Luftwaffe Aces: German Combat Pilots of WWII

There is a notable lack of detailed biographical info on many Luftwaffe pilots. Schnaufer and Kittel are legendary, while some like Weiss and Havighorst are less well-known, but deserving of attention. The information is interesting, well-written and would definitely be useful to anyone interested in the individual Luftwaffe members, most of whom do not have full biographies on them.

This series of "Aces" books from Stackpole is both excellent and eye opening. Most of us who are interested in the history of World War II know the general stories. We know the broad pictures of what happened, when it happened and so on. What was missing, and I didn't even know it, was a sense of who were these men who fought so hard for so long for what most of us thing was a very bad cause. This book tells the story of seven of the Luftwaffe Aces. Not just fighter pilots but people in all branches of the Luftwaffe: bombers, night fighters, ground support. These men (usually) had joined the Luftwaffe a few years before the war, and unless killed were still flying at the end of the war. They each completed hundreds, if not a thousand missions - not to degrade the 25-35 missions flown by the 8th air force crews. These men were the best the Luftwaffe could put up. And good men they were. Frank Kurowski, the author of numerous books on World War II has put together a masterpiece.