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Summary: AN EXCEPTIONAL WORK
Review: I was very pleasantly surprised as to the handsomeness of this volume and also the quality of its' contents. (Amazon kindly sent me a First Edition!) Highly researched, the Author did a masterful job of documentation and verification of Marseille's air victories from both sides of the belligerents. The aerial drama was placed within the proper context of the overall struggle between the land, sea, and air forces of the Afrika Corps and the British Empire. The publication is richly endowed with photographs and inputs from the people who knew the Ace. The Author also enabled me to imagine that I was a "back seat observer" whenever the "Star of Africa" flew an operational sortie: Fully explaining the attributes, physical excellence, strategies, & techniques that separated his meteroic success from that of the ordinary pilot. There was no sloppy sentimentality here to spoil the text. I heartily recommend this book and say to the author, "well done!"
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Summary: The saga of possibly the greatest fighter pilot of WWII
Review: This beautifully crafted book chronicles the legendary feats of Hans-Joachim-Marseille, Germany's "Ace of Aces" in WWII and arguably the greatest fighter pilot of WWII, if not of all time.Easy to read and thoroughly exciting, this book is a real gem. Highly recommended!
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Summary: The Ace of Aces in WWII
Review: This book is very intersting and a good reading, about the German Top Ace against west opponents. But, are the facts true?Did he shot down 17 planes in one day? Where the south-african pilots so bad?! Well, the book is good also because it gives a picture of the whole of JG-27, one of the most famous units in Luftwaffe.
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Summary: Great book on the greatest fighter pilot
Review: This is probably the best book on one of, if not the, greatest fighter pilot of the war. Even though there are a few Marseille bios out there, this book is definitely the best and worth it! The pictures and narrative are enjoyable and provide a fairly comprehensive account of Marseille's life. Marseille's 158 kills by Sept 30 1942 all against allied pilots, his idiosyncratic flying style, 17 kills in one day, and an average of 14 bullets per kill probably make him the greatest fighter pilot of all time and maybe the greatest combat pilot after Rudel. He also died after an engine failure, rather than being shot down. Kurowski provides a great chronicle of Marseille's life!
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Summary: The Ace of Aces in WWII
Review: When looking at the list of German aces who scored over 100 kills one finds HansJoachim Marseille way behind at least 25 other aces, but he ranks above all of them because of his most amazing achievement:He had the highest number of kills against the Western Allies in WWII, thus it can be said that he ranks with Manfred von Richthofen. At one time it seemed as if Adolf Galland would become the "Richthofen" of WWII, but that place was destined for this young Berliner of French descent. It is even more convincing because it was Galland who called Marseille "the unrivalled virtuoso of German fighter pilots". Praise from Galland was hard to come, especially for rivals. And considering the fact that there were so many outstanding aces to chose from,it is highly justified. Many eastern front aces are unknown to most but where ever a discussion of fighter aces takes place, the name of Marseille crops up sooner or later. But Marseille wasn't just a high scoring ace, his charm, flair for childish pranks and affable manners secured him a special place in the hearts of his countrymen and in aviation history. A lot has been said about the top marksmen of the luftwaffe, and that "Marseille is one of them", in my opinion, the ace who needed barely fifteen rounds on average for a kill could hardly be called "one of the best" but was "the best" marksman of the Luftwaffe or any other airforce. And I believe it was Rall,"one of the best marksmen" who admitted that Marseille was the man to beat. Rather like the top U-Boat Ace Ottokar Kretschmer, whose motto was "one torpedo, one ship", instead of the traditional fan of torpedoes fired by most commanders for a ship. Both used their ammunition with devastating effect. This book details all his exploits and the successful aces who emulated his techniques. Marseille died after bailing out from a new Bf109G, hitting his head on the tail,. It seemed the fate of the best to die undefeated in combat, Moelders, Lent(one of the immortal nightfighter aces), Prinz Sayn zu-Wittgenstein(another great nightfighter ace) all went to their deaths in accidents one way or the other.And it seemed with his death the fortunes of the Afrika Korps which he had supported so well also changed. Kurowski has written a fine biography, and it is essential reading for aviation buffs and historians.
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