UNDER THE GUNS OF THE GERMAN ACES:
IMMELMANN, VOSS, GORING, LOTHAR VON RICHTOFEN:
THE COMPLETE RECORD OF THEIR VICTORIES & VICTIMS
Norman Franks & Hal Giblin
Grub Street, 1997.
NEW
copy, hardcover with dust jacket. Photographs
throughout, bibliography, index, 192 pages. "Following their imaginative
approach to identifying & describing all those airmen who were claimed by
Manfred von Richthofen in UNDER THE GUNS OF THE RED BARON, authors Franks &
Giblin have this time chosen four of the equally distinguished German aces of
WWI in order to profile the Allied airmen - British, French & American - whom
they fought. Firstly, Max Immelmann, the famed "Eagle of Lille", who accounted
for 17 British and French aeroplanes in the early days of air fighting, flying
the nimble Fokker Eindekker in 1915-1916. Next, the mercurial Werner Voss,
member of the two famous fighter units, Jasta 2 & Jasta 5, and finally
commander of Jasta 10. In 1817 he scored 45 of his 48 victories before falling
to the pilots of 56 Squadron in what has become known as the classic dogfight
of the First War. Thirdly, the infamous Hermann Goring,later more widely
recognized as head of the German Luftwaffe in WWII, he was nevertheless an ace
fighter pilot, seeing action throughout the war. He gained 22 victories and
rose to command the premier German air fighting unit, Jagdgeschwader Nr. 1. And
finally, the Red Baron's younger brother Lothar who flew with and later
comanded Jasta 11. Far more reckless than his elder sibling, Lothar
nevertheless achieved 40 combat victories between 1917 and 1918, despite being
wounded on several occasions. All four men received Germany's highest award for
bravery in action - the famed "Blue Max'. In total, 124 victories are recorded
and analysed in detail with accompanying photographs, maps and artwork. As in
the previous book, the research is meticulous and there are a great many
in-depth personal portraits of the men who were unlucky enough to find
themselves under the guns of these four deadly German aces.
$35.00
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