Luftwaffe Aces: German Combat Pilots of WWII

by Franz Kurowski, David Johnston (Translator)

This exciting book tells the combat biographies of seven Luftwaffe aces: three day-fighter pilots, one night-fighter pilot, one close-support pilot, and two bomber pilots. This mix of well-known and less famous pilots includes Heinz Bor, who had 221 victories and was an ME 262 ace; Otto Kittel, the fourth-highest Luftwaffe ace with 267 kills; Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, a leading night-fighter ace with 121 kills; Wilhelm Batz, whose two-year combat career ended with 237 kills in the elite JG 52; Otto Weiss, a close-support pilot in the Hs 123 and Hs 129; Joachim Helbig, who flew the Ju 88 bomber over Malta; and Ludwig Havighorst, who served first with the infantry and then the Luftwaffe, where he flew fifty bombing missions over Stalingrad.

Genres: World War II, History, Military Fiction, War, Nonfiction

412 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 4, 2003

Reviews

[Alexander Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In reviewing Franz Kurowski's books, I have come to a general idea of what to expect...corny, semi-biased, and oddly enough satisfying. It is as if his cheap books have a certain spell that makes you want to believe the narratives he created actually happened. In any case lets dive into this one.

Honestly Luftwaffe Aces really was not that bad, the information and story lines were just as interesting as the Panzer Aces series. I fact checked portions of the book and most played along with his hero's narratives, additionally there was added information about the pilots that I could not find on the web so it makes me think/hope he interviewed some of these avatars (the ones who were still alive post WW2) when he was writing this book. It could also be possible he got his info from documented sources. I really don't know. That is one of the biggest flaws of Franz Kurowski book's(especially this one). There really is no way to figure out where he gets in info from due to the lack of citation and sources. However if you are like me and know nothing of the German Air Force in WW2 then this book is perfect in giving a broad understanding on what an German Aviator life was like during the Reich's war effort. While his writing style is not the best and because the author is biased (He was a German Radio Operator during the war) his info is all one sided. There is little to no information on the allies air battles or pilot info.

In any case the pictures were very interesting and somewhat went with the timelines of the narratives. All and all not a bad read.

-Alex

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers the exploits of pilots in the Luftwaffe in almost every different type of air combat and ground support. Some of the pilots and aircraft receive pretty good treatment but the book is a bit uneven and even scattered. People with an interest in the subject will find it a good read (I did). Great description of the tactics used by the Me 110 nightfighter and the Ju 88 but I thought the Me 262 got overlooked.

[KOMET · Rating 2 out of 5]

LUFTWAFFE ACES: German Combat Pilots of WWII is a translation (from the original German) of a work by Franz Kurowski that highlights the achievements of 7 Luftwaffe airmen (all but one of them pilots) who experienced combat within various branches of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) from the fighter arm, the bomber arm, the close support/ground attack arm, and the dive bomber arm throughout World War II. The translation, aside from a few errors (e.g. stating 'airframes' instead of 'aircraft' which was the more appropriate word), is good, and the book is studded with various photos of the 7 airmen so profiled, in addition to the aircraft they flew into battle on the various fighting fronts.

[Tim Schijvenaars · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some biographies were interesting to read, but often just badly written.

[Robert Drumheller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book concerning the airfare in World War II. It was incredible to learn that the top 100 Luftwaffe aces brought down 24,000 planes during the war.