T HE M AMMOTH B OOK OF
FIGHTER PILOTS
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T HE M AMMOTH B OOK OF
FIGHTER PILOTS
E DITED BY J ON E. L EWIS
WITH JULIAN JENKINS
ROBINSON
London
Constable & Robinson Ltd
3 The Lanchesters
162 Fulham Palace Road
London W6 9ER
www.constablerobinson.com
First published in the UK by Robinson,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd 2002
Collection and editorial material copyright J. Lewis-Stempel 2002
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in
Publication Data is available from the British Library.
ISBN 1-84119-346-1
eISBN 978-1-780-33272-7
Printed and bound in the EU
This one is for Alice Jenkins,
Tristram and Freda Lewis-Stempel, all ace kids.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & SOURCES
The editor has made every effort to locate all persons having rights in the selections appearing in this anthology and to secure permission for reproduction of material from the holders of such rights. In the event of any errors being inadvertently made, these will be corrected in future editions. Queries regarding the use of material should be made to the editor c/o the publishers.
The Wings Starts to Grow is an extract from Wind in the Wires, Duncan Grinnell-Milne, Mayflower Books Ltd, 1966. Copyright (C) Duncan Grinnell-Milne 1966.
The Red Air Fighter is an extract from The Red Battle Flyer, Manfred von Richthofen, trans T. Ellis Barker, McBride & Co., 1918.
Blue Nose is an extract from Winged Warfare, William A. Bishop, Pan Books Ltd., 1978. Copyright (C) Stanley M. Ulanoff 1967.
Sagittarius Rising is an extract from Sagittarius Rising, Cecil Lewis, Peter Davies Ltd, 1966 Copyright (C) Cecil Lewis 1936.
Letters Home by H.G. Downing, Department of Documents, Imperial War Museum, London.
Flying Fury is an extract from Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps, James McCudden, Aeroplane & General Publishing Co., 1940.
Death Flies Faster is an extract from Ace of the Iron Cross, Ernst Udet, edited by Stanley M. Ulanoff, Doubleday & Co., 1970. Trans. Richard K. Riehn. Copyright (C) Stanley M. Ulanoff 1970.
Crashes & Cocktails is an extract from War Birds: Diary of an Unknown Aviator (John McGavock Grider), John Hamilton Ltd, 1926.
Prisoner of War is an extract from High Adventure, James Norman Hall, Houghton Mifflin, 1918.
A Regular Dog-Fight and the Strafing of a Drachen is an extract from Fighting the Flying Circus, Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker, Stokes, 1919.
Action is an extract from Fighter Pilot, Paul Richey, Pan Books Ltd, 1969. Copyright (C) Paul Richey 1969.
Battle of Britain Diary, D.H. Wissler, unpublished diary, Department of Documents, Imperial War Museum, London. Reprinted by permission of Edith Kup.
Finest Hour by John Beard, quoted in Their Finest Hour, Allan A. Michie and Walter Graebner, Harcourt Brace, & Co., 1941.
Tally Ho! is an extract from Clouds of Fear, Roger Hall, Bailey Brothers and Swinfen Ltd, 1975. Copyright (C) 1975 R.M.D. Hall.
Shall I Live For a Ghost? is an extract from The Last Enemy, Richard Hillary, Macmillan & Co., 1943.
Night Fighter is an extract from Cover of Darkness, Roderick Chisholm, Chatto & Windus, 1953.
Dogsbody is an extract from Wing Leader, Johnnie Johnson, Goodall Publications Ltd. 1990. Copyright (C) 1956, 1974, 1990 J.E. Johnson.
The Flying Tigers is an extract from Way of a Fighter, Claire L. Chennault, Putnam, 1949. Copyright (C) Claire L. Chennault 1949.
To Kill a Man is an extract from Heaven Next Stop, Gunther Bloemertz, William Kimber & Co. Ltd., 1953. Copyright (C) William Kimber & Co. Ltd. 1953.
The Straits of Messina is an extract from Straits of Messina, Johannes Steinhoff, Andr Deutsch Ltd., 1973. Copyright (C) Paul List Verlag KG 1969. Translation copyright (C) Andr Deutsch Ltd. 1971.
Baa Baa Black Sheep is an extract from Baa Baa Black Sheep, Pappy Boyington, Putnam, 1958. Copyright (C) Gregory Boyington 1958.
Heavy Babies is an extract from I Flew for the Fhrer, Heinz Knoke, Corgi, 1956. trans John Ewing.
Mission to Regensburg, Beirne Lay, is extracted from Bombs Away!, edited by Stanley M. Ulanoff, Doubleday, 1971.
Flying High is an extract from Yeager, General Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos, Century Hutchinson, 1986. Copyright (C) Yeager Inc. 1985. Reprinted by permission of Random House Group Ltd.
Marine Crusader is extracted from Life on the Line, Philip Chinnery, Arrow Books, 1990. Copyright (C) Philip Chinnery 1988.
Night Mission on the Ho Chi Minh Trail by Mark Berent was first published in USAF Air Force/Space Digest, 1971.
Sea Harrier Over the Falklands is an extract from Sea Harrier Over the Falklands, Sharkey Ward, Leo Cooper, 1992. Copyright (C) Commander N.D. Ward, DSC, AFC, RN, 1992. Reproduced by permission of Pen & Sword Books.
Interrogation is an extract from Tornado Down, John Peters and John Nichol, Michael Joseph, 1992. Copyright (C) John Peters and John Nichol. Reproduced by permission of Penguin UK.
German War Birds is an extract from The Flying Dutchman, Anton H.G. Fokker, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1931. Copyright (C) Bruce Gould 1959.
INTRODUCTION
When the Wright brothers invented the worlds first practicable aircraft in 1903, they had a dream that flight would bring the worlds people closer together. It didnt take long, of course, for someone to come up with the nightmare ruse of turning the airplane into a weapon. Bombs could be dropped from it. Bullets could be fired from it. Whoever first took up a gun in his tiny canvas and wood aircraft is lost to history, but by the Balkans War of 1912 the armed flying machine was in service... and the fighter pilot born.