"Fields of Fire" by James Webb a former officer in the USMC, he won the Navy Cross, amongst other decorations, in Vietnam. He is now a US Senator chatting a lot with Burma and no fan of George W Bush. A great book that would make a superb film.
For me this is easily the best fictional book I have read depicting soldiers in the Vietnam War and rates highly in my top ten favourite books.

"Sniper One" by Dan Mills. The true story of the Prince of Wales Royal Regiments sniper platoon in Iraq. (This is also just screaming to be made into a film).

Can anyone recommend a book based on the recollection of one or more U.S. fighter pilots, which compares to the outstanding Clostermann's book of "The Big Show"?

Looking through my collection, I think the next piece of the puzzle must be something regarding the American fighter boys, but I am a bit worried about getting something along the line of "P-51 won teh war" type of book

If there is anything out there about the U.S. fighter pilots (can be any theater, any period), which is based on first-hand accounts and resembles the book "The Big Show" (story-telling with a mixture of enthusiams also self-critique for credibility), let me know...

quote:

Originally posted by rnzoli:
Can anyone recommend a book based on the recollection of one or more U.S. fighter pilots, which compares to the outstanding Clostermann's book of "The Big Show"?

Looking through my collection, I think the next piece of the puzzle must be something regarding the American fighter boys, but I am a bit worried about getting something along the line of "P-51 won teh war" type of book

If there is anything out there about the U.S. fighter pilots (can be any theater, any period), which is based on first-hand accounts and resembles the book "The Big Show" (story-telling with a mixture of enthusiams also self-critique for credibility), let me know...

Far and away the best book about US fighter pilots with an excellent 'feel' for the time and place is 1000 Destroyed: The Life and Times of the 4th Fighter Group, by Grover C. Hall, the group's former Public Information Officer.

This was written right after the war and it is not always technically accurate (he just didn't know what they didn't know then--which is true of most veterans even today), but the personalities and atmosphere of the place and time appear to be dead on. It's a book about young men written by a guy who was young with them and was still young when he wrote it.

I have heard that it is no longer in print, but that most if not all of it can be found on the web.

I'm currently plowing throughThe Luftwaffe Over Germany; Defense of the Reich by Caldwell and Muller; it is very illuminating.

cheers

horseback

Thanks, yes, 1000 Destroyed seems to be out of print and only available in 2nd hand. Was the author a pilot himself also? Or ground/command staff?

AG 4

The Big E

Sara

More on Enterprise

U.S. NavAir WWII

quote:

Originally posted by rnzoli:
Can anyone recommend a book based on the recollection of one or more U.S. fighter pilots, which compares to the outstanding Clostermann's book of "The Big Show"?

Looking through my collection, I think the next piece of the puzzle must be something regarding the American fighter boys, but I am a bit worried about getting something along the line of "P-51 won teh war" type of book

If there is anything out there about the U.S. fighter pilots (can be any theater, any period), which is based on first-hand accounts and resembles the book "The Big Show" (story-telling with a mixture of enthusiams also self-critique for credibility), let me know...

I highly recommend To Fly and Fight by Bud Anderson. Yes, he flew P-51s, but his book is highly enjoyable, filled with a lot of interesting anecdotes about combat, the life of a fighter pilot, and so on. It also covers his career after WWII, up to the early 90's.

Other then that, I really can't think of any off hand. There are some good ones out there for sure, but The Big Show is truly a unique book, and I really haven't read anything that compares.

The Big Show is a very good read indeed. I can't come up with an "american" counterpart either.

I can.

Thunderbolt! by Robert S. Johnson with Martin Caidin.

Johnson was a 28 kill ace that learned his trade on the P47 when the Germans were still strong, around 1942/1943.

oh and Bo_Nidle, if you think Sniper one is good, try getting Hellfire by Ed Macy and Immediate Response by Major Mark Hammond DFC RM.

quote:

Originally posted by Sharpe26:
I can.

Thunderbolt! by Robert S. Johnson with Martin Caidin.

while I agree that "Thunderbolt!" is a great read, it's tough to compare it to "The Big Show". IMHO, Clostermann is a much better author then Johnson, even with Caidin ghost writing for him.

'Skunk Works' by Ben R. Rich with Leo Janos. Published in paperback by Warner books. isbn;0 7515 1503 5.

Just finished reading this. Fantastic memoir by Ben R. Rich, Kelly Johnsons successor at Lockheed's Skunk works plant.

The book is a personal memoir split into two parts, the first compehensively covering the birth of Ben Rich's most famous baby, the F117A Stealth fighter and the second part a well written account of working with Kelly Johnson from 1954 onwards.

Lots and lots of stuff I never knew. The best chapters for me are those centering around the U2 overflights of Russia and China in the 'fifties and 'sixties and an honest appraisal of US defence procurement procedures during the 'eighties and 'ninetes.

Stand by for lots of face-palm moments when you read about how the SR71 got its name , why they had to scrap the production tooling and jigs for the Blackbird in the early 'seventies and how Pentagon procurement procedures gave the US a handful of stealth bombers at @$2 billion apiece

Also contains 'other voices' small memoirs in appropriate places about Skunkworks projects written by U2 pilots "I filled my top pocket of my flight suit with a handful of fruit drops not knowing the ground crew had put my cyanide capsule in there!" to comments by Richard Bissel and Caspar Wienberger.

I cant recommend this book highly enough. An excellent read

Tally Ho!

From the battle of Britain to the defence of Darwin by wing commander R.W. Foster.

The author of this book reached an operational squadron(605)and flew Hurricanes with them from the middle of the Battle of Britain onwards to the defence of Darwin with 54 squadron.

The Bitter Road to Freedom; A New History of the Liberation of Europe by William I. Hitchco©k. It's a different view on what happened in Europe either as they were or after they were liberated and the treatment or lack thereof. Pretty interesting so far after 130 pages.

Just How Stupid Are We?

This book is a must read for every American.

If nothing else it is food for thought....

Meteor Eject! - The adventures of a cold-war fighter pilot.
By Nick Carter.
Woodfield publishing, ISBN 1-873203-65-9.

An excellent memoir of fighter command from the early fifties until the author left the RAF in 1964. Covers his career in the Meatbox and flying the Hawker Hunter for the Royal Jordainian Airforce in the late 'fifties.

The Meteor had an absolutely appalling safety record. Out of over 2000 built 890 crashed, killing over 400 crew. A lot of this due to a combination of frankly daft training procedures and pushing an obsolete airframe to it's limit in the nineteen-fifties.

As the title suggests the author very nearly became one of these statistics, spending nearly fifteen months away from flying due to a very low-level ejection.

Overall a very interesting account of a fairly neglected period in RAF history.