Ernst Udet - Books.

[Tobius]

Hello All.
Firstly I must say what a great site this is, so glad I found it.
I am currently reading the history of the Red Baron and those he flew with and am wondering if anyone would be kind enough to recommend the best book on Ernst Udet, as he has also been mentioned, many times. I have read the info. on him on this site and there appear to be a number of books that were written about him.
Also if anyone is interested there are a number of film clips of him and his amazing skills on youtube.

Regards
tobius

[Der Grüne Flieger]

Hi Tobius,

Welcome. I remember a book or section of a book on him, I think it was Ace of the Iron Cross. Also History Net has a piece on him, Ernst Udet: The Rise and Fall of a German World War I Ace » HistoryNet - From the World's Largest History Magazine Publisher. I think he is interesting, but misunderstood.

Good Luck,
Phil

[Tobius]

Many thanks phil,
Great link and plenty of research material.

All the best
tobius

[Gregvan]

Hello Tobius,

Welcome to the Forum. If you want to read about Ernst Udet, two books are indispensable. Udet wrote his own episodic biography entitled Mein Fliegerleben, published in 1935. It has been twice translated into English. In 1937 a British edition, translated by Kenneth Kirkness, came out as Ace of the Black Cross. You may be able to find this old book via used book outlets or websites. However, in 1970 a new translation by Richard K. Riehn was published in the US entitled Ace of the Iron Cross. This came out in several paperback editions and should be easy to find on ebay or from used book outlets. I think the translation is very good.

Udet wrote (or perhaps dictated) a rather short and propagandistic wartime paperback memoir entitled Keuz wider Kokarde, published in 1918. It is very hard to come by and is rather expensive on the used book market.

The best biography of Udet was written by Armand van Ishoven, entitled The Fall of an Eagle; The Life of Fighter Ace Ernst Udet, (William Kimber, London 1979,ISBN 0 7183 0067 X). It really is a superb biography, well researched and nicely illustrated.

There is another biography by Hans Herlin, usually titled Udet: A Man's Life but is rather fictionalized and inferior to van Ishoven's work, in my opinion.

Of course, any of the various histories of Richthofen's Jagdgeschwader I will provide more details about Udet's victories in Jasta 11 and 4. You can find out a lot about Udet by searching the archives of this forum - mostly you will find interminable arguments about the colors and markings of his striped-wing Fokker D.VII!

Greg

[tcrean7828]

Mate,
Welcome to the flagship of the Aerodrome - where the greatest minds on the planet get together and talk about their favorite subject - WW1.

ttfn

tcrean7828

tom

P.S. Werner Voss fan here.