What are your reading/watching/listening suggestions?

[Trav02]

9./JG 54 was having a bit of a discussion on various books, documentaries, etc on the inbound leg last FSO.
Figured I'd start a topic here, I'd be interested to see what this group of people has to say.

Would either recommend or am working through:

WW2 Books
A Higher Call-Adam Makos - Franz Stigler & Charlie Brown, the pilot who would not shoot down a crippled B-17 and escorted it to the coast
Spearhead-Adam Makos-an interesting read on the Allied & Axis Armour battles after D-day, told from the perspective of crew members
Lone Wolf-Andy Saunders- about Hurricane nightfighter pilot Richard Stevens- an interesting pilot who scored 14 kills at night on eyesight only
Flyboys-James Bradley- about 5 US naval aviators that were shot down over Chici Jima, their brutal treatment, and the subsequent war crimes trial & discovery of the case. Digs into the cultural background of both sides of the Pacific war, the brutality on both sides is clear but it does a great job of helping you understand both perspectives.
Ordinary Men - Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland-Cristopher R. Browning-a reserve unit participating in deportations, ghetto clearings, & firing squads. An interesting but grim case in the dynamics of the power of the group.

Tactics
Fighter Combat-Robert Shaw

General military
A Rumor of War- Philip Caputo-memoir of a Marine lieutenant in Vietnam in 67. Conveys the frustration & psychological effects well.
Fry the Brain-A history of urban sniping-John West
War of the Flea-The Classical Study of Guerilla Warfare

Throw in whatever you have!

[Maverick]

I read a few books, autobiography and biography of Patton. His own writings are a good read.
Also A Helmet For My Pillow.
Team Yankee

[Devil 505]

"The Final Hours" by Johannes Steinhoff

It dovetails nicely with the later chapters of "A Higher Call"

Steinhoff's other book, "Messerschmitts Over Sicily" is also really good, but he only refers to Goering by his actual name and for anyone else either changes their name or refers to them only by rank/job position.

[Mongoose]

If the subject is WWII:

"The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom
Tale of a family that helped hide Jews from the Germans.

For movies, "Downfall". 
Hitler's rant from this movie is often done as a parody, but nothing beats the real thing.

"Schindler's List"

For something a little more fun, "It's A Wonderful Life".  I love Bedford Falls.

[hazmatt]

Stuka Pilot by Hans Rudel

Fighter Pilot by Robin Olds

[Eagler]

I have a very nice copy of Fighter Combat-Robert Shaw if someone wants to pickup shipping it is theirs

Ho ho ho 

Eagler

[Eagler]

My copy has been claimed 

I have a bunch of other books,  some prints, die-cast planes, etc..I will be getting rid of right after Christmas (post office is getting crazy) ..some unique and hard to find..I will post them here before they go to ebay

Eagler

[Professor_Fate]

My signed 1947 copy of Admiral Halsey’s Story.  Pretty much the whole book reads like a SITREP.

“May 17th While Standing down River, an aeroplane did some wonderful stunts. Would head right for us, and when it looked as if he could not miss our bridge, would gracefully skim just over the mast. Got about 200 feet above us and looped the loop, the first time I seen it done.

How time and experience changes one’s point of view! Here I was fascinated by what I would later recognize all too well as “flat-hatting.” The most dangerous time in a pilots career is when he first begins to feel confidence in his flying ability: he has the world by the tail; no maneuver is too difficult for him to perform. The casualties caused by his exuberance of youth, or—to give it its proper name— criminal foolishness, run into the thousands. ‘There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.”  If I had ever caught one of my South Pacific or Third Fleet pilots “gracefully skimming just over the masts,” I would have grounded him for life.”

[Brooke]

One book I've recently read that I thought was fascinating is JFK and the Unspeakable, by Douglass.

Also, I'm reading the series Tales from the Gas Station, by Townsend.  It's fantasy/horror/comedy.  A great story, great narrator (as I'm listening to audiobook), and hilarious in parts (without being campy).

For WWII stuff that I thought was awesome but that is less well known:
The Bravest Man (WWII sub combat)
The Wrong Stuff (flying B-17's in Europe)

[hazmatt]

My signed 1947 copy of Admiral Halsey’s Story.  Pretty much the whole book reads like a SITREP.

“May 17th While Standing down River, an aeroplane did some wonderful stunts. Would head right for us, and when it looked as if he could not miss our bridge, would gracefully skim just over the mast. Got about 200 feet above us and looped the loop, the first time I seen it done.

How time and experience changes one’s point of view! Here I was fascinated by what I would later recognize all too well as “flat-hatting.” The most dangerous time in a pilots career is when he first begins to feel confidence in his flying ability: he has the world by the tail; no maneuver is too difficult for him to perform. The casualties caused by his exuberance of youth, or—to give it its proper name— criminal foolishness, run into the thousands. ‘There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.”  If I had ever caught one of my South Pacific or Third Fleet pilots “gracefully skimming just over the masts,” I would have grounded him for life.”

I found it fascinating when I read that General Galland refrained from victory rolls at low alt due to concerns about airframe damage sustained in combat. Maybe that had something to do with him being old when he died?

[Lusche]

For movies: Definitely NOT 'Napoleon' 

[Meatwad]

Just bought Bomber Pilot by Philip Ardery, since just recently discovering that my grandpas B24 was in one of the stories in there.

https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/aircraft/42-40787

Raines, Lewis H. - S/Sgt. - He was a waist gunner

[oboe]

Found this book at the local library.  Very good read, and recent, too - published in 2020.

[hazmatt]

I know these aren't exactly reading/watching/listening suggestions but I thought these experiences might be worth sharing. I can't verify the authenticity of what I was told. I'm just repeating it as I remember it over 30 years ago.

There was an old marine corps pilot I met in a bar in San Diego once who had a self published book that I bought from him there that sadly I've lost with time.
He said he flew with "Gramps" (he said the movies called him Pappy) and had some very interesting stories like: "Flying 300 miles over open ocean, using dead reckoning, to drop a message on a Navy ship. How they made ice cream and other stuff that probably will never happen again. He didn't have anything bad to say about "Gramps" but when I asked him if it was true that he was a drunk, he thought for a second and said "yep" and then changed the subject.
I'm sure he's long gone but I was lucky to meet him as a youngster when I was stationed at  NASNI and happened to sit down beside him in a bar in Coronado.

I met a crew of a B-17 that had bailed out over Germany and had a reunion in San Diego. They were going on a tour of the USS Ranger and lucky for me, I was their tour guide. I think I asked them more questions then they asked me. A couple things I learned from them were that you didn't have to be "hit" by the flack to get shot down. The shrapnel knocked holes in the engines and hydraulic lines and caused all sorts of mayhem. Also they said that they were more concerned about being captured by the German people then the Luftwaffe/Heer as the people had very bad opinion of bomber crews.

I also met a 51 pilot (I think it was in the VFW) not long after I got out and as I recall he wasn't very chatty. The two things I recall that he said were: 51 is good as long as you keep it fast, and, we dropped a lot of bombs. (he said this more then once, almost as if it haunted him) He didn't seem comfortable talking about it so we didn't.

And I just remembered I chatted with a P-38 pilot. I don't recall much of the detail of our conversation or where it was, other then he said that there were certain alts that we impossible to fly formation with a 38 because the turbosuperchargers kept kicking in and out and that they weren't exactly the same even on the same plane. I'm pretty sure he told me the alt range but I've lost this detail with time.

[Trav02]

Interesting, thanks, Hazmatt! If anyone else has experiences to share or talk about, I'd very much like to hear them!