Customer Reviews

French Aces of World War 2 (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 28)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is another one in Osprey's "Aircraft of the Aces" series. Like the others, French Aces of World War 2 contains a great deal of information, some of which is hard to find elsewhere. It has the usual collection of excellent illustrations, particularly color prints. For the most part, the book is very well written. However, as is the case in much of the rest of the series, proofreading and editing are slack; obvious typos and grammatical mistakes can be found. In addition, the book is ten pages too long. The author's list of some of the most important French aces could have been shortened by half. Those two reservations aside, French Aces of World War 2 is well worth having for anyone interested in the exploits of French pilots.

Some think of World War II as easily definable where the only aircraft and other military weapons you encountered in the skies and battlefields were defined just as Americans, British, German,Italian and Russian. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth as there were quite diverse nationalities and countries involved in that war. No wonder it was defined as a World War. Pilots of the main contenders in the fight had to be aware of "the allies" and by allies I don't mean America,Britain and Russia. The Axis Powers mainly Germany and Italy had some diverse allies, among them Vichy France. If one was flying for the anti-Axis forces, one had to watch out in the sky not only for the main enemies aircraft,german and italian, but also those of their "allies", like the Vichy French, Hungarians, Rumanians, Finnish, etc. This great book covers those French pilots who were divided, some flew for the axis and others for the Allies. The cover of this book portrays a French Vichy Fighter who just strafed and downed what looks like a four engine British Bomber Hydroplane. Other French pilots the anti-Vichy ones headed to fight for the British Royal Airforce and the Soviet Union in the famous French Squadron of the Soviet Airforce, "Normandie Niemens" who flew several Soviet fighters, like the Laggs, Yaks and Mig 1's. This is a special book covering a relatively unknown aspect of the war in the skies of World War II, when French pilots, divided by different ideologies chose different sides of the war.

As with the other superlative books in Osprey's "Aircraft of the Aces" series, this work is a truly excellent resource for World War 2 buffs and aviation historians. Ketley has done a wonderful job in his portrayal of the often-neglected French fighter pilots of the Second World War. His exhaustive research gives the book a true sense of authenticity and accuracy; the author's meticulous attention to detail is commendable. Ketley's work is instrumental in educating the English-speaking audience about the exploits of the Armée de l'Air. What makes this book truly laudable is the author's fair and balanced approach to the subject matter. Ketley strives for objectivity; he provides equal and in-depth coverage to both the pre- and post- Armistice periods. He gives us the whole picture, in essence. The activities of both the Vichy and Free French air forces and their pilots (as well as the pre-1940 Armée de l'Air) are chronicled in a clear, unfettered fashion. The exploits of the famed Normandie-Niemen regiment in the Soviet Union are of particular interest. The colour plates depicting examples of the various aircraft flown are simply marvelous. The numerous vintage black and white photos, many of them quite rare, are a formidable supplement to these. The technical data provided is equally fascinating. We get a good perspective on various machines used in battle by French fighter pilots, including the Morane-Saulnier MS.406, the Dewoitine D.520, and the American-built Curtiss Hawk. Overall, an excellent and highly-recommendable book!

'French aces of WWII' is a very good buy! I bought this book and was reading the reviews, I didn't think that the book was going to be a good one. BUT! This book is better than I thought it would be. This book is about French aces who fought with the Free French, Vichy, and 'Normandie-Niemen'. Pilots who fought against the Germans, then the British and Americans, then against the Germans again.
I found this book very informative and in-depth. Pilots like Jean Accart, Marcel Albert, Louis Delfino and more are in this book.
With beautifuly drawn planes, like the H-75 Hawk, D.520, M.S.406 and M.B.152.
Barry Ketley makes a good book. If you want to read about the French battling the Axis and Allies in France, North Africa, Russia and more, then this is the book!
At the end of the book (the last 20 pages or so) is encycopedia of the French aces. I'm glad he, Barry Ketley, put that in the book for I'm making a list of French aces of WWII.
A book worth the price! 5 stars from me.

This book lost almost all his credibility. Why ? How, in a book called "FRENCH ACES OF WW II", the writer dedicates only five lines ( that's right, five lines !! )to the greatest of them all, Pierre Clostermann of the RAF ?!! ( according to French official sources quoted by the author himself ). It seems that the writer want to avoid the controversy surrounding Clostermann scores: the British ( for whom he flew during all his career in WW II ) credit him with between 11 and 15 air victories, and the French give him 33 !! Ohter than this, the book doesn't even mention Rene Mouchotte, a great leader of the first Free French squadrons in RAF - numbers 340 and 341 ( although he was not an ace ). Weird distribution of topics, because Frenchmen in the RAF have only six pages to their credit ...It seem the writer got completely lost in the vast ammount of information he probably had, and the result was this catastrophic, disappointing book !!!

I have read about twelve books in the Oxprey Aircraft of The Aces series. I can state for sure: this is the worst I've read so far.