Customer Reviews

I Learned To Fly For Hitler

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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This book is an excellent insight on how all-pervasive state-controlled media can distort a person's better judgement into the state's required mindset.

It is also contains a fascinating account of the wartime gliding scene. This is a graphic account of how it was possible to learn to fly in single seat aircraft, something that is never attempted today, and hints at the development of the modern wire launch.

Recommended for WW2 history buffs and glider pilots alike.

Very enjoyable reading. I have always enjoyed reading about World War II Aviation history, especially pertaining to the European Theatre. Most of the books which I have read have been written by Pilots, Navigators, Waist Gunners...etc. However, this book is from a totally different perspective, a young teenager in Germany who loves to fly.

The author does an excellent job of telling his story of how a teenager unwilling to be the "odd person out" can easily get swept away with the emotional tide of the country.

Very good book to read. Very enjoyable, enlightning and easy to read.

This book is written from a novel perspective--a young German/American boy whose family moves back to Germany before war breaks out. Joe Volmar gives us an unblinking look into his experiences as a German teenager who wants to learn to fly.

I think it's somewhat deceptive to say that this book will be liked by glider pilots. Frankly, this glider pilot found far too little written about flying gliders for my appetite. There is little technical information about German gliders of that era, or flying for that matter. But don't let this put you off even if you are a glider pilot--Volmar's point of view is unique, and the details of daily German life he presents here are nothing short of enthralling. I don't know if Joe Volmar used a ghost writer, but his voice comes through clearly in this very personal tale.

Glider pilot or not, I think anyone who wants to understand WWII will find this book fascinating.

My passion for history has led me to many books that show the reader the "big picture." What occasionally gets lost is how the sweep of history affects - and is affected by - the individual. In his honest and forthright memoir Joe Volmar shows how a passion for flying and a simple, uncritical patriotism turned him from a typical American teenager to a Hitler Youth. He makes no apologies or excuses as he recounts this process, only a warning that it happens more easily than most of us would suspect. This book is a valuable supplement to any reader interested in World War II or the power of mass movements. Oh, and the flying sequences are great, too.