one more time i can confirm that his reviews match with my taste!
this book is wonderful!
[b]Ty Mram!
mram’s review!
Title: I flew for the Führer
Author: Heinz Knoke
Data:194 pages. ISBN 1 8536 7263 7
”I flew for the führer” is well written and gives a straightforward picture what it was like to be a Luftwaffe fighter pilot on the western front. Heinz flew constantly on the western front from the beginning of 1941 to wars end and it is an achievement that he survived to tell his story. With 52 victories of which more than 15 were American 4-engine bombers there are many dog fighting accounts. In a splendid way Knoke manages to capture the feelings of the pilots in Luftwaffe. Highly recommended.
[/b]ps if you don’t have already check also bear’s suggestions for books and movies on eaf51.org
as for Heinz Knoke i didn’t find so much Nazi propaganda in the book, or better i didn’t find propaganda at all…
No? There was a few instances of; ‘Why did the world gang up on Germany? Why have the Western Allies stabbed us in the back when we were valiantly battling Bolsheviks?’ etc.
I have read worse but between the title of his book and his initial post-war career as an MP for the [quickly-banned] Socialist Reich Party I suspect he was not politically adverse to his Fuehrer.
Ok right.
but having read worse (I.E. in “eastern inferno” ther’s real HATE for the soviet!!!)
from the title i expected him to support Nazi party much more.
Note i’m not justifing Knolke but being the story of a young airman flying for luftwaffe in Nazi germany i would expect as almost normal for him to support the reich as i felt normal reading of USAF pilots thinking of the enemy as “german rats”…
Hope to have explained my point well, (but i’m not sure). Anyway i don’t want to dig too much into politics.
As for knocke I feel like yes, he was clearly behind his crazy fuhrer but fortunately that does not take too much from the actual flying and combat experience , so don´t let that take you away from reading. In any case I found it to be a good enough WWII book, but not among the best Ive read. The recall I have is the tests with fighters launching bombs among the middle of bomber formations.
And Marsh, thanks for that link to Hannig´s, Im enjoying a lot the account of the glider training they had, really interesting.
I understand, Jimmi; sorry if I appeared hostile - it was not meant at all.
The worst book I have read on that is ‘Panzers in the Mud’ by Otto Carius - on of the few books I have literally thrown away in disgust. After all the Wehrmacht did on the Eastern Front, his last chapter is a whine about how horrid the Americans were to PoWs as they did not give them enough food and used to thrown cigarettes so they could photograph the Germans picking them up…at that point - my mouth literally open in astonishment - I threw it in the bin. Really worrying that someone who had seen and certainly also knew about - and should have done by the time he wrote his book - the appalling crimes of his army against civilians, could somehow suggest that somehow the Wehrmacht was ‘better behaved’ that the Western Allies regarding PoWs and the like. His description of having dinner with Himmler - who he describes a as nice and sensible man - is also scarcely believable.
Knocke’s book is really fascinating and provides a great sense of how it was to fly in the face of Allied air power. To me, Hannig seems like more of a normal, nice guy by comparison
Before take-off R/T communication always had to be checked. Oncewe were settled in our cockpits the instructor/Schwarmführer (leader)would ask: “Edelweiß 2, Frage Viktor?” Literally, the latter meant“Question: Victor?” Viktor was the phonetic for V, which in this casestood for Verständigung (reception). In other words, the leader wasasking “Are your receiving me?”The proper response if all was clear was “Edelweiß 1 from 2, Viktor,Viktor,” with the V now indicating Verstanden (understood, oraffirmative). If something was wrong, or the answer was “no”, thecorrect reply over the R/T was “Negativ”. Orders in the air always hadto be acknowledged either by ‘Viktor’ or ‘Negativ’.
Tactical Turn:
There were set manoeuvres which had to be followed. In 90º turns,if a leader announced that he was turning across his wingman’s line offlight, the latter would lose a little height, follow into the turn behindand below his number 1, and then quickly add a little extra power toresume his position alongside. If the leader made a turn away from hisnumber 2, the wingman would immediately slide into a sharper turninside his leader and take station on the opposite side. It sounds simpleenough, but it required just the right touch and a lot of practice wasneeded to get it absolutely right.
I really should update the page soon… :o