Hitler's Personal Pilot: Life and Times of Hans Baur

Rating:
Summary: A superbly researched and written military biography
Review: Hitler's Personal Pilot: The Life And Times Of Hans Baur is a fascinating, "insider's" account of the inner workings of Adolph Hitler's Nazi inner circle from the perspective of the only person that Hitler flew with through World War II. When the tide of war turned against the Germans, Hitler often turned to Hans Baur for advice about war policy and technical developments. Baur, blindly loyal to Hitler, was captured and imprisoned by the Soviets. Aviation historian C.G. Sweeting's Hitler's Personal Pilot is a superbly researched and written military biography that along with providing an informative picture of the air equipment used by the German air force of the time, also provides fresh and welcome insights and perspectives on the homicidal and suicidal men who were the principle architects behind the horrors of the Nazi regime and who led Germany to its destruction.

Rating:
Summary: A superbly researched and written military biography
Review: Hitler's Personal Pilot: The Life And Times Of Hans Baur is a fascinating, "insider's" account of the inner workings of Adolph Hitler's Nazi inner circle from the perspective of the only person that Hitler flew with through World War II. When the tide of war turned against the Germans, Hitler often turned to Hans Baur for advice about war policy and technical developments. Baur, blindly loyal to Hitler, was captured and imprisoned by the Soviets. Aviation historian C.G. Sweeting's Hitler's Personal Pilot is a superbly researched and written military biography that along with providing an informative picture of the air equipment used by the German air force of the time, also provides fresh and welcome insights and perspectives on the homicidal and suicidal men who were the principle architects behind the horrors of the Nazi regime and who led Germany to its destruction.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting supplement to Baur's own autobiography
Review: This is an interesting examination of the life of Hitler's pilot, Hans Baur. He lived to be well into his 90's and was a fascinating man who had unique access to the Fuehrer. Baur was in Russian captivity for 10 years and wrote his autobiography after being released in 1956; the book is the basis of much of the material here.

Baur met Hitler in 1932 and began flying him at that time. He was part of the Obersalzberg inner circle, as well as the Berlin crowd, and he knew Eva Braun fairly well. He also begged Hitler in 1945 to allow him to fly him out of the Bunker, but Hitler told him he had to die in his nation's capital, not at his Bavarian vacation home!

The book concentrates, naturally, on Baur's relationship with Hitler and others in the Nazi hierarchy. It is weaker on Baur's life post-1956, especially his years spent in retirement on the shores of a Bavarian lake. Still, for anyone with an interest in the inner workings of Hitler's entourage, this is an excellent book.