Sorry to hear that.
Not to mar his memory in any way (after all, his staying alive and becoming a pilot again is what made him a hero, not the way he was shot down), but do you think the book's account of him being shot down is plausible?
Of course the book never really claimed to be a documentary...
miko
P.S. For people not familliar with soviet culture, the book "The Tale of a Real Man" describing Maresyev's accomplishments was read by practically every child in former Soviet Union.
According to it, during a dogfight Maresyev run out of ammo and one of the german aces was good enough to detect that. Instead of ignoring him or just shooting him down, four german pilots undertook to leave fight and bracket him in order to force him to land on german airfield.
He was just a lowly leutenant and not distinguished in any way, so there was no reason for germans to risk themselves in order to take another prisoner - they had millions of them already.
Since letting an enemy go to fight another day was contrary to real war rules and customs, the german's reluctance to shoot him down could only be explained by their humanity and wish to preserve a human life when they could afford it.
It is certainly possible, but somehow I think it was not the case.
If statistics is something to go by, most likely Maresyev's plane was hit before he knew he was attacked and he ditched in the forest.
Anyway, the story is quite engaging. It also has a love subplot (loosing his legs, the hero is not sure if he should return to his beloved until he proves himself...)
Hard to blame the author for letting his imagination run free in minor details.
I definitely recommend it.
[This message has been edited by miko2d (edited 05-18-2001).]
