THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP discussion

Not sure, but for aviation some may like my book The Me-262 Stormbird. This is a history of the jet, but heavy with the first person comments from Allied and German pilots, as they discussed the war, politics and their personal battles either in or against the jets in the airwar. My website has more details, and a dedicated page.

We also have The German Aces Speak, full interviews, first person, and The Star of Africa, covering the life of hans-Joachim Marseille, heavy with comments from other pilots who knew him or flew against him in North Africa and Europe.

Chin Joo wrote: "Then I'll start on this one.



When I was in secondary school two friends quarreled over this bomber. One thinks it is a beauti..."

I may read this too Chin Joo as I have a copy at home and really enjoyed this by the author

An excellent selection Chin Joo and a book that I have to read myself one day soon!

Geevee wrote: "I may read this too ... "

Hi Geevee, the author said that he had the idea of writing the book on the Lancaster while he was interviewing a WW2 pilot for his Spitfire project. I've been trying to look for the Spitfire.


:) I wonder if by any chance his next book will be on the Mosquito.

That would be a good one Chin Joo and perhaps we should write and ask him :)

His next book due 22nd May next year is called "Operation Sealion: How Britain Crushed the German War Machine's Dreams of Invasion in 1940" (ISBN-13: 978-1848546981).

I have this by him too which I think you'd like

Sounds like an interesting book he has coming out soon Geevee, thanks for that information.

Damn, now I am thinking I should read one of Leo McKinstry's books since I have his three aircraft titles sitting in my library unread:

& & by Leo McKinstry

I don't know if this is permitted, but when I saw the discussion about the Lancaster bombers I remembered I'd seen something about a short film currently in production (possibly in post now). I tried to find something on IMDb but couldn't. I finally found a link to the facebook page, in case people are interested and can access the page.

https://www.facebook.com/Lancastermovie

Colin wrote: "happy wrote: "I'm also adding


to my reading list for this theme read

So I guess I will be reading at least 2 for this read"

I knew and interviewed ..."

Colin, I am now offically turning green :)

That's fine Darcy, thnaks for the link :)

Darcy wrote: "I don't know if this is permitted, but when I saw the discussion about the Lancaster bombers I remembered I'd seen something about a short film currently in production (possibly in post now). I tri..."

Nice link thanks Darcy.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Damn, now I am thinking I should read one of Leo McKinstry's books since I have his three aircraft titles sitting in my library unread:

& [bookco..."

Spitfire is a good book Rick.

Hermann Goering placed a 100,000 mark price tag on both Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable during the war. The fighter pilot who got either man would live large. Hitler matched that, as Eva Braun's favorite film was Gone With the Wind, and she wanted to meet Gable. True story.

Well, it WAS a great movie...

Tonight, I am going to watch for the umpteenth time, Henry Fonda's movie, "The Battle of the Bulge". I usually watch it whenever it is on. Not Memorial Day weekend here in Canada. We pay tribute to our military on Nov. 11th, Remembrance Day, every year. I hope all of my American friends here on GR, are having a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend.

I am halfway through
. I just read the about the famous "Nuts" refusal to surrender. The fact that this book does not have any maps -I am reading the Ebook version on my IPad-, is driving me crazy.

Colin wrote: "Hermann Goering placed a 100,000 mark price tag on both Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable during the war. The fighter pilot who got either man would live large. Hitler matched that, as Eva Braun's favo..."

Gable was hit with a bullet on his foot during one of the bombing runs over Germany...because of which Hollywood bosses requested Army brass to transfer him to desk duties which I believe was subsequently done...I wasn't aware of Eva Braun's fascination for Gable...Thanks for the info :)

Here is a great WWII aviation story to get the juices flowing for Aviation month:

SPITFIRE 944

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie3Srj...

For any member of this forum, I highly recommend the following book, which I read years ago:

Fork-Tailed Devil by Martin Caidin (about the P-38 Lightning)

That is a good book Komet. It has been yrs since I've read it.

After much deliberation and pulling books from my shelves I've settled on this by Sholto Douglas MRAF.

For those not familiar with Sholto Douglas here's his wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholto_D...

Thanks for the link to that aviation story Mike, great story.

Also some great books popping up for next month's theme read!

Mike wrote: "Here is a great WWII aviation story to get the juices flowing for Aviation month:

SPITFIRE 944

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie3Srj..."

Mike this is great thanks for posting. What a nice story and a lovely man.

Fighter Pilot by Paul RichiePaul Richey..I read this book years ago..has good collection of photographs..I remember the caption below a photo of two RAF pilots posing with arms around each other's shoulders "Great friends..they died together". I guess this rather sums up the camaraderie and esprit de corps of these brave men.
Another thing which comes to my mind is the professional and gentlemanly attitude displayed by the RAF towards captured German flyers.
I am going to read this book again this weekend

Great to hear Dhiraj, a nice, but sad story about the photo caption.

I waited to read for this theme read, so I will be starting that in a couple days. I've been eager to read this book since I read the author's first book A Few Great Captains: The Men and Events That Shaped the Development of U.S. Air Power which I loved. I might throw in a few other theme reads this month, but I'll wait to see what I'm in the mood for.

Chrissy wrote: "I waited to read for this theme read, so I will be starting that in a couple days. I've been eager to r..."

Good choice Chrissy. I need to give this one a reread.

Sounds like an excellent book there Chrissy, will be interested to hear your comments during the theme month.

Thanks Rick and Mike. I'll let y'all know how it goes :)

KOMET wrote: "For any member of this forum, I highly recommend the following book, which I read years ago:

Fork-Tailed Devil by Martin Caidin (about the P-38 Lightning)

"

I saw this book awhile ago and put it on my possible wishlist, but with your recommendation I finally just purchased a copy. My grandfather flew the P-38 in WWII so I'm always on the look-out for a good book on that plane.

An excellent book for the theme month Chrissy.

Well it's already June 1st over here in Australia but I will be a few days late starting my theme read. I've changed my mind and now think I will start off with this book:

by Peter Rees

I will be looking forward to seeing what other members will be reading in June.

I already have my book for June:

seems like more than a few of us are reading A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II

happy wrote: "seems like more than a few of us are reading A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II"

Great...that will make for a good discussion. I am more interested in the "human" side of our themes, rather than tactics or strategy. I think this book will be a good fit, based on the research I did to choose it.

Kicked off June theme with

I'll be interested in your views on that one Mike, keep us posted.

Thanks to the many excellent recommendations in this group, I've decided to read The Few: The American "Knights of the Air" Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain. I'm about a quarter done and enjoying it quite a bit.

Hi Jerry,

That's a very good book and an interesting story of the Americans who flew with the RAF during the Battle of Britain. I am sure you will enjoy it all the way to the end.

by Alex Kershaw

My friend Adam Makos who wrote 'A Higher Call' would be please that you are discussing his book, and I was proud that he asked me to work on it with him, and supply him with data from my interviews with Galland, Steinhoff, Stigler and others.

Colin wrote: "My friend Adam Makos who wrote 'A Higher Call' would be please that you are discussing his book, and I was proud that he asked me to work on it with him, and supply him with data from my interviews..."

Thanks for letting me know that you were involved in the creation of this book, Colin. I am looking forward to reading it. I know who to come to with questions, now! I shall look forward to additional communications between us. What a great compliment to you, and a privilege to be able to speak with these amazing, brave men.

Started this and some 1/3rd in by Sholto Douglas MRAF (Marshal of the Royal Air Force) :

It is very interesting on his views of the discussions with contemporaries and indeed interpretations by historians on things like the Big Wing (not as bad spirited as some suggest) and Dowding's views of minimum squadron numbers for the impending Battle of Britain (not the 25 as Churchill states in his multi-volume history of WWII). This is a very readable and certainly not dry memoir.

Hi all,

Well this was a well-timed gift from a friend:



The biography of a Kiwi fighter pilot in North Africa, Italy, and in the Assam/Burma front.

Hoping to get a couple others under my belt during the month, as Peart's book is short-ish (225 pages of large text).

by

and

by

Seems folks are reading some great aviation books, can't wait to join you, just have to finish a few other books first.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Seems folks are reading some great aviation books, can't wait to join you, just have to finish a few other books first."

Sounds familiar!

Damn, I might have a change of mind about what to read for this theme month, am thinking about reading this book next:

by Bruce Gamble

This should be added to any aviation list

Samurai! The Autobiography of Japan's Bravest Fighter Ace

An awesome book

A good book indeed Allan, and only just re-released in hardback.


by Saburo Sakai

Allan wrote: "This should be added to any aviation list Samurai! The Autobiography of Japan's Bravest Fighter Ace An awesome book"

I read that so long ago I forgot about it. But as soon as you mentioned it, I could remember clearly, like it was yesterday, reading the tale of his flight back after he was wounded so badly. Great book and well worth a reread.

Well I started my June theme read and switched back to the new release on Australians in RAF Bomber Command.


by Peter Rees

Some statistics from the Introduction to my book:

On the 2074 days between 3 September 1939 and 8 May 1945, Bomber Command:

operated on 1481 nights and 1059 days - 74.4 per cent of all the nights and 52.5 per cent of all the days of the conflict;

flew 397,233 night sorties with 7953 aircraft lost;

flew 80,163 day sorties with 1000 aircraft lost; and

dropped approximately 972,322,000 kilograms of bombs, of which Lancasters dropped 40 per cent.