ebooks Luftwaffe Fighter Ace by Norbert Hannig; John Weal in History

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. "LEFT-HAND WHEEL; RIGHT- HAND RAIL."By P. A. PanozzoNorbert Hannig was a Luftwaffe ace with 42 kills and was a member of JG 54 "Green hearts" (named after the symbol for Thuringia - the green heart of Germany - and adopted as the squadron motif). I particularly enjoyed reading Hannig's experience as he related in some detail; his flights in gliders and then Luftwaffe pilot training. He had a stint as an instructor after serving on the Eastern front with JG 54 and eventually finished up with training on the ME 262 and operations with JG 7. His experience as a PoW of the Americans; Russians; and British was amazing and is the best chapter in the book! This is a valuable and insightful history well illustrated with terrific photos from Hannig's collection. I highly recommend this title as well as Franz Kurowski's Luftwaffe Aces - German Combat Pilots of WW II. Luftwaffe Aces: German Combat Pilots of World War II (Stackpole Military History Series). For more details on JG 54 Green hearts; I recommend Jagdgeschwader 54 : 'Grunherz' (Osprey Aviation Elite 6) by John Weal.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Very good bookBy Botnik RollerOne of the leading experts on Luftwaffe matters; John Weal; has helped German Luftwaffe pilot Norbert Hannig to put his memoirs about World War II into printing. And the result was a very good book.As an incredibly young pilot; Hannig volunteered for the LUftwaffe; and went to JG 54 in March 1943. From that point until the end of the war; he flied non stop; getting a six month rest from operations to become a instructor. He ended the war with 42 air kills; and even converted to the ME-262 in April 1945; although not scoring with the plane due to the simple fact of the war ending.The book is very well written and fast flowing; and we have a really good insight about Luftwaffe procedures; operations and bureaucracy. Also; the phto session is amazing; stupend photos; sicen his glider days until the end.The book has a lot of famous Luftwaffe names going through it; like Trautloft; Rall; Ruddorfer; Bar; Lang.However; there is a disturbing event about a famoous ocurrence: the day Emil Lang show down 18 Russian planes. Lang was the leader of Hannig's staffel. The squadron retreated due to the ongoing Soviet offensive; and left only six aircratf behind (Lang and Hannig amongst them) to help the German troops the way they found better. They devised a schedule for each rotte (two planes) to take off for each mission. Lang; however; wanted to get his 100th victory; and kept asking for the other guys to go up again. So; in this way; each time he toof off; he landed after the mission and said something like "I got four". And; in this way; he got 18 victories in the day; all confirmed by his wingman (who also shot down planes). There were congratulations; etc. This begs the question: if the writer himself (and other sources) says that a claim took sometimes a year to be confirmed; how could Lang and the press and Luftwaffe be already congratulating him even before the confirming process happened? How could Lang and his wingman; in such turmoil of being outnumbered 10-1 or 20-1 by Russian planes; be capable and having the time to confirm that all these 18 planes really struck the ground; exploded or the pilot baled out? Simply impossible. If he took time to do so ; he would have been clobbered.For me; this episode alone; once and for all; proves that German scores are inflated; not because of foul play; but simply because the confirming process was not so hard as people say. Yes; there should be a witness or gun camera. But that is not enough. This happend also in the day Marseille got 16 in one day. No way.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Remmembering how it was ...By Cactus FredThe reason I liked this bio is because it brought back memories of my own survival during WWII and the post war period. I think Norbert Hanning captured the combat environment pretty accurately; as well as the thinking and feelings one experienced back then. I enjoyed this read and constantly go back to this book as well as other Aces stories and on-line sources for a more comprehensive view of aviation history during WWII and the post-war period. I am specifically interested in the survival aspects/issues of air combat and the political survival issues in that period. This book met my expectations.