The Blue Max (Cassell Military Paperbacks)

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite World War I Novel...
Review: I've read this book many times. Unlike other WWI Novels, this one has aged well. The movie that was based on this is altogether a different creature, yet both are enjoyable. Stachel realizes his shortcomings in the film, yet is carried away by all the glory that is swept over him. In the novel, Stachel is a full time passenger on the low self esteem bandwagon and his winning the Blue Max seems not to change him a wit. Only near the end does he seem to glimpse hope, yet all runs afoul due to his own selfishness.

The aerial action scenes are good (though I had a problem with one scene where Stachel and Von Klugermann are jumped by five SPADS, Stachel is flying a Pfalz {a sluggish aircraft at best}, and Von Klugermann, an Albatros, but during the melee, they shoot down three, yet they seem to suffer nary a scratch which I'm sorry seems unlikely, one of them would have been brought down or at the very least, shot up), and there's plenty of them. Sometimes I get the feeling that Mr. Hunter held the RAF in low esteem, but that's just me being analytical. His characterizations are first rate, and the novel moves along briskly. His observations into alcoholism are fantastic. His description of Stachel's need for alcohol and the release he believes that it gives is harrowing.

A good read.

Rating:
Summary: The Blue Max is highly researched and tersely written
Review: Jack D. Hunter meticulously researched his WW1 novel about German ace pilots, their airplanes, and the fierce competition they employed in their quest for the country's highest military award, the "Blue Max." Vastly superior to the film by the same name, the novel features superb characterisation of its hero, Bruno Stachel, the alcoholic fighter-ace whose arrogance spells his undoing in the story's ending. Aviation buffs will delight in the wealth of detail about planes and tactics. The dialogue rings true and the plot is fast paced.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Aviation classics of the Great War
Review: Jack D. Hunter produced what may be the finest novel of the genre. The study of Bruno Stachel is superb, and the subtext of his struggle with alcoholism permits the reader to examine a deplorable but eventually sympathetic character.

The aerial sequences are beautifully written and the author's easy familiarity with aircraft types of the period is evident.

The motion picture is a shallow, banal version of this work and the two stories are almost unrelated. She the movie if you must, but read the book regardless