Great WWII Aviation Books

**kaufschtick** · 09-18-2009 20:57

OK, there's got to be a lot more out there than this, but here is a list of the WWII arial warfare books that I've read. In many cases I've read quite a few of these multiple times, as I started reading at an age of say 9-10 years old.

Fascinating books, and when you combine them with several trips a year to the National Museum of the USAF with a Grandfather and his friends who actually fought the war, it was a complete deal for me. Reading about the planes and pilots, then actually seeing most of the planes from the books while visiting the AFM with my Grandfather and his friends.

Anyway, here is my list. I think you can still get most of these.

-Battling the Bombers by Wilhelm Johnen. The true story of the German night fighters.
-Low Level Mission by Leon Wolff. Low level raid on the Ploesti oil refineries.
-I Flew For The Fuhrer by Heinz Knoke. German fighter ace.
-Black Thursday by Martin Caidin. Schweinfurt ballbearing factory raid, I highly recommend this book.
-God is my CoPilot by Col. Robert L. Scott. P-40 Ace.
-Tale of a Guinea Pig by Geoffrey Page. BoB Hurricane pilot.
-The Ragged, Rugged Warriors by Martin Caidin. Early air war in the Pacific, another one I'd highly recommend.
-An Ace of the Eighth by Norman "Bud" Fortier. P-47 Ace.
-A Torch to the Enemy by Martin Caidin. The true story of the devastating fire raid against Tokyo on March 10, 1945. I super highly recommend this book. You won't sleep after reading this one.
-Wing Leader by Group Captain J. E. Johnson. British Ace.
-The Blond Knight of Germany by Col. Raymond F. Toliver & Trevor J. Constable. The highest scoring fighter pilot ace of all time, Germany's Eric Hartman.
-Squadron Airborne by Elleston Trevor. Battle of Britain.
-Enemy Coast Ahead by Guy Gibson. Dam Busters.
-Thunderbolt by Robert S. Johnson. P-47 Thunderbolt pilot, a great book.
-The First and the Last by Adolf Galland. Needs no description here.
-The Big Show by Pierre Closterman. French ace in the RAF.
-Samurai! by Saburo Sakai & Martin Caidin & Fred Saito. Super book by a Japanese ace.
-Stuka Pilot by Hans Ulrich Rudel. Awesome book.
-Zero by Masatake Okumiya & Jiro Horikoshi with Martin Caidin. The air war from the Japanese point of view, another awesome book.
-Strike From The Sky by Alexander McKee. Battle of Britain.
-A Flying Tiger's Diary by Charles R. Bond & Terry H. Anderson.

I still have on my list of books to get around to Baa Baa Blacksheep about (by?) Pappy Boyington.

**Big Al** · 09-19-2009 01:46

That is a great looking selection. I am going to have to look out forsome of these.
Thanks Kaufschtick!

**kaufschtick** · 09-22-2009 19:44

There was another great book my Dad lent me once, a few years back, called Doomed at the Start. It was a fantastic look into and at the USAAF Pursuit Squadrons based in the Phillipines at the outbreak of WWII.

One of my favorite quotes from the book was by a crew chief regarding the arrival of their new P-40E fighters.

He described it as a plane "That has the flight characteristics of a flying safe."

Don't ask me why, but that always made me grin.

The Best, Second Best Fighter of the War.

The Phillipinno Air Force was flying P-26 Peashooters at this time...against Zeros!!!!

Yeah, that's right, that's an open cockpit!!!

**nachinus** · 09-23-2009 08:34

I highly recommend 'The Most Dangerous Enemy' by Stephen Bungay. It is an excellent book about the battle of britain.

**bsmith13** · 09-25-2009 17:28

If you are in the mood for some heavier reading, I recommend the following:

Hostile Skies - about the American Air Service in WWI. Shows the AAS realistically, from how unprepared they were to how brave they were.

Shattered Sword by Parschall and Tully - a brilliant treatment of the Battle of Midway. Many of my ideas about this critical battle were changed in reading this scholarly work.

Fire in the Sky by Eric Bergerud - examines the air war in the Pacific.

The Battle of Britain - by Denis Richards. Includes all aspects of the battle.

**kaufschtick** · 09-25-2009 21:10

Originally Posted by bsmith13

Shattered Sword by Parschall and Tully - a brilliant treatment of the Battle of Midway. Many of my ideas about this critical battle were changed in reading this scholarly work.

Here's another good way to take a good look at the battle of Midway. Read the following two books, in no particular order.

Midway! Incredible Victory by Walter Lord, from the American point of view.

Midway by Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya, the Japanese Navy's story of the battle that doomed Japan.

Getting a look at this critical battle from both points of view is amazing, and really a great way to contrast the events against one another.

**Stoff** · 09-26-2009 08:40

Here are my offerings for this reading list:

Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain, by: Len Deighton.

On Silver Wings: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, 1942-1944, by: Marianne Verges

And one of my absolute favorites: Reach for the Sky: the True Story of Douglas Bader, By: Paul Brickhill

**AlgyLacey** · 09-26-2009 11:40

The Hub - biography of Hubert Zemke (P47 ace)

Piece of Cake

Fighter - Len Deighton

Bomber (ditto) And if you get the chance get the BBC Radio dramatisation and play it loud OK? WOW!

**aarondpjames** · 09-26-2009 12:41

Originally Posted by AlgyLacey

Piece of Cake[/B]

Ah, an absoloute classic!! Read it many a time and even got in on DVD. Your cant beat a bit of Moggy, Fitz, and Rex mixing it up with the Hun over the Channel in there Hurricane's!!

**Gravitypool** · 10-02-2009 13:28

Awesome book i bought today and i think it will appeal to most of you.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Air.../9781903223987

Despite the title, it has almost nothing to do with flight sims but it's an awesome and illustrative book covering all kinds of formations and maneuvers from all eras of aviation (from WW1 to missile tactics). It's near 250 pages, almost all are full color diagrams, showing everything you need to know to outsmart an enemy whatever you are flying.

Chapters cover air to tank strafing tactics, air to naval approaches, air to air dogfight maneuver... complemented with information from planes, pilots, interviews with aces, etc... (for me is being very informative 'cause i never know wich is the best way to approach a ship full of Borfors AA turrets... ¬¬)

I bought it for 19,90 € in Barcelona's Aerospace fair, but it's in english so most surely will be available everywhere.

**trumpetman52** · 12-03-2009 19:03

I am sitting here reading the posts on this great site. This is my first post and I am greatly impressed by the Wings of War series. I love to play this game. Reading the thread about historical aircraft books, I have a list that I would like to add later but there were two books mentioned here that I just have to respond to.

Kaufschtick mentioned two books, Incredible Victoryby Walter Lord and Midway by Fuchida and Okumiya. These two books were read by myself when I was a senior in high school, which was about 100 years ago, but I remember them clearly. As I was reading Incredible VictoryI developed a deep sincere sense of pity and failure for the Americans. Then I read the book Midway and had the exact same feelings for the Japanese. I really felt sorry for their losses. I relayed this to my English teacher, whom I thought a lot of, and his response to me was that the authors did exactly what they wanted to do. That was to draw me into their writings and to affect my feelings and emotions. I have not ready very many books that have done that to me, but these two surely did.

I would highly recommend either or both of these books to any avid reader.

Thanks for the site

Trumpetman52
Tom Anderson

**bsmith13** · 12-04-2009 07:48

I have read both Incredible Victory and Midway. The authors are talented writers, and both are easy to read.

However, both of them (intentionally or not) misrepresent some of the things that happened during the Battle of Midway. While it is more difficult to read, I can't recommend Shattered Sword enough. Check it out; you'll be glad you did.

**82fox** · 05-12-2011 11:17

So add a couple of books. As it was said: The Great Circus - Pierre Closterman. (read it in one breath and it's my favorite book)
Also: Wings in the fight - A. I. Pokryškin. Describes a career fighter pilot.

**jhary** · 05-14-2011 11:03

If You can read German then i have one "Holt Hartmann vom Himmel"

**Naharaht** · 08-05-2011 19:40

I recommend 'Sky Battles/ Sky Warriors' by Alfred Price published by Brockhampton Press as either one book or two separate books. They describe combat missions of all types from different eras WW1 to the Gulf Wars.