The Memoirs of a Luftwaffe Stuka Pilot: A Journey Through the Skies of World War II

Sdakrick1: Interesting look at ww2

United States on Dec 11, 2023

Bob Russell: I have been reading war memoirs for over fifty years. This one took me back to some of the greats, like Galland and Rudel. First person commentary, without historical revision for contemporary tastes! Too bad that the story rather abruptly breaks into an 'afterword', when the author is re-assigned to a desk job upon his third injury late in 1941.

United States on Jun 25, 2023

Kindle Customer: An interesting view of war from a different perspective,written by a very brave man and an excellent leader of men.A must read for anyone with an interest of the German side of WW2.

United Kingdom on Dec 24, 2022

Nino: Very informative with a perspective of an actual pilot.

Canada on Apr 13, 2022

Allyala MacLeod: Fascinating glimpse into the life of a flieger, and takes you from pre war through eastern and western front, med and north africa. although there is a lot of focus on administration that is a little difficult to follow. Overall worth a look

United Kingdom on Nov 02, 2021

Henry Blue Ridge: Look into what the German soldiers and airmen were thinking. Did they know of the Holocaust ? Did they care at that time? Led by fanatics they went down a inhuman road.

United States on Sep 27, 2020

naveen anand: The book presents a refreshing new view of the life of Stuka pilot. As this was the first book I read on the Stuka pilot WW2, it was good to understand the origins, changes , fight sectors and challenges that the Stuka pilots faced. Flying one of the slowest planes of their times would certainly not have been easy. As the author says many times on the same issue. But the book has been written in a very well manner with ample amount of humor and interesting stories as they evolved. The Theater of war and action changed over time from Poland to France to Crete, Malta and finally Russia and the stories kept on changing too.

It is really interesting to read the "toilet paper" weapon being used by them which shows the origins of air wars and the confusion in the minds of the pilots. The book keeps one totally interested in the story and how it goes on. The ending however does not give a picture of what happened to the pilot after the war and how he survived the times after war, trials done etc. As its a personal story, this should have been included.
Nevertheless a very good and interesting read.

India on Mar 14, 2020

John: This story of a young man who joined the navy in the hopes of being a pilot, it starts with Helmut Malke as a cadet touring the Far East in the aftermath of the Great War, and he recalls the news of Hitler’s ascent to power.
Mahlke is assigned to be a navigator/observer serving about the Admiral Scheer, but he wants to be a pilot and manages to get accepted for Stuka training, initially to be deployed on the (anticipated) soon to be completed German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin. However, with the outbreak of the war, his dive-bomber Gruppe become part of the Luftwaffe, and Mahlke and his team are thrust into the war.
As a senior, and seemingly very proficient flyer, Mahlke rapidly climbs the chain of command within his group, and this book offers an amazing view from the Stuka’s cockpit, of historic battles in the first few years of the war, the invasion of Poland, the race through France and Dunkirk are all successes, and Mahlke describes them in detail, along with life in the squadron, and how they managed to muddle through when things go wrong. Arguably the best bits of the book are when Mahlke talks about day-to-day life, and also when he talks at length about the...

United Kingdom on Nov 16, 2019

Fantasyman: A look at WW II flying from the other side. In the Luftwaffe you kept on flying until you were either killed, captured, or, simply too badly wounded to keep flying. There was no such thing as going home after a certain number of missions.

Some very interesting observations on the technical points of dive bombing as an occupation. Also a good deal of information on the internals of the organization and experiences of combat flying in the Luftwaffe. If you want a detailed, in-depth look into what it was like to be a Stuka pilot, this is a very good book. If you are looking for any sort of view into what life was like under Hitler, what life was like on the German home front, or, any assessment of the politics of the Third Reich, don't bother, there isn't much covered on those topics in this book.

United States on Feb 23, 2015

Leigh Nielsen: Not in the same league as Rudel's - Stuka Pilot, but a very good read none-the-less. Unlike Rudel, Mahlke also saw action during the French campaign, the Battle of Britain, Malta and North Africa before being posted to the eastern front. So some new insight into Stuka operation's on a personal level in those zones. He mentioned that many pilots did not like the auto-dive pullout device because it made them too predictable during the pullout. As much a story about the durability and effectiveness of the Stuka in a wide range of operations, despite it being the slowest combat aircraft on the battlefield. Mahlke's JU87 sustained heavy damage on an op in Malta but still managed to return to base (photos included). If you have read Rudel's book and want another Stuka fix, you should enjoy this read.

United States on Jun 05, 2014