The Greatest Air Aces Stories Ever Told

by Robert Barr Smith, Laurence J. Yadon

In thirty-five chapters, The Greatest Air Aces Stories Ever Told covers many of the leading American and British Commonwealth fighter aces of WW I and II, together with a few bomber crews whose gallantry made a substantial contribution to the end of WW II. Other nations had their aces,
but this book concentrates on American and Commonwealth pilots.

These aviators were chosen not only because of their “scores” and their great courage, but also for
other qualities which set them apart, like the WWII Royal Air Force Wing Commander who shot
down more than 20 Germans while flying with two artificial legs.

Here are a few of the aces. Note that the air forces of Europe and the United States did
not always have today’s names, used here for simplicity’s

Albert Ball, RAF, son of the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, winner of the Victoria Cross. He
had 44 victories in WWI when he was killed at the age of 20, well known to his German foes, who
much admired him.

Gabby Gabreski, USAF. Son of hard-working Polish immigrants. An ace in WWII with 28 kills and later in Korea, with another six. He was an accomplished commander, finished a long career as a colonel.

Mick Mannock, RAF. Tough and aggressive in spite of his fear of fire, he won not only the Victoria Cross, but five other high awards for gallantry. Highest British scorer of WWI with 73 victories, he detested Germans, and rejoiced with every kill. He was shot down by ground fire in the last year of the war.

David McCampbell, USN. Scored 34 WWII kills to become the U.S. Navy’s all-time ace. In 1944, set an all-time record with nine victories on a single mission. Winner of the Congressional Medal.

Pick Pickard, RAF. Led the RAF rooftop bomber raid on Amiens Prison In WWII, freeing many underground members, some of whom were facing death, and who were promptly spirited away by French partisans.

Frank Luke, USAF. Deadly American famous for his busting of German observation balloons in WWI. Shot up over German territory, he managed to land safely, but, being Luke, tried to fight it out with enemy infantrymen with only his pistol.

The book will also touch on the equipment these aces flew, from the famous Fokkers and Sopwith Camels to the ungainly two-seater FE2b, which was driven by a pusher engine and looked like a bathtub with wings and a miniature oil derrick glued on the back. Also included are our own Grumman carrier fighters, the P-40s, the P-38s, as well as the P-51 Mustang, probably the finest fighter of the war, a happy marriage of an American airframe and a British engine. The deadly, graceful Spitfire has its place, as do the Hurricane, the biplane Gladiator, and even the four-engine Lancaster.

244 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 3, 2017

About the author

Robert Barr Smith, Colonel, USA (ret). senior parachutist; holds Bronze Star, Legion of Merit (x2), other decorations. Service in Vietnam and many years in Germany, where his fiction is laid. German speaker. Otherwise specializes in military and western history, plus several books on trial practice (under his attorney hat). Graduate of Stanford and Stanford Law; member, California Bar. Professor Emeritus, University of Oklahoma College of Law, where he also served as Associate Dean for Academics and Associate Director of the Law Center.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book and it is packed with stories of pilots and air aces of both WWI and WWII.

The stories detail each pilot and how he became a pilot, entered the service and his combat experience and usually number of kills and any disputes. The stories also detailed the pilots untimely demise at the hands of his adversary, the weather, mechanical difficulties, navigation issues, accidents, or just running out of fuel or if they survived the war then about their lives after returning to the civilian world.

This book includes pilots from Britain, Canada, France, Poland, South Africa, The United States of America, and Germany.

The book also includes some other stories and naval battles of which I was unfamiliar.

I highly recommend this book.

[Andrew Horton · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a career pilot and aviation historian, this book is lacking at best. The authors unfortunately were not up to date on recent scholarly information concerning certain topics. For instance, they credited the death of Manfred von Richthofen, The Red Baron, to Captain Roy Brown. While not totally impossible, such a claim is improbable. For the authors to regurgitate debunked information in a new book is unfortunate, at best.

The bias in the authors' paragraphs is unfortunately strong. There is no history book without bias, but I have never read one with as much as this. For instance, the authors were quick to discredit Adolf Galland's total kill count of 104 kills, along with other German aces; however, they later explicitly stated that British aces they listed probably had more kills than what they were credited with. Why are the German aces liars, but the British aces not? The truth is, Germans and British both utilized a rigorous system of kill confirmation. Both sides had incredible machinery operated by incredibly brave men. The fact that this book largely slants the reader away from the truth is most unfortunate. However, a blind man can see the authors' biases, so all is not lost.

Each chapter was either about an airplane, a person, or an event. They sounded as though they were modified Wikipedia articles. This book has no flow or continuity.

I am giving it two stars, instead of one, because I learned some things. In not believing what the authors were saying, and researching their claims for myself, I am a better person for it. The one chapter I found particularly strong was the one of David McCampbell, Grumman F6F-5 fighter ace. The chapters I found weak were on Pappy Boyington, Manfred von Richthofen, Adolf Galland, Joe Foss, the Sopwith Camel, and most of the other ones.

I don't recommend this book to anyone. If you want a much better book that tells about some of the greatest air aces stories ever told, I recommend Dan Hampton's "Lords of the Sky." You won't be disappointed.

[Paul Belanger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book mostly split between WWI and WWII. My biggest complaints about it concern editing. I found two places where the editor was out to lunch. One of the sentences read, "Everyone on the flight knew that enemy fighters would do everything possible to bring as many of them down as possible." The other sentence contained the use of the word "indeed" twice. The sentences are also polluted with commas; which made sorting through a 6-line sentence rather overbearing.

In the chapter about Eddie Rickenbacker, the story deviated from chronological order. It began with his life after the war, then about halfway through he dies and in the next paragraph he is born. Only the author knows why he split it that way, and the editor apparently agreed. Col. Smith does tell a good story, or in this case, stories. This book will stay on my shelf, for sure.