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I recently picked up this book, previously unknown to me, and I wanted to share some info.
It seems like the perfect complement to Eric Brown's "Wings on my sleeves", but seen from the German point of view. Whereas I found quite a few books on Allied test pilots, this is one of the few on their German counterparts.
Hans -Werner Lerche was a test pilot working at Rechlin, and got the chance to fly some 125 different kinds of allied and axis aircraft.
I can't say his book is as fun or witty to read as Eric Brown's, but it's interesting to see what Germans thought of enemy aircraft. In general, Lerche is very complimentary of American and British planes, especially the B-17 and B-24, which he flew extensively. For fans of Italian aircraft, there are a few pages spent on the SM.91 and SM.92.
I was puzzled when he decided to spend kind words for the He 177, which I thought was strange! has the "Luftwaffe's lighter" been unjustly maligned? Apparently, not even Ernst Heinkel was fond of that bird.
Anyway, i'm two-thirds of the way through the book, but so far it looks like it's a worthy buy if you like the topic.
It seems like the perfect complement to Eric Brown's "Wings on my sleeves", but seen from the German point of view. Whereas I found quite a few books on Allied test pilots, this is one of the few on their German counterparts.
Hans -Werner Lerche was a test pilot working at Rechlin, and got the chance to fly some 125 different kinds of allied and axis aircraft.
I can't say his book is as fun or witty to read as Eric Brown's, but it's interesting to see what Germans thought of enemy aircraft. In general, Lerche is very complimentary of American and British planes, especially the B-17 and B-24, which he flew extensively. For fans of Italian aircraft, there are a few pages spent on the SM.91 and SM.92.
I was puzzled when he decided to spend kind words for the He 177, which I thought was strange! has the "Luftwaffe's lighter" been unjustly maligned? Apparently, not even Ernst Heinkel was fond of that bird.
Anyway, i'm two-thirds of the way through the book, but so far it looks like it's a worthy buy if you like the topic.