Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
It seems to me there is some translation issue here. What I posted is based on Closterman's book and personal conversations in the '70s and 80s."As an aside, Closterman was involved with politics all his life, and despite being a highly proficient pilot, he was turned down by the pre-war politically cloistered French Armee d' la Air. He was readily accepted by the RAF after France surrendered, although Free French politics kept him as a sergeant pilot for years, only begrudgedly commissioning him as Lieutenant late in the war, but not beyond. The RAF had no such compunctions, and assigned him as a Wing Commander."
Totally false. Born in 1921 Closterman is not part of Armée de l'air. Born in Brazil and make studies in USA. I goes to England to train pilot in march 1942. In the late part of is life it goes to politics in extreme right party, not as young man. In other part it's book is not an account of true stories but, as he says himself, a "roman" book.
what party please. Sure as hell it isnt the NSDAP. Because he did shoot a lot of them.politics in extreme right
Maybe important to get the book right too, Le Grande Cirque in French published in English as The Big Show and reprinted in expanded form (accoring to Wiki in 2004) Maybe the nuance of translation is different, sinceClostermann . Kind of important to get at least the name right. Then discuss.
I for one, appreciate this information and a different view point. It takes a bit of working through the translation, and I appreciate your effort. I spent a lot of my youth in France, and admire their patriotic passion, yet am often leery when I see that same passion applied to politics and labor activities.After war is on the party of Général de Gaulle UDR, it was elected five times deputy, but in the 80 it supports National Front an extremist right party, it's very curious because on the 50 60 it was seen as libertarian.
On the "armée de l'air" it was appointed as Commandant in the war in Algeria. It was appointed as Colonel at he end of his career. For someone who as problems with the armee it seems to me curious.
For more information Pierre Clostermann — Wikipédia the english part of wikipedia insists more in his point of vue about The Malvinas conflict.
I think that is a most back ward view of research of modern times. Indeed with listing of books and documents in libraries that are coupled together in a databases around the globe and even scanned documents not only pdf but readable researchable ocr docs. Primairy research is not that bohemoth what it was.French historians have taken the stance that it's only possible to expect to settle on true history when at least 2 centuries have passed
Search results: Clostermann | The National Archives
The official archive of the UK government. Our vision is to lead and transform information management, guarantee the survival of today's information for tomorrow and bring history to life for everyone.discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Appears to be a few archive files on his combat reports at Kew in London.
I can get them copied for perhaps £40 if anyone wants to join in a collection... £
Someone who knows the squadron history better than I do will have to confirm its
the "right Clostermann"
There were I suppose two problems;
ONE, I have been in so many Squadrons; Nos 341, 602, 486, 274, 56, and 3, that
the forms 540 and 541 'Logs of Claims' were quite spread out.
TWO, the French Air Force - as well as the US 8th Fighter Command, considered
aircraft 'probables' and destroyed 'on the ground' as victories. This may
explain some of the ridiculously inflated claims we found in the press, about
me and many American pilots. Not my fault. I tried to rectify often, but to no
avail!
I think that is a most back ward view of research of modern times.
Indeed with listing of books and documents in libraries that are coupled together in a databases around the globe and even scanned documents not only pdf but readable researchable ocr docs. Primairy research is not that bohemoth what it was.
Fast amounts of info are available. The soviet side is just starting to get those files digitalized. Things that took many weeks and quite a few dollars are just there for armchair researchers.To the extent this is true, I think the end result is a higher expectation on the productivity of the modern researcher rather than the job getting easier. Further, there's a huge amount of source material that still exists only in paper (or microfilm, depending on which era you're interested in) format.
Fast amounts of info are available. The soviet side is just starting to get those files digitalized. Things that took many weeks and quite a few dollars are just there for armchair researchers.
how about a bit of ULTRA? ULTRA in 1940
The 200 years i dont know where that came from. Perhaps protecting the still living. There are moutains of documents. It is far less difficult then it used to be for research.
But here is the bitch: one have to put in efford to find stuff and then concoct a readable as true as it get story. Ask any writer. Red tape is as red tape does. One has to be really into the stuff the discard fluff and facts. And then there are the the just paper archives.
I`m glad its not so difficult everywhere as it is here.Strangely enough some windows closed but others are opened. Depends on your field of intrest it seems.
I am sure you know what you are talking about in your field of intrest.
However i found for mine new openings. Thats all.
Good luck on your new enterprise. Hope it will be as good and succesfull as the former one.
His CAC account brooked no false emotions, and he obviously considered the Typhoon to be a necessary tool, not an item of reverence. Note that 1 in 3 of the pilots did not survive their Typhoon careers. Ince spoke wistfully about the Typhoon, and once asked if he'd like to fly one if restored, he looked askance and asked, "Why?"
I wish the restorers well, but echo David's answer.
Remember that the Typhoon was rushed into service as a foil against the Fw190, and suffered from being incompletely developed. Still, it proved versatile despite its quirks and flaws.