Recommended reading on the Luftwaffe

[Benoit Douville]

The amazing series Black Cross & Red Star:

http://www.bergstrombooks.elknet.pl/bc-rs/

Volume 4 is comming soon!

Regards

[Bergveen]

There are many Luftwaffe books published by SCHIFFER (USA). Many books on the individual Jagdgeschwader, the whole air war aso.

[Mauser K98k]

A good book if you can find it is Luftwaffe Air Diaries by Cajus Bekker. It was first published in 1964 in the German language under the title Angriffshöhe 4000 and translated into English in 1966 and published by MacDonald & Company Ltd.

The book is an overview of the history of the Luftwaffe from the invasion of Poland on, and covers all major operations on all fronts. It is a blend of objective historical fact, personal accounts, eyewitness reports and borrows from several well-known German and Allied publications such as Galland's The First And The Last, Priller's History Of A Fighter Wing, the USAAF's The Army Air Forces In WWII and Richard and Sanders' Royal Air Force 1939-1945. It has many photos, and also has a respectable 19 appendices containing much good information such as orders of battle, tables of losses, aircraft production tables and so forth. This book will probably hold nothing new for many members of this forum, but it is a great read for those who are new to Luftwaffe History.

[Sven-Eric]

I am looking for books, in any language, with detailed information about the aircraft that was used by the Luftwaffe the first half of the 1930s, up to 1935. I am interested in technical specifications of all the bomber aircrafts that was in operation during this time. Hope someone has info about this.

Regards,
Sven-Eric

[Larry D.]

I am looking for books, in any language, with detailed information about the aircraft that was used by the Luftwaffe the first half of the 1930s, up to 1935. I am interested in technical specifications of all the bomber aircrafts that was in operation during this time. Hope someone has info about this.
Regards,
Sven-Eric

The Luftwaffe did not exist prior to 1935:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe

[Sven-Eric]

The Luftwaffe did not exist prior to 1935:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe

I stand corrected. So my question concerns the period February - December 1935.

[Larry D.]

There were perhaps 15 or 16 different types in service during the first 10 months of the Luftwaffe’s existence. These two works cover them in detail:

Green, William, The Warplanes of the Third Reich (Garden City (NY), 1972).
Smith, J.R. and Antony L. Kay, German Aircraft Of The Second World War (London, 1972).

[Sven-Eric]

Many thanks for this, Larry. I also heard about a book by Gunston and Wood named "Hitler's Luftwaffe". Heard of it? Is it any good?

Regards,
Sven-Eric

[Larry D.]

Many thanks for this, Larry. I also heard about a book by Gunston and Wood named "Hitler's Luftwaffe". Heard of it? Is it any good?
Regards,
Sven-Eric

Yes, it's a good effort but it's not as detailed as the two I mentioned earlier. The Green and Smith/Kay books are still considered the standard references.

Larry

[FANGIO]

I want a buy a book containing portraits (photos) of Luftwaffe Knight's Cross holders (fighter aces and their stories).
I just saw this book: Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe (Ray Toliver Trevor J. Constable).

On Schiffer's web site it says it contains more than 600 photographs. But it also says it has "accurate pen portraits", I really don´t want "pen portraits".

Could anybody give me an advice if this book is worth buying considering that what I want the most is to have photographs of the fighter aces? I will really appreciate any help.
Best,

FANGIO

[kamehouse]

I thoroughly enjoyed "The Luftwaffe over Germany,defense of the Reich" by Caldwell and Muller.Excellent book centered on the day fighters units defending the Reich.
Barbarossa-the air battle:July-December 1941 by Christer Bergström is also very good.I still have to read the next 3 volumes about "Stalingrad","Kursk" and "Bagration to Berlin" though.

[penn]

The Last Year of the Luftwaffe by Alfred Price is a good piece of reference material dealing with the insurmountable problems facing the Luftwaffe from May 1944 to May 1945.

Penn

[Zerstörer110]

I want a buy a book containing portraits (photos) of Luftwaffe Knight's Cross holders (fighter aces and their stories).
I just saw this book: Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe (Ray Toliver Trevor J. Constable).

On Schiffer's web site it says it contains more than 600 photographs. But it also says it has "accurate pen portraits", I really don´t want "pen portraits".

Could anybody give me an advice if this book is worth buying considering that what I want the most is to have photographs of the fighter aces? I will really appreciate any help.
Best,

FANGIO

If anyone is still interested, Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe is an excellent book. I picked up a new copy some years ago at a USAF base exchange, and it was this book that got me interested in the Luftwaffe and later the German military in general. And there are many more photos than "accurate pen portraits" of fighter aces in the book. I highly recommend it.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Fighter-Aces-Luft ... 321&sr=1-1

Cheers!

[gummihar]

Hi there
I own books about Jagdgeschwader 300 vol one and two that are big and heavy and not recommended bead reading material hehe but have a wealth of information about the daily life of German fighter pilots from 1943 to the bitter end.
they have excellent pictures on almost every page and many first hand short combat story's.(I love that)
They are written by Jean-Yves Lorant & Richard Goyat and published by Eagle Editions Ltd.
Twenty six color profiles and paintings by Thomas A. Tullis and Richard Goyat are featured in Volume 1 (Hardcover, 400 pages)
and with thirty color profiles in Volume 2 (Hardcover 376 pages).
These are awesome books and a must for enthusiastic Luftwaffe fans

Here is link to the book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/300-Wilde-Sau-Vol ... pd_sim_b_2
http://www.amazon.com/Jagdgeschwader-Wi ... pd_sim_b_1

Regards

[von thoma]

1st Cover of "Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe".Toliver & Constable.Aero Publishers 1977.