"

About the  Pacific air war
Was at Foyle's and would have bought it if I'd had the money...........
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It was very interesting to carry out the flight trials at Rechlin with the Spitfire and the Hurricane. Both types are very simple to fly compared to our aircraft, and childishly easy to take-off and land. (Werner Mölders)

Offline -MZ-

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Re: need book recommendations
« Reply #14 on: September 14, 2004, 09:12:25 PM »
Paperbacks:

- Eric Hammel, "Aces Against Japan" (and Aces Against Germany)
Nothing but non-stop combat stories from American Aces.

- Saburo Sakai, "Samurai"
One of Japan's top aces tells his stories, including his amazing flight home over hundreds of miles of water after being shot in the head.

- Donald Caldwell, "JG-26"
Great unit history, lots of combat, a microcosm of the rise and fall of the luftwaffe.

Doesn't fit your '3 books' criteria exactly, but these are pretty cheap paperbacks that should be easy to find and all are great reads.
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