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The Big Show: The Classic Account of WWII Aerial Combat
Pierre Clostermann DFC was one of the oustanding Allied aces of the Second World War. A Frenchman who flew with the RAF, he survived over 420 operational sorties, shooting down scores of enemy aircraft while friends and comrades lost their lives in the deadly skies above Europe. THE BIG SHOW , his extraordinary account of the war, has been described as the greatest pilot's memoir of WWII. ‘A truly remarkable book … the most gripping descriptions of aerial combat I have ever read’ New York Times ‘A thrilling read … ranks among the finest accounts of war’ Guardian ‘A magnificent story’ Daily Telegraph ‘A classic … gripping, ripping, full of action’ Economist ‘Vividly captures the spirit of air combat’ The Times 'The relentlessness of the flying is extraordinary and the casual loss of life chilling. It really is one of the very best war memoirs ever exhilarating, exciting, deeply moving and a book that lingers in the mind long after the last page has been turned.' James Holland
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1948
1160 people are currently reading
1498 people want to read
About the author
Pierre Clostermann
40 books12 followersPierre-Henri Clostermann DSO, DFC & Bar was a World War II French ace fighter pilot.
During the conflict he achieved 33 air-to-air combat victories, earning the accolade "France's First Fighter" from General Charles de Gaulle. His wartime memoir, The Big Show (Le Grand Cirque) became a notable bestseller. After the war, he worked as an engineer and was the youngest Member of France's Parliament.
In 1951, Clostermann authored an account of his wartime experiences entitled Le Grand Cirque (published in English as The Big Show). One of the first post-war fighter pilot memoirs, its various editions have sold over two and a half million copies. William Faulkner stated that "The Big Show" was one of the finest aviation books to come out of World War II. The book was reprinted, in expanded form, in both paperback and hardcover editions in 2004.
After the war, Clostermann continued his career as an engineer, participating in the creation of Reims Aviation, supporting the Max Holste Broussard prototype, acting as a representative for Cessna, and working for Renault.
He served eight terms as a député (member of parliament) in the French National Assembly between 1946 and 1969.
He re-enlisted in the French Air Force in 1956–57 to fly ground-attack missions during the Algerian War. He subsequently published a novel based on his experiences there, entitled Leo 25 Airborne.
Clostermann died on 22 March 2006 at his home at Montesquieu-des-Albères, in the French Pyrenees.
During the conflict he achieved 33 air-to-air combat victories, earning the accolade "France's First Fighter" from General Charles de Gaulle. His wartime memoir, The Big Show (Le Grand Cirque) became a notable bestseller. After the war, he worked as an engineer and was the youngest Member of France's Parliament.
In 1951, Clostermann authored an account of his wartime experiences entitled Le Grand Cirque (published in English as The Big Show). One of the first post-war fighter pilot memoirs, its various editions have sold over two and a half million copies. William Faulkner stated that "The Big Show" was one of the finest aviation books to come out of World War II. The book was reprinted, in expanded form, in both paperback and hardcover editions in 2004.
After the war, Clostermann continued his career as an engineer, participating in the creation of Reims Aviation, supporting the Max Holste Broussard prototype, acting as a representative for Cessna, and working for Renault.
He served eight terms as a député (member of parliament) in the French National Assembly between 1946 and 1969.
He re-enlisted in the French Air Force in 1956–57 to fly ground-attack missions during the Algerian War. He subsequently published a novel based on his experiences there, entitled Leo 25 Airborne.
Clostermann died on 22 March 2006 at his home at Montesquieu-des-Albères, in the French Pyrenees.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 237 reviews
September 19, 2021
Like most boys my age growing up in the 1970s, I was fascinated by both aeroplanes and war, and thus spent many not-so-profitable hours building and painting Airfix kits, one of which depicted a Hawker Tempest. This particular kit had decals depicting "Le Grand Charles", the personal plane of Pierre Clostermann. My father, when he saw the completed kit, steered me to his copy of The Big Show, which I read again and again during my adolescence.
Well I'm grown up now, and interestingly so has this book, with the publication of an expanded edition, that not only includes sections left out of the edition published in 1951 (owing to sensitivities and paper shortages of the time), but also adds information newly discovered to fill out the narrative.
This book has become a classic of it's type, and deservedly so. Based on Clostermann's diary entries from the time, the reader follows his career through advanced training on Spitfires, through to his first posting to the "Alsace" squadron of Free French within the RAF, flying from the famed Biggin Hill airfield. He then moves to 602 City of Glasgow Squadron, defending Scapa Flow before moving south to fly sweeps over the Channel until the emotional moment when Clostermann lands again in France just after D-Day. After a period of rest out of the air, he gets back in a 'plane - a Tempest this time - and survives to the end.
There is plenty of fine description of dog-fights and other flying adventures, and of all sorts of other japery that comes from blowing off steam when under threat of death every day. The strength of The Big Show however is not in these descriptions, but in the way Clostermann communicates how it felt to be in these situations. From the fear that took over his body when a Focke Wulf was on his tail or he blundered over an enemy airfield that was "lousy with flak", to the elation of surviving, the despair at the death of comrades, and the unspoken bonds of loyalty to your friends, Clostermann takes the reader into the heart of the experience.
What has in the past and still today remains interesting for me as reader is how, as victory for the Allies looms closer, the more depressing the "story" becomes. In the early pages, where Clostermann and his good friend Jacques Remlinger fly their first Spitfires, through to their first active missions, there is a joi de vivre that shines through: young men fighting for their country, determined to do their best and enjoying flying the latest technology that Britain could provide.
This contrasts with the last section of the book, where at the front Clostermann and his pilots suffer poor morale as they lose more and more men, and as they struggle with their aircraft against ever-increasing flak and the excellent German pilots. The never-ending round of missions - often four to five a day - wear the pilots out. When the end comes, there is relief rather than joy: in fact Clostermann and his pilots resent the revellers enjoying the victory.
I must have read this book about twenty times over the years; this new expanded edition adds usefully to the first, and ensures that this classic will remain so for some considerable time to come. If you are at all interested in this subject, this is a must-read.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
Well I'm grown up now, and interestingly so has this book, with the publication of an expanded edition, that not only includes sections left out of the edition published in 1951 (owing to sensitivities and paper shortages of the time), but also adds information newly discovered to fill out the narrative.
This book has become a classic of it's type, and deservedly so. Based on Clostermann's diary entries from the time, the reader follows his career through advanced training on Spitfires, through to his first posting to the "Alsace" squadron of Free French within the RAF, flying from the famed Biggin Hill airfield. He then moves to 602 City of Glasgow Squadron, defending Scapa Flow before moving south to fly sweeps over the Channel until the emotional moment when Clostermann lands again in France just after D-Day. After a period of rest out of the air, he gets back in a 'plane - a Tempest this time - and survives to the end.
There is plenty of fine description of dog-fights and other flying adventures, and of all sorts of other japery that comes from blowing off steam when under threat of death every day. The strength of The Big Show however is not in these descriptions, but in the way Clostermann communicates how it felt to be in these situations. From the fear that took over his body when a Focke Wulf was on his tail or he blundered over an enemy airfield that was "lousy with flak", to the elation of surviving, the despair at the death of comrades, and the unspoken bonds of loyalty to your friends, Clostermann takes the reader into the heart of the experience.
What has in the past and still today remains interesting for me as reader is how, as victory for the Allies looms closer, the more depressing the "story" becomes. In the early pages, where Clostermann and his good friend Jacques Remlinger fly their first Spitfires, through to their first active missions, there is a joi de vivre that shines through: young men fighting for their country, determined to do their best and enjoying flying the latest technology that Britain could provide.
This contrasts with the last section of the book, where at the front Clostermann and his pilots suffer poor morale as they lose more and more men, and as they struggle with their aircraft against ever-increasing flak and the excellent German pilots. The never-ending round of missions - often four to five a day - wear the pilots out. When the end comes, there is relief rather than joy: in fact Clostermann and his pilots resent the revellers enjoying the victory.
I must have read this book about twenty times over the years; this new expanded edition adds usefully to the first, and ensures that this classic will remain so for some considerable time to come. If you are at all interested in this subject, this is a must-read.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
August 9, 2014
Pierre Clostermann's story of flying over 300 combat missions while serving as a Free French Sergeant-Pilot with the RAF.
The episode when Clostermann helped remove a fellow pilot from the cockpit of a Hawker Tempest fighter that had crashed and cartwheeled in a flaming wreck while attempting a "wheels-up" belly-landing, and then holding what was left of his burned & mangled friend as he died in his arms was gut-wrenching. And then the next day Clostermann himself, bravely risked a belly-landing of his own to preserve another of the squadron's precious Tempests to fly and fight another day.
The single most moving page of personal-history war memoirs that I've ever read is the final page of Clostermann's book, where, after participating in the final, massive fly-over of London to celebrate V-E Day, he gently set down his Hawker Tempest 'Le Grand Charles' (named after Charles De Gaule) "like a cut flower, on the grass..."; and then after walking out to check on him, his crew-chief turned and walked away without a word when he saw Clostermann's shoulders shaking as he sat in the cockpit of Le Grand Charles, weeping that their last flight together was over - along with - The Big Show.
On a personal note, my first copy of "The Big Show" I found abandoned in the desk of my 8th Grade Math class, and years later my best friend in college saw it on my bookshelf and said, "Hey, I had a copy of that book and I lost it in Mr. Gadd's Math class, way back in Middle School." And I said, "No kidding! Guess where I found it?"
That's why I had to get a second copy of "The Big Show" so I could still have one to re-read once in a while.
The episode when Clostermann helped remove a fellow pilot from the cockpit of a Hawker Tempest fighter that had crashed and cartwheeled in a flaming wreck while attempting a "wheels-up" belly-landing, and then holding what was left of his burned & mangled friend as he died in his arms was gut-wrenching. And then the next day Clostermann himself, bravely risked a belly-landing of his own to preserve another of the squadron's precious Tempests to fly and fight another day.
The single most moving page of personal-history war memoirs that I've ever read is the final page of Clostermann's book, where, after participating in the final, massive fly-over of London to celebrate V-E Day, he gently set down his Hawker Tempest 'Le Grand Charles' (named after Charles De Gaule) "like a cut flower, on the grass..."; and then after walking out to check on him, his crew-chief turned and walked away without a word when he saw Clostermann's shoulders shaking as he sat in the cockpit of Le Grand Charles, weeping that their last flight together was over - along with - The Big Show.
On a personal note, my first copy of "The Big Show" I found abandoned in the desk of my 8th Grade Math class, and years later my best friend in college saw it on my bookshelf and said, "Hey, I had a copy of that book and I lost it in Mr. Gadd's Math class, way back in Middle School." And I said, "No kidding! Guess where I found it?"
That's why I had to get a second copy of "The Big Show" so I could still have one to re-read once in a while.
August 31, 2022
Here is a combat memoir that rings with the thrills and perils of "grappling in the central blue", to quote Tennyson. Clostermann, a Frenchman of Brazilian birth, made his way to Britain where he joined the Royal Air Force (RAF). He was trained as a fighter pilot and assigned to one of the Free French fighter squadrons, flying Spitfires in combat.
By war's end, Clostermann was a flight lieutenant flying the Hawker Tempest, one of the fastest and most rugged piston-engined fighters in the RAF. He flew numerous ground attack missions, as well as taking on the Luftwaffe. Indeed, Clostermann conveys to the reader the drama, intensity, and sheer terror of air combat. I would rank "THE BIG SHOW" as one of the best air combat memoirs that I've yet read.
By war's end, Clostermann was a flight lieutenant flying the Hawker Tempest, one of the fastest and most rugged piston-engined fighters in the RAF. He flew numerous ground attack missions, as well as taking on the Luftwaffe. Indeed, Clostermann conveys to the reader the drama, intensity, and sheer terror of air combat. I would rank "THE BIG SHOW" as one of the best air combat memoirs that I've yet read.
November 3, 2012
Possibly the best book I've read about the air war in WW2, up there with the best like "First Light"
November 7, 2019
One of the best of the accounts I've read of WW2 in the air written by a pilot. This ranks alongside Wellum's First Light in my opinion.
Don't be put off by the fact that the writer is French or that his story begins well after the Battle of Britain.
Don't be put off by the fact that the writer is French or that his story begins well after the Battle of Britain.
February 4, 2025
Phenomenal from start to finish, Clo Clo doesn't shy away from the hard facts of the deadly day to day. The chapter on how fear works alone would be worth the price of entry.
May 29, 2010
LE livre qui a lancé mon intérêt pour la Seconde Guerre mondiale, certainement parmi mon top cinq des meilleurs livres. Mon exemplaire, en édition originale 1948, relu plusieurs fois, tombe malheureusement en lambeaux tellement je l'ai lu et relu, au point que l'objet fait maintenant figure de relique!
Clostermann a une plume intense, décrivant de manière haletante son épopée à travers la guerre aérienne en Europe de l'ouest. Sans être un auteur génial, le rythme de son écriture est captivant. Il semble que l'édition Le Grand Cirque 2000 soit enrichie de commentaires supplémentaires de l'auteur au sujet de son expérience d'après-guerre.
Je ne peux que très chaudement recommander ce livre à tous ceux qui veulent vivre un peu de cette guerre des airs. L'auteur, en plus de nous emporter dans l'intensité du moment, livre également de nombreux détails techniques et quelques images fortes.
Clostermann a une plume intense, décrivant de manière haletante son épopée à travers la guerre aérienne en Europe de l'ouest. Sans être un auteur génial, le rythme de son écriture est captivant. Il semble que l'édition Le Grand Cirque 2000 soit enrichie de commentaires supplémentaires de l'auteur au sujet de son expérience d'après-guerre.
Je ne peux que très chaudement recommander ce livre à tous ceux qui veulent vivre un peu de cette guerre des airs. L'auteur, en plus de nous emporter dans l'intensité du moment, livre également de nombreux détails techniques et quelques images fortes.
October 9, 2017
I thought I knew about the events of WWII. And indeed I do, at least as far as the broad sweep is concerned, and the details of the Battle of Britain and the bombing campaign. But, reading this, I realised that I had assumed that after D-Day, the life of a fighter pilot on the front line was pretty relaxed. How wrong can you be.
Clostermann survived, somehow, over 400 sorties, most of them after this date. He spent much of his time attacking German fighter bases, flying through massive flak barrages and then battling dozens or even hundreds of German fighters that dived on the survivors out of the clouds. Despite flying the best Allied fighter plane of the war, the Tempest, he frequently lost half his fellow pilots in a single sortie, and they flew up to four a day.
The courage he and his fellow RAF pilots displayed is unimaginable, despite the terror he admits to when facing flak, flying 50 feet from the ground at 500mph. He and his fellow pilots deserve at least that we know what they went through on our behalf.
Clostermann survived, somehow, over 400 sorties, most of them after this date. He spent much of his time attacking German fighter bases, flying through massive flak barrages and then battling dozens or even hundreds of German fighters that dived on the survivors out of the clouds. Despite flying the best Allied fighter plane of the war, the Tempest, he frequently lost half his fellow pilots in a single sortie, and they flew up to four a day.
The courage he and his fellow RAF pilots displayed is unimaginable, despite the terror he admits to when facing flak, flying 50 feet from the ground at 500mph. He and his fellow pilots deserve at least that we know what they went through on our behalf.
February 12, 2018
Kniha samotná patří mezi leteckými memoáry (nejen) z druhé světové války k naprostým vrcholům. Interpretace Jiřího Dvořáka jí ale posouvá ještě minimálně o jednu úroveň vzhůru. Jednoznačně stojí za poslech či přečtení.
July 27, 2025
Un chef-d’œuvre qui retrace l’histoire de Pierre Clostermann, pilote hors pair des FAFL, qui a rejoint dès 1941 le général de Gaulle à Londres. Il a refusé l’humiliation et la collaboration du régime de Vichy et se battra tout au long de la guerre face aux chasseurs intrépides de la Luftwaffe. Avec 33 victoires, il totalise le plus grand nombre de succès des Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres et est cité à l’ordre du jour comme « le premier chasseur de France » par le grand Charles. Il est l’homme le plus décoré de France grâce à sa bravoure, son courage et son refus d’abandonner sa chère patrie.
Ses mémoires permettent de mieux comprendre et de ressentir la violence des combats, la peur au moment des impacts de balles qui caillassent les ailes de l’avion, la vitesse des machines rasant le sol à des allures folles…
Passionné ou non par l’histoire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale ou de l’aviation, je le recommande à tout lecteur qui souhaite comprendre et ressentir la grandeur du ciel, la liberté, se sentir comme un oiseau au milieu d’un champ de braise et de centaines d’insectes s’affrontant dans des combats tous plus violents et tragiques les uns que les autres.
Ses mémoires permettent de mieux comprendre et de ressentir la violence des combats, la peur au moment des impacts de balles qui caillassent les ailes de l’avion, la vitesse des machines rasant le sol à des allures folles…
Passionné ou non par l’histoire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale ou de l’aviation, je le recommande à tout lecteur qui souhaite comprendre et ressentir la grandeur du ciel, la liberté, se sentir comme un oiseau au milieu d’un champ de braise et de centaines d’insectes s’affrontant dans des combats tous plus violents et tragiques les uns que les autres.
October 21, 2022
Every bit as exciting as I'd hoped, but a lot more human. Vivid descriptions of some very intense and terrifying moments and enough sense of narrative to hang it all together nicely. An ideal read for people who don't read a lot - short, self-contained chapters, real enough to smell the petrol.
Clostermann provides a window on a vanished world of almost casual bravery and sacrifice. Through its story arc we see him transformed and battered by his experiences while never losing his humility. It's been said that bravery is the one emotion you can't fake. This is a story of a man who faced death every day and, through his witness of multiple tragedies, never lost sight of what that really meant.
Clostermann provides a window on a vanished world of almost casual bravery and sacrifice. Through its story arc we see him transformed and battered by his experiences while never losing his humility. It's been said that bravery is the one emotion you can't fake. This is a story of a man who faced death every day and, through his witness of multiple tragedies, never lost sight of what that really meant.
January 4, 2020
Frenchman flying with the R.A.F. What a story.
I like the option from the other's who were there. It's so great to here from another point of view. Little is told from the other flier who in the fight over Europe. Mr. Clostermann gets you from the start . What he and his fellow pilots went through we hear very little of.
Thanks from history lesson. Thanks to you for writing it down. Like all us who serve then and we thank you.
I like the option from the other's who were there. It's so great to here from another point of view. Little is told from the other flier who in the fight over Europe. Mr. Clostermann gets you from the start . What he and his fellow pilots went through we hear very little of.
Thanks from history lesson. Thanks to you for writing it down. Like all us who serve then and we thank you.
January 9, 2021
Boring
I have no idea how much of the book is true and how much is “plausible” history. For sure though the style of writing was boring and made me wish I had google earth up 100% of the time.
I have no idea how much of the book is true and how much is “plausible” history. For sure though the style of writing was boring and made me wish I had google earth up 100% of the time.
July 28, 2024
Amazing action packed stories. One of the best Arial combat books I’ve read super detailed descriptions of operations and it’s stunning results. Exciting as hell to read, 5 stars doesn’t do it justice so good.
May 21, 2025
Fantastic first hand account of aerial warfare
October 8, 2025
“The Big Show was over. The public had been satisfied. The programme had been rather heavy, the actors not too bad, and the lions had eaten the trainer.”
Phenomenal read.
Phenomenal read.
December 16, 2021
Knjiga za preporuku ko voli ovu tematiku.
February 11, 2024
Very well written.
My only complaint is about the subject. I suppose you can only write about flying in so many ways.
The book did get slightly repetitive near the end.
My only complaint is about the subject. I suppose you can only write about flying in so many ways.
The book did get slightly repetitive near the end.
October 8, 2025
Great piece of work. The miracle of this book is that the author lived long enough to write it. Piloting WW2 fighter aircraft in dozens of sorties & dogfights [and living to talk about it] is truly an accomplishment.
September 3, 2022
Quite interesting, even for a person who doesn't enjoy reading details about different planes, etc. of WWII. It's so literary that I almost cannot believe the opening intro which states it was Clostermann's UNEDITED journal/memoir that he wrote at the time to be sent home to his father at Clostermann's death (since he assumed he would die in the war). Really gave me an appreciation for the war of attrition that happened during WWII with pilots. The last chapter was also one of the more poignant reflections on the era - Clostermann seemed to recognize that he had already lived the most exciting, "greatest" moments of his life and that both he and the world had short memories and would not remember the Big Show long. WWII servicemen weren't called the Greatest Generation for nothing - they not only had the opportunity, but also the character and drive to take advantage and make something of the cards they were dealt.
December 4, 2021
Few books have inspired me like this one. 1st person account from an exceptional pilot in exceptional times. I'm afraid to read it again. I'm afraid I might lose the magic.
May 7, 2024
Clostermann's account of a suicidal mission his squadron of Tempests was sent on in the closing months of the war in Europe exceeds the speeder attack on the snow walkers in the beginning of Empire Strikes Back in terms of sheer visual awesomeness. His squadron bursts from dense cloud cover to find itself over an airfield packed with German transports (including Arado 232s) about to carry personnel to Norway to escape the Allied advance, seaplanes trying to take off, and tons of 20mm and 37mm flak batteries. The rest of his squadron gets tangled up with 40+ German fighters providing cover for the transports and he dives down in a solo strafing run on the airfield. He damages a bunch of planes on the ground, and shoots down a seaplane as it tries to take off. He loses something like half his squadron of Tempests in the attack.
I had always thought that the Luftwaffe was basically out of comission after the invasion of Normandy, except in terms of strategic bomber defense, but Clostermann blew that idea away. The Luftwaffe strafes allied airfields, allied armored columns, flies high-speed reconnaissance flights in Me-262s, and engages in enormous (40+) fighter sweeps across the battlefield right until the end.
I also had no real idea how terrifying and deadly flak was until reading this. Or that the Luftwaffe achieved something like a 7:1 kill ratio against allied airplanes.
I had always thought that the Luftwaffe was basically out of comission after the invasion of Normandy, except in terms of strategic bomber defense, but Clostermann blew that idea away. The Luftwaffe strafes allied airfields, allied armored columns, flies high-speed reconnaissance flights in Me-262s, and engages in enormous (40+) fighter sweeps across the battlefield right until the end.
I also had no real idea how terrifying and deadly flak was until reading this. Or that the Luftwaffe achieved something like a 7:1 kill ratio against allied airplanes.
October 14, 2015
Exciting, amusing and terrifying by turns. This is a great personal memoir. Written at the time, he makes a number of mistakes due to censorship denying him the knowledge of what was really going on, but this makes it all the more interesting. The most interesting bit is towards the end when he goes back to France and is effectively cold-shouldered. He was an embarrassment. While he had been risking his life and seeing his friends killed, they had been sitting on their backsides knuckling under to the Germans. Fascinating read, pacily written.
November 10, 2019
Gives an excellent feeling for what a airman (in this case French) went through in WWII while serving as a fighter pilot with the RAF. I down rated it because while it claims to be from a journal written at the time, it clearly isn't. It has numerous verifiable inaccuracies. People who couldn't have been where he claims and airplanes flying when and where they didn't fly. If you can simply read it for the adventure and horror the author experienced, it's a great book.
August 23, 2020
Wow! Moje fascinace námořními boji byla právě překonána fascinací leteckými souboji. I want more.
Údajně nejúspěšnější francouzský stíhací pilot v knize popisuje své zážitky z války, letecké souboje a tak. Clostermann za svou kariéru zničil 72 lokomotiv, 225 nepřátelských vozidel, 1 ponorku ve spolupráci, 5 tanků či 2 torpédové čluny. Letadel podle vlastních záznamů sestřelil 33, ale to je podle některých zdrojů sporné, což jsem zatím ouplně nezkoumala.
Údajně nejúspěšnější francouzský stíhací pilot v knize popisuje své zážitky z války, letecké souboje a tak. Clostermann za svou kariéru zničil 72 lokomotiv, 225 nepřátelských vozidel, 1 ponorku ve spolupráci, 5 tanků či 2 torpédové čluny. Letadel podle vlastních záznamů sestřelil 33, ale to je podle některých zdrojů sporné, což jsem zatím ouplně nezkoumala.
February 21, 2019
Great memoirs of one of handful Frenchmen who did not give up... :)
April 30, 2023
Apparently, when this book was first released in the early 1950's, it was a best-seller - 2.5 million copies worldwide. I had never heard of this until it was mentioned as one of the great personal accounts of aerial warfare from World War II on the podcast "We Have Ways of Making You Talk" (highly recommended).
What made this book interesting to me was not that Closterman was a French pilot serving in the RAF, but the types of missions he flew which are rarely discussed in such detail within the conventional stories of the air war in the West. We are all accustomed to the "few" RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain; then there are the Mustang pilots tangling with the Luftwaffe over Germany. Oh, and let's not forget the stories of Bomber Command and the 8th Air Force with the almost impossible to attain minimum mission counts (30 and 25, respectively) before being pulled off the flight line.
OK, what am I talking about? Closterman flies 400+ (!!) missions ranging from:
- Spitfire sweeps over northern France in 1943, sometimes protecting bomber raids, sometimes just hunting for German planes
- Air patrols (Spitfires again) over Scapa Flow to protect the fleet
- More Spitfire fighter sweeps and fighter-bomber missions over France during the Normandy campaign
- Tempest fighter bomber attacks over Germany from February 1945 to the end of the war
Closterman sees countless buddies shot down including all of his French compatriots who initially joined him in 1942. He's wounded a few times, has crash landings, and as the war drags on, is increasingly exhausted. In 1944, he often flew three missions a day, sometimes in appalling weather. There are dogfights with Me-109s, Fw-190's and Ta-152's. His German opponents are skilled fliers for the most part. Flak is ever-present during the multiple raids on airfields, trains, and ports. There are even encounters with He-162, AR-234, and Me-262 jets.
Personal experience with air combat is hard to convert into words as everything happens so fast, you are moving in a 3D space, and there are intense physical strains upon the body. Nevertheless, Closterman does a good job depicting all of this.
What was most revelatory to me was the strength of the German air force even in February 1945 onwards. Per Closterman, it was not unusual to go out on a mission with 8-12 Tempests and encounter 30+ German Fw-190s. Even in April 1945, the Luftwaffe was still sortieing jets (where did the fuel come from?). I had this notion there was total Allied air superiority by this time in the war but this seems to not be the case.
There's a poignant moment when five new, just graduated Tempest pilots join Closterman's wing and within three (3) days, they are all killed.
I can't begrudge anything that Closterman wrote as I wasn't there and didn't participate. What's missing from the book is much depth on Closterman's perspective on his immediate higher command. While he admits to being very tired and war-weary, he does his assigned missions despite heavy attrition to the other planes in the squadron and wing. One senses a certain fatalism - you do your job and if you're going to "buy it", so be it. It reminded me of a similar book, The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45, about George McGovern, a B-24 pilot in Italy.
Closterman has a lot to say about his French pilot buddies in 1942 but by 1944, his fellow pilots get just the briefest of characterizations, usually just before a mission where they (usually) don't return.
There's almost no description at all of times on leave, interactions with the mechanics. No liaisons with WAAFs or civilians. Precious little about life in barracks or pilot antics. The book is about flying missions and notable things that happened on those missions. It doesn't dwell on "interior thoughts" such as in the novel The Hunters (Korean War).
After reading the book, look up Closterman on the Internet for things where he was involved post-war. Some interesting stuff.
4 stars for exposing an aspect of the air war I was unfamiliar with. No pictures or maps.
What made this book interesting to me was not that Closterman was a French pilot serving in the RAF, but the types of missions he flew which are rarely discussed in such detail within the conventional stories of the air war in the West. We are all accustomed to the "few" RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain; then there are the Mustang pilots tangling with the Luftwaffe over Germany. Oh, and let's not forget the stories of Bomber Command and the 8th Air Force with the almost impossible to attain minimum mission counts (30 and 25, respectively) before being pulled off the flight line.
OK, what am I talking about? Closterman flies 400+ (!!) missions ranging from:
- Spitfire sweeps over northern France in 1943, sometimes protecting bomber raids, sometimes just hunting for German planes
- Air patrols (Spitfires again) over Scapa Flow to protect the fleet
- More Spitfire fighter sweeps and fighter-bomber missions over France during the Normandy campaign
- Tempest fighter bomber attacks over Germany from February 1945 to the end of the war
Closterman sees countless buddies shot down including all of his French compatriots who initially joined him in 1942. He's wounded a few times, has crash landings, and as the war drags on, is increasingly exhausted. In 1944, he often flew three missions a day, sometimes in appalling weather. There are dogfights with Me-109s, Fw-190's and Ta-152's. His German opponents are skilled fliers for the most part. Flak is ever-present during the multiple raids on airfields, trains, and ports. There are even encounters with He-162, AR-234, and Me-262 jets.
Personal experience with air combat is hard to convert into words as everything happens so fast, you are moving in a 3D space, and there are intense physical strains upon the body. Nevertheless, Closterman does a good job depicting all of this.
What was most revelatory to me was the strength of the German air force even in February 1945 onwards. Per Closterman, it was not unusual to go out on a mission with 8-12 Tempests and encounter 30+ German Fw-190s. Even in April 1945, the Luftwaffe was still sortieing jets (where did the fuel come from?). I had this notion there was total Allied air superiority by this time in the war but this seems to not be the case.
There's a poignant moment when five new, just graduated Tempest pilots join Closterman's wing and within three (3) days, they are all killed.
I can't begrudge anything that Closterman wrote as I wasn't there and didn't participate. What's missing from the book is much depth on Closterman's perspective on his immediate higher command. While he admits to being very tired and war-weary, he does his assigned missions despite heavy attrition to the other planes in the squadron and wing. One senses a certain fatalism - you do your job and if you're going to "buy it", so be it. It reminded me of a similar book, The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45, about George McGovern, a B-24 pilot in Italy.
Closterman has a lot to say about his French pilot buddies in 1942 but by 1944, his fellow pilots get just the briefest of characterizations, usually just before a mission where they (usually) don't return.
There's almost no description at all of times on leave, interactions with the mechanics. No liaisons with WAAFs or civilians. Precious little about life in barracks or pilot antics. The book is about flying missions and notable things that happened on those missions. It doesn't dwell on "interior thoughts" such as in the novel The Hunters (Korean War).
After reading the book, look up Closterman on the Internet for things where he was involved post-war. Some interesting stuff.
4 stars for exposing an aspect of the air war I was unfamiliar with. No pictures or maps.
January 31, 2021
There have been many, deserved, accolades for Pierre Clostermann's account of his service as a Free French pilot flying for the RAF during the Second World War. For myself, I just want to say it opened my eyes to something that I had never considered before in reading accounts of the closing year of the war. Scan the histories of the campaigns from the Normandy landings to the fall of Berlin and you'll see bland statements along the lines that the Allies had complete aerial superiority, that German armour and troop movements had to take place at night to avoid being strafed by marauding Typhoons and Tempests. In comparison to the Battle of Britain or the Bomber offensive, it all sounds pretty straightforward. Turns out, it wasn't that at all. Clostermann flew through to the end of the war and the struggle he describes, with the Luftwaffe, who were a long way from being completely beaten, and even more with the anti-aircraft batteries that clustered around the targets they were assigned to attack tells a very different, and seldom told, story. How much more difficult to fly into a wall of flak when you know that the war is all but over and the instinct for self-preservation grows ever stronger. That pilots such as Clostermann did so, for precious little praise afterwards, says volumes for their courage and their dedication. I can only stand in awe before their sacrifice and steadfastness.
January 21, 2020
War as it was : The real story and the real History.
Very young French (19 years ) fighter pilot in the European Theatre, flying initially with the French Forces and subsequently with the RAF. 33 confirmed kills along with innumerable trains and war materiel destroyed. Fascinating account written in 1947 on the basis of daily dairies kept by the author during the war, who by the end of the hostilities , age 25, was in charge of a British fighter group comprising 120 planes and more than 900 personnel . ´ Magnifique ´, but at the same time, very sad.
As an aside , for those concerned as to which was the “ best “ WWII Fighter, this is one of the best accounts as to different planes flown by the author: Spitfire, Typhoon, Tempest . -The latest one had actually faster performance than our P-51 Mustang with the Merlin engine-. His, Pierre Closterman ‘s writing clearly shows that the comparison between the Allies and Nazis planes has to be carefully formulated in terms of time periods ( 1939, 1940 etc ), as well as specific parameters ( altitude being the most important one ) in which the “ Dog Fights “ took place in order to come up with a preferred candidate.
What a wonderful and sad story narrated contemporarily by the author.
Jose M PAREDES MD
Very young French (19 years ) fighter pilot in the European Theatre, flying initially with the French Forces and subsequently with the RAF. 33 confirmed kills along with innumerable trains and war materiel destroyed. Fascinating account written in 1947 on the basis of daily dairies kept by the author during the war, who by the end of the hostilities , age 25, was in charge of a British fighter group comprising 120 planes and more than 900 personnel . ´ Magnifique ´, but at the same time, very sad.
As an aside , for those concerned as to which was the “ best “ WWII Fighter, this is one of the best accounts as to different planes flown by the author: Spitfire, Typhoon, Tempest . -The latest one had actually faster performance than our P-51 Mustang with the Merlin engine-. His, Pierre Closterman ‘s writing clearly shows that the comparison between the Allies and Nazis planes has to be carefully formulated in terms of time periods ( 1939, 1940 etc ), as well as specific parameters ( altitude being the most important one ) in which the “ Dog Fights “ took place in order to come up with a preferred candidate.
What a wonderful and sad story narrated contemporarily by the author.
Jose M PAREDES MD
March 11, 2024
This was a pretty good in the cockpit account of a fighter pilots exploits during the latter half of World War II. It is written in the first person by the pilot himself. Clostermann does a fine job in relating to the reader the comradeship, elan and absolute terror faced by the pilots on a day to day basis. He also not only brings the reader in about the performance details of the aircraft he was flying, but also on some of the aircraft he was flying against. I was also in awe of how he paid homage not only to Allied pilots, but also to fallen German pilots. This was especially true in the case of Walter Nowotny. Allowing the reader to understand that the enemy pilots were not demons or devils, but simply soldiers ordered into combat to defend their flag just as they were. The only item that would cause the reader any concern and in my opinion kept me from giving this book a 5-star rating his simply linguistics. I had no problem with the prose or the format selected by the author. The only issue came from the fact that Pierre Clostermann was a Frenchman, and that there were spots in the text that his command of the English language was challenged in a few passages. Not enough to make the passage not understandable, but just enough to notice. It was a small price for what is otherwise an excellent work. To date, this is the finest first person account I have ever read! Truly well done Mr. Clostermann.
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