Looking for suggestions on good WWII pilot books

[JimmyZ]

Hi all. I'm looking to pick up a new book, but I'm having difficulty finding what I want. I'm hoping to get some suggestions here.

What I'm looking for is a very pilot-centric, immersive, story driven yet somewhat technical WWII book written from a pilot's point-of-view. Are there any good books based on stories from reconnaissance pilots? Fighter pilot stories will work as well. I'm unsure if there are many such books that are very story driven yet non-fiction.

It could be based on pilots from any side of the war. And it doesn't necessarily need to play out in the most active theaters of WWII, as long as it checks most of my criteria above.

I hope I've described what I am looking for well enough. Any ideas are welcome.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[Mainly28s]

The first book that springs to my mind is Luftwaffe Test Pilot by Hans-Werner Lerche, very closely followed by KG200, the Truth after 30 Years by Werner Baumbach.

 

[vikingBerserker]

The ones I enjoyed though they were not Recon:
Memoirs of a Stuka Pilot by Helmut Mahike
A Higher Call by Makos and Alexander
Star of Africa by Heaton
God's Samurai by Prange
Samurai by Sakai
The First and the Last by Galland

The only stuff I have on recon is more based on Units/Aircraft/Missions than individuals such as The Reluctant Raiders by Carey (aircraft) and Lucky 666: The Impossible Mission by Drury (an amazing recon mission).

Good luck!

 

[Husky]

Robert S. Johnson's...."Thunderbolt"

 

[michael rauls]

The type of book discribed by JimmyZ is the type of book I most enjoy also. A can atest that A Higher Call and Thunderbolt are great. The other books I was unaware of. Now I'm looking forward to lots of great new reading material.
Thanks for the great suggestions guys.

 

[Crimea_River]

Wing Leader by Johnnie Johnson
I Flew for the Fuhrer by Heinz Knoke
Luftwaffe Eagle by Walter Schuck
Carrier Pilot by Norman Hanson

 

[JimmyZ]

Thanks for all the replies.

Now I have to try find some of these books.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[Simon Thomas]

A Thousand Shall Fall - Murray Peden
BookFinder.com: Search Results

Autobiography of a young Canadian from when he signs up, his training in the EFTS and then follows him as he flies missions in Stirlings and then B-17's.
Great book. He loved the Stirling to the extent that I re-visited my view of it, and found it to be a far better aeroplane than it gets credit for.

 

[peter benn]

"One Man's Window" by Denis Barnham? Malta-specific (601 Sqn? If memory serves) and he was a painter/illustrator with a belief in the supernatural.
"Malta Spitfire" by George Beurling (1945) is rather breathlessly ghost-written in that Canadian propaganda style of the period, but it was a good introduction to the more scholarly later Malta books.

 

[special ed]

It is old and by Martin Caiden who some say provides embellishment, I recommend "Zero". Another well documented (pilots names and units) book is "Genda's Blade", although expensive, by Henry Sakaida. Any of Dwane Shultz's books.

 

[MIflyer]

Some lessor known ones:

Spitfire Pilot by FLt Lt David Crook

Malta Spitfire Pilot by Denis Barnham

Tempest Pilot by Sqdrn Ldr CJ Sheddan

Flying Under Fire (collection of experiences of RCAF pilots)

D-Day Bombers the Veterans Story (collection of connected experiences)

Victory Fighters The Veterans Story (collection of fighter pilot experiences)

They Flew Hurricanes (collection of fighter pilot experiences)

Hurricane The Last Witnesses (collection of fighter pilot experiences)

Tempest Summer

 

[Tom Fey]

Pursue and Destroy by Leonard "Kit" Carson

Tumult in the Clouds by James A. Goodson

The Last of the Knights by James A. Goodson

 

[Hairog]

Aces High: The Heroic Saga of the Two Top-Scoring American Aces of World War II by Billy Yenne

Bong, McGuire and the P-38 doesn't get better than that.

 

[Zippythehog]

The Big Show by Pierre Clostermann

 

[special ed]

I love Clostermann's encounter with an Me-262.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That book appears to be more fiction than non.

 

[MIflyer]

That book appears to be more fiction than non.

Unfortunately I have to agree with you. He describes that on Black Thursday in Oct 43 he met a P-51 that had the prop spinner smashed as a result of hitting a human being. Of course, we had no P-51's escorting the bombers on that day; if we had it would have not been so Black.

And at the end of the book the poor man seems downright unhinged.

Another excellent book to add is "Happy Jack's Go Buggy" by Jack Ilfry. It reads like a Martin Caiden novel, but it's real. It is rather hard to find now but I think most of it has been effectively anthologized in other works (wis I could tell you what they are). Man, that guy did it all! Captured in Portugal and escaped, flying P-38's in both GB and the Med. Shot down over France and escaped disguised as a deaf French civilian. It's almost a Mission Impossible movie! He had more adventures than Indiana Jones!

Another very good one used to be common but is much less so now, "Top Guns" edited by Joe Foss. One story that really got me was how at Guadalcanal an admiral came visiting and they asked to borrow his PBY. They borrowed it to torpedo the IJN ships! On the way back an F4F pilot was intercepting some Japanese bombers looked down and saw three Zeros shooting the crap out of the PBY. Desperate to get the Zeros off the PBY, he dove on them, just spraying .50 cal at them to scare them off. The Zeros broke off and left. It was not until after the war that the F4F pilot found out he shot all three of them down. Just one .50 cal round on each did enough damage on each Zero to cause it to crash on the way home.

 

[rochie]

Unfortunately I have to agree with you. He describes that on Black Thursday in Oct 43 he met a P-51 that had the prop spinner smashed as a result of hitting a human being. Of course, we had no P-51's escorting the bombers on that day; if we had it would have not been so Black.

And at the end of the book the poor man seems downright unhinged.

wow, thats not in my copy of the Big show !

 

[Barrett]

One of the finest WW2 pilot memoirs is Bud Anderson's "To Fly & Fight." Been in and out of print since the 1980s but should be available in print and e-format on his son Jim's website. Bud Anderson's P-51 Mustang "Old Crow" Web Page

Bud was just released from the hospital with pneumonia, age 97 now. He remains our ranking ace among fewer than 30 still living. Just a grand gent.

 

[MIflyer]

I agree that To Fly and To Fight is a great memoir. I went to the ASM back in the early 90's to hear him speak. His postwar career in test flying was very interesting, too.

Glad to hear he is out of the hospital.

Another very good book is Pilot by Tony Levier. he did not fly combat but did everything else. I got to hear his describing about the day he had a mid-air with Joe Foss in person.