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Book: Die Ritterkreuzträger der Kampfflieger
alpha_tango
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Posted: Sunday, April 25, 2010 - 06:05 AM UTC
Hi all

I stumbled across this last week and I just ordered it (even though I cannot afford it):



from the Start Verlag website:


Quoted Text

Ernst Obermaier’s books Die Ritterkreuzträger der Jagdflieger and Die Ritterkreuzträger der Stuka- and Schlachtflieger were first printed in the 1960s and 70s. Later revised, these titles are still considered standard works on the subject. Obermaier planned a third volume, which was to have dealt with Knight’s Cross winners from the bomber arm. Work on the book had begun, but was far from complete, when Ernst Obermaier died unexpectedly in 1997.

Jochen Kaiser took over Obermaier’s files and, together with a number of German aviation historians, continued work on the project. After more than 10 years of research, he has now completed Volume I of Die Ritterkreuzträger der Kampfflieger. In its 264 pages the author describes the military careers, special missions and fates of five winners of the Swords, 26 winners of the Oak Leaves and 191 Knight’s Cross winners, whose names begin with the letters A through K. The book is illustrated with a portrait photo and three or four other photos each winner of the Swords and the Oak Leaves, and two photos of each winner of the Knight’s Cross, a portrait photo and another photo depicting a milestone event, an aircraft or a mission tally on the tail of an aircraft. Volume I thus contains more than 500 photos, some of them in color.

65 years after the end of the war, this work by Jochen Kaiser fills a gap in the history of the Luftwaffe. Volume II is expected to be released in 2011. These books will make it possible to finally identify many of the bomber crewmen who won the Knight’s Cross. The books will also document the military careers of these men for posterity, factually and without glorification or political bias. They thus represent a special reference work of contemporary history.

As we anticipate that this topic will only appeal to a small circle of readers, the publisher has decided to print just 600 copies. At present there are no plans for a second printing.

If you pre order the book till the 30th of April 2010, we offer a subscription price of 68,00 Euro (7% VAT included in Germany), plus postage ! Later it will cost 74 Euro...



See here: http://luftfahrtverlag-start.de/EHomepage/Books/books.html#RitterkreuzKampffliegerBand1

all the best

Steffen

P.S. I am not affiliated and I will have to pay for the book ... and be very hungry for quite some time ...
alpha_tango
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Posted: Monday, April 26, 2010 - 04:47 AM UTC
bump

Hmm no feedback and not much views .. I thought this is a most interesting book, but it seems I'm alone on this ....

all the best

Steffen
thegirl
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Alberta, Canada
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Posted: Monday, April 26, 2010 - 05:02 AM UTC
I missed this before , thanks for sharing this info Steffen . It looks to be very promising with loads of info . Will you be doing a review at a later date once you get your copy ?
alpha_tango
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Posted: Monday, April 26, 2010 - 05:14 AM UTC
Hi terri

Well, I can do a short review on the book .. once it is out . Normally it takes a while until Start Verlag gets their project ready for sale ... but I was told that it shall be not too faar away.

It will probably be similar in style to the Obermaier RK holder books with a bit more info and photos on the pilots (hope there is a bunch of a/c pix, but as it is focussed on the RK holder there will be more about the persons..

all the best

Steffen
JackFlash
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Posted: Monday, April 26, 2010 - 07:33 AM UTC
I have a large respect for research fiends that do works on the biographies and awards of aircrews. Though tediuous work at times they tend to come up with real jewels and great stories that would otherwise be forgotten.
BlackWidow
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European Union
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Posted: Monday, April 26, 2010 - 08:58 AM UTC
Hi Steffen (and all others),

yes, these books are not cheap but worth every Cent! Last year I bought "Endkampf ums Reichsgebiet - Ostfront" which costs over 50 Euro. The research of the team around Axel Urbanke is always close to perfection. Pictures in these books are mostly never seen before. In case of "Endkampf ums Reichsgebiet" nearly all photos are made by german soldiers during combat between October 1944 and May 1945. It's also interesting for english speaking people, as all text is bilingual german/english. Now I'm waiting for the next book which will be "Endkampf ums Reichsgebiet - Westfront".
The books "Luftwaffe im Focus" are also great. Steffen, may I have a glimpse in that book one day?

Ciao
Torsten

alpha_tango
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Posted: Monday, April 26, 2010 - 08:49 PM UTC
Hi Torsten

yes I still need to buy the "Endkampf" book ... but I try to focus on Luftwaffe stuff as I cannot afford many books. I will get the JG 5 Vol. 3 for birthday and Jagdfliegerverbände10/4 is also due to come out

of course you can have a look when I have that book. If you want you can just come over here and have a look through my small "library" (Jean-Luc called it that)

@Stephen: I fully agree! BTW I did not expect you "WW1 guys" to respond, but there are soo many modelers that build Luftwaffe stuff and we have the 3B campaign running ....

all the best

Steffen
AussieReg
Staff MemberAssociate Editor
AUTOMODELER
#007
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Monday, April 26, 2010 - 09:09 PM UTC

Quoted Text


P.S. I am not affiliated and I will have to pay for the book ... and be very hungry for quite some time ...



Steffen, this book looks great !! How about I make you a deal, send the book over to me once you get it, and I'll send you some of my good home-cooked Anzac Biscuits ?

Cheers, D
alpha_tango
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Posted: Monday, April 26, 2010 - 09:24 PM UTC


Cheers Damian

That would be a very bad deal for me ... It really is hard for me to spare that much money, but for books it is much easier to justify than for a model kit (which pile in my flat already ....). Once I have bought a book I would never give it away again (no matter how bad it is) except when I have had some doubles (ospreys mainly) ...

all the best

Steffen
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