Air Aces
Shores, Christopher
An Ace is generally accepted as a fighter pilot who has shot down five or more enemy aircraft. Since the beginning of air fighting each war and campaign has produced its air aces. This book not only describes the fighting careers of the famous fighter pilots, but places their achievements in the context of the conditions under which they fought. For example, the 352 victories of the Luftwaffe ace Erich Hartmann could only have been gained over the Russian Front in World War II.
Air combat began over the Western Front in World War l, where Immelmann and Boelke of Germany, Albert Ball of Britain and Guynemer of France all won early acclaim. Their lone-wolf tactics gave way later in World War l to swirling dogfights between large formations of fighters and in such combat new aces emerged. Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, was the leading German ace with 80 Allied aircraft destroyed, followed closely by Ernst Udet and Werner Voss. On the Allied side were Mannock, McCudden, and Bishop of the British Empire, with Fonck and Nungesser of France.
In the early years of World War II the Luftwaffe had the advantage, many of the German aces, including Galland and Molders, being experienced veterans of the Spanish Civil War. Yet their opponents in the RAF were quick to learn, as the careers of Bader, Tuck, Johnson, Malan and the night fighter ace, John Cunningham, were to demonstrate.
The United States' entry into the war produced a new crop of aces, with men like Gabreski and Johnson in Europe and Bong and McGuire in the Pacific. The war in Russia saw the greatest air battles and the highest personal scores of all time. The Soviet ace, Ivan Kozhedub, was the top Allied ace with 62 kills, but this achievement was dwarfed by that of the two Luftwaffe top scorers, Hartmann with 352 kills and Barkhorn with 301.
The Jet age has also produced its aces, notably the successful USAF pilots of the Korean War, where Sabre pilots knocked down 829 Communist aircraft for the loss of only 78 of their own fighters. Vietnam added to the roll of American aces and the Arab-Israeli and Indo-Pakistan Wars saw many combats between Jet fighters. The story is brought up to date with an account of the air war over the Falkland Islands and the successes of the Royal Navy Sea Harrier pilots.
This exhaustively researched book contains a wealth of information on the air aces of modern warfare. Tables give statistics on all wars since 1914, including lesser known ones like the Russian Civil War and the IndoPakistan conflicts. Individual biographies are included on the greatest aces — Lufberry, Gabreski, Galland and Bong to name but a few. More than 250 color and black and white photographs many of them rarely seen, show the aces and aircraft they flew.
Hardcover with dust jacket, large format
192 Seiten / pages
more than 250 color and black and white photographs
very good condition
Novato, California USA - 1983 - Presidio Press
Art.Nr. 23851
