num_pages: 519
description: Well-written and holds the readers attention . . . an engaging book and a rare personal view of flying one of the most iconic aircraft of WWII. Firetrench After recounting his early days as a naval cadet including a voyage to the Far East aboard the cruiser Kln and as the navigator/observer of the floatplane carried by the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer during the Spanish Civil War Helmut Mahlke describes his flying training as a Stuka pilot. The authors naval dive-bomber Gruppe was incorporated into the Luftwaffe upon the outbreak of war. What follows is a fascinating Stuka pilots-eye view of some of the most famous and historic battles and campaigns of the early war years: the Blitzkrieg in France Dunkirk the Battle of Britain the bombing of Malta North Africa Tobruk and Crete and finally the invasion of the Soviet Union. Mahlke also takes the reader behind the scenes into the day-to-day life of his unit and brings the members of his Gruppe to vivid life describing their off-duty antics and mourning their losses in action. The story ends when he himself is shot down in flames by a Soviet fighter and is severely burned. He was to spend the remainder of the war in various staff appointments. An engaging engrossing and exceptionally informative book. A worthy addition to any military enthusiasts library and is unhesitatingly and heartily recommended. Aviation History
language: English
title: Memoirs of a Stuka Pilot
publisher: Frontline Books