Looking for suggestions on good WWII pilot books

Timppa · Dec 27, 2020

vikingBerserker said:
That book appears to be more fiction than non.

I disagree. Now that I have all three volumes of Shores's book on 2nd TAF, I find that none of the events in Clostermanns' book is pure fiction. At least I cannot prove that.
There are errors in names, victories, losses, exaggerations etc, which is understandable. Shores himself wrote that the 2nd TAF loss data is incomplete, especially regarding the planes.
I'll post some of the encounters later. Stay tuned.

zeamerseagerbeavers · Mar 27, 2021

vikingBerserker said:
and Lucky 666: The Impossible Mission by Drury (an amazing recon mission).

Lucky 666 is a good read but its mangled history makes it borderline fiction. I expand on that more here: A good start veers into confused, alternative history

buffnut453 · Mar 27, 2021

"First Light" by Geoffrey Wellum is one of my all-time favourites. Not only is it an unflinching account of a ypung fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain, it is also beautifully written.

pbehn · Mar 27, 2021

buffnut453 said:
"First Light" by Geoffrey Wellum is one of my all-time favourites. Not only is it an unflinching account of a ypung fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain, it is also beautifully written.

Edit, his verbal description of being a young squadron leader with a whole squadron lost over the Med. not knowing what to do but having to do something conveyed the whole desperation of the war at that time. His hand written memoir which was made into "First Light" which is followed by "the story of how a boy became a man in the skies above Britain".

Thumpalumpacus · Mar 28, 2021

Most of it is devoted to bombers and not fighters, but Gerald Astor's The Mighty Eighth has first-person reportage from 8AF fighter pilots too, in their own words, as an oral history.

Nige Black Country UK · Mar 27, 2023

JimmyZ said:
Thanks for all the replies.

Now I have to try find some of these books.

Cheers
Jimmy

Hi Jimmy I know it's been a while since your original post but I would recommend
Dilip Sarkar MBEs book 'Sailor Malan Freedom Fighter' it covers the remarkable life of the South African born RAF pilot Sailor Malan. He was a Battle of Britain Ace who also wrote about tactics and after the war he campaigned against apartheid in South Africa.
Dilip has also written numerous books on WW2 aviation and pilots.

MIflyer · Mar 27, 2023

Two good books that are fairly recent and have many personal accounts:
D-Day Fighters
D-Day Bombers

Some of the others:
"Spitfire Into Battle" by Group Capt Duncan Smith
"Eagle Day" by Richard Collier (Not a really good history of the BoB but the personal accounst are great)
"Spitfire Ace" by Martin Davidson and James Taylor
"Night Fighter Navigator" By Dennis Gosling DFC
"Cobra Combat" by Lt. Col Robert E Case (terrific insight into the P-39 in the Pacific
"From Sapper to Spitfire Spy" by Sally-Anne Greville-Hegate
"Assaults From the Sky" by Martin W. Bowman
"They Flew Hurricanes" by Adrian Stewart
"Tail End Charlies" by John Nicol and Tony Rennell
"Top Guns" edited by Joe Foss

Wurger · Mar 27, 2023

Nige Black Country UK said:
... the South African born RAF pilot Sailor Malan ....

To be more precise, his name was Adolph Gysbert Malan and the "Sailor" was his nick.

Snautzer01 · Mar 27, 2023

Wurger said:
To be more precise, his name was Adolph Gysbert Malan and the "Sailor" was his nick.

Kinda know why they skipped adolph and adapted sailor.
Regardless that; the man was and is a legend.

Looking for suggestions on good WWII pilot books

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Timppa

Senior Airman

zeamerseagerbeavers

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buffnut453

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pbehn

Colonel

Thumpalumpacus

Major

Nige Black Country UK

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MIflyer

1st Lieutenant

Wurger

Siggy Master

Snautzer01

Honourably banned

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