THROUGH THE EYES OF THE WORLD'S FIGHTER ACES: THE GREATEST FIGHTER PILOTS OF WORLD WAR TWO

This is the story of the fighter aces who flew throughout the war in many different operational theatres.

The book opens with the first Polish Aces during the German invasion and continues with Finland's pilots in the Winter War against the Soviets. There follows the battle for France with the experiences of RAF, Luftwaffe and French Aces and then the legendary Battle of Britain. North Africa became a critical area, together with the heroic defence of Malta and air battles over Greece and the Balkans that were fought in 1941. The Eastern front opened with operation Barbarosso where German aces were created by the dozen, flying superior aircraft against an ill-trained Soviet air force - and then in the north when pilots battle for air supremacy over Leningrad and the Russian seaports.

When Japan entered the fray in 1942 their first aces flew over Singapore, Java and Sumatra and the early US Marine aces earned their spurs at Gaudalcanal.

Back in Europe RAF fighter pilots were taking the war to the enemy and in the southern theatre, the Desert and Balkan Air Forces struck into the southern belly of the Reich. After D-Day British and American fighter units supported the Allied land advance and also defended London against Hitler's V-1s, whilst in the east Soviet aces battled over Berlin. In the closing stages of the war Germany introduced its first jet fighter aces and then finally in the days before the atomic bombs we read of the Japanese aces flying in desperate defence of their homeland as it comes under air attack for the first time.

Some of the Aces included are:- Polish – Sidorowicz, Skalski; British - Rankin, Duke, Cunningham, Stevens, Lock, McKellar, Lacey, Carey, Farquher, Pinkerton: German - Rall, Marseille, Galland, Müncheberg, Balthasar, Wick, Mölders, Steinhoff: New Zealand - Deere, Gray, Jacobsen, Kain: French - Le Gloan, Guieu, Accart, La Meslée: Czech - Kuttelwascher, Josef, Frantisek: Polish -Skalski, Urbanowicz,

Frantisek: South African - Malan, Pattle: Canadian - Beurling: American - McCuskey, Foss, Carl, Smith, Morehead: Japanese - Sakai, Nishizawa: Russian - Lavrinenkov, Platov, Pokryshkin, Kokkinaki.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

ROBERT JACKSON is the author of over eighty books on military, aviation, naval and scientific subjects. He was defense and science correspondent for a major British newspaper publishing group. Among the other books he has compiled for Pen & Sword are Bf-109 in the FlightCraft series and for TankCraft he has written extensively on the T-34, the Panzer I and II, the Centurion and Chieftain Main Battle Tanks as well as the Russian T54/55.

(Source : amazon.com)