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Book Title: A Higher Call
Author: Adam Makos
ISBN: 978-0-425-25286-4
Category: History
Format: Hardback
Summary: 392 pages including 16 pages of photos.
I bought this book after reading about the story here on the Aerodrome. I started reading it this morning. Quite simply I couldn't put the book down.
The connecting theme of the book is the sparing of a badly damaged B17 by the pilot of an ME 109. The book follows the chronological events leading to this amazing incident. Starting with the young Franz Stigler learning to fly a glider, becoming a Lufthansa pilot flying into Spain during the civil war. He trains Luftwaffe pilots to fly while still a civilian before joining up and being posted to N. Africa and later Italy. In 1943 he is posted to Germany.
Meanwhile in America Charlie Brown is completing his final exam on B17s, getting his crew together and training with them.
The actual incident is graphically portrayed from both sides, along with its immediate aftermath. Eventually Brown and his crew will complete their 28 missions and go stateside. For Franz Stigler events get worse as the fighter squadrons of the Luftwaffe are decimated, finishing the war with Galland's ME262 squadron.
Eventually the two pilots will meet, both haunted by the events of that day, both wondering if the other pilot made it through the war.
This is a must read book. It's hard to put down. The action is subdued, the descriptions of the pilots lives, and for Stigler the political nightmare, having more weight.
Can good men be found on both sides of a bad war? - This is the question the author asks. The answer is yes.
Read this book.
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