Luftwaffe Fighter Aces: The Jagdflieger and Their Combat Tactics and Techniques

Rating:
Summary: Informative and enjoyable
Review: Excellent and detailed account of the Jagdflieger aces and the war which they fought in the skies over Europe. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about this incredible TRUE story.

Rating:
Summary: A good Book
Review: How can one claim 352 victories? How can 106 pilots each claim a 100 or MORE victories? What were the Luftwaffe fighter aces doing? There's the book to tell you!
Mr. Spick first starts off with a chapter explaining basic combat tactics and then dives into the history, starting with the Spanish Civil War and ending with retreat from the East and the Jet Aces. Lots of first person accounts, detailed information on both German and Allied aircraft, and postwar examination of military records. Mr. Spick also deals with issues of training, climate and even morale!
A must for anybody interested in World War II, the Luftwaffe or just the development of 20th century air combat in general.

Rating:
Summary: How did the German fighter aces do so well?
Review: How can one claim 352 victories? How can 106 pilots each claim a 100 or MORE victories? What were the Luftwaffe fighter aces doing? There's the book to tell you!
Mr. Spick first starts off with a chapter explaining basic combat tactics and then dives into the history, starting with the Spanish Civil War and ending with retreat from the East and the Jet Aces. Lots of first person accounts, detailed information on both German and Allied aircraft, and postwar examination of military records. Mr. Spick also deals with issues of training, climate and even morale!
A must for anybody interested in World War II, the Luftwaffe or just the development of 20th century air combat in general.

Rating:
Summary: What a great little book...
Review: I bought a copy of this book three years ago. I loaned it to someone and never got it back so I bought another copy which I have almost worn out. "Extremely readable" would be an understatement. No student of air combat can afford to be without this little gem, especially at the price. The author, a prolific and highly respected aviation writer, gives a concise, lucid account of the way the Luftwaffe pilots developed their tactics from the Spanish Civil War to the end of WWII. This is not the weighty tome you might expect. It doesn't tell you "everything"; it doesn't pretend to either. The highlights are the little biographies at the end of each chapter and the insight into some rarely-covered topics, such as the air war at night. First class, as I said.

Rating:
Summary: ok book on the luftwaffe
Review: I read this book a number of years ago. It gives a very general description of the jagdflieger in world war two. I re-read this book because I recently became interested in ww2 flight simulators. I was trying to gain some tactical insight. While the book does provide some insight, it falls short in this regard. Though a well reseached work with personal interviews from the legendary german aces: Hartmann, Rall ect. It does not break any new ground.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry, no news here...
Review: It seems like the author never took the time to do any research. Most of the information on tactics is either deducted from previously published pilot stories or based on common knowledge about the subject, and brings nothing new to the table. It's probably a good, cheap and readable book for the novice but borrows heavily from well known sources, making it a waste of money for the person who already has a few book on the subject.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe a good first book
Review: Sometime studying the opponent is much more instructive than glorifying the victor. As long as this book is concerned, the riveting description of German training, tactics and traditions is really exhaustive.

It is surprising to see how long the duty tour was for a German pilot and how dedicated they were to their job, under the word of honor and chilvary that permeated the Luftwaffe tradition. Notwithstanding this credit and a self taught decency, despite the terrible strain of combat, the portrait of their character and lifestyle is really vivid. But even if this psychological trait is instrumental to understand the German aces achievement in battle, the most interesting feature of the volume is the comprehensive examination of pilot training practices, mental preparation and flying skills. A large discussion of combat tactics and fighting methods is presented for each ace, well depicted in the contest of climate, theater of war and available equipment.

Beautifully researched, the book is quite easy to read and each chapter is a clearcut account of all threads leading to a conclusive analysis of how German aces outscored the Allied by a wide margin.

Rating:
Summary: Very readable book
Review: The book shows the history of the Luftwaffe during World War 2, and a little about the origins of it. Also it elaborates on a number of the top Experten (Aces) of the German air force of that time.

It shows a number of tactics and maneuvers in simple but clear drawings, but is not covering this in-depth.

However, it is clear enough to show you how the German flyers could ammass the number of air-victories they had, and what difficulties and advantages they had over their opponents.

The book is very readable, offering once in a while statistical/technical information to provide a background on the why's and where's of the airial combats.

Rating:
Summary: Luftwaffe Fighter Aces:The Jagdflieger & Their Combat Tactic
Review: Well written & informative book. Good first person accounts from veterans & of aircraft operation <e.g.: Bf-109>. Well laid out & organized. Great companion book to "The First and the Last"(Galland), "Horrido!" & "The Blond Knight of Germany"(Tolliver & Constable), as well as other Luftwaffe history & bios I own & have read.

I gave it 4 Stars instead of 5 ONLY because my copy was not bound very well (paperback) & I had to re-glue many of the pages. Photo pages were good, although some were not reproduced very clearly. Also found one table that had aircraft specs mis-labeled (Height & length <of one French fighter aircraft> reversed).

Overall, I throughly enjoyed reading this book.