The last Flight of P. H Clostermann
 

a Sad news

Pierre Henri Clostermann passed away at the beginning of this afternoon.

Re: The last Flight of P. H Clostermann
 

Sad new indeed. This man did as much for the history of airwar as he did during the war.

Re: The last Flight of P. H Clostermann
 

Sad new , indeed .
But the true will be able to release now .

Re: The last Flight of P. H Clostermann
 

Re: The last Flight of P. H Clostermann
 

Thanks for the update. Sad news indeed :(

Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

Hello

Sad news today in France Pierre Clostermann died today at 85.

He will forever be the author of " The Big Show" , book read by thousand of persons thoughout the World .

Eric Larger

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

I'm very sad to hear that. His book " The Big Show" was one of the first books I read in early '60 to became interested in the WW2 air war and the late war Luftwaffe.
I will spend a little silent moment for him.

Antti

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

This is one more sad news, after M. Becker.
I, as Brazilian, feel your death a lot.
Clostermann was a great Brazilian Ace that flew for France.

Eduardo Brettas
www.avesdobrasil.com.br
www.tucanosdasamericas.com.br
Bird in Brazil

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

Pardon ???

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

Very Sad indeed to hear such news.

For without such men as he
In the RAF and French Free,
Where today would we be.

God, keep him safe in his Squadron, flying high .

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

Very sad. Would have loved to talk to the man, if only to thank him for introducing me to the wonderful world of WWII aviation history.

Like countless others, his books got me interested in WWII aviation and espcially the Luftwaffe. I can never forget the photos of a crash landed Fw 190D-9 in the book which just looked like an amazing aircraft! Of course I had to find out more about it and over time I did!

It would be interesting to see how many of the visitors at this forum who got their introduction to our common interest through one or both of Clostermann's books! Count me as one!

Kjetil Aakra

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

Clostermann was a great Brazilian Ace that flew for France

Sorry but Closterman was a great Brazilian born French Ace that flew for France.

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

Kjetil, please add me to the list

Old soldiers never die

Von Alles

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

Pierre CLOSTERMANN was born in Brasil because his father was a diplomat posted there.
Clostermann is an Alsacian name.

Von Alles

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

That's a big understatement :) Three million copies have been sold so far!

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

See obituary in the Telegraph web site.

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

And an obituary in today's Guardian Online:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries...740876,00.html

The writer of the obituary is usually the paper's architecture correspondent.

I bought The Big Show when I was 14 and was gripped by it all through that summer's holiday. I think that was got me interested in the late-war period, the first time I'd really seen any account of the fighting in 1945.

Last year in France I bought Le Grand Cirque as a three-part "band dessiné" (graphic novel) — part of the series of aviation BDs "Biggles Presents…"!

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

Hi,
I bought it as a paperback when I was 12 for 3.75 d.kr = 0.5 Euros. Really good aviation books, which get you into the cockpit are few and far between, but this is one of them. That summer I read it about once a week. I never met him, but I got a little close, when I participated in a squadron exchange with RAF 3 (F) Sqn. They have their linebook back to the war. Clostermann's alleged comments on VE-day: "Does that mean that I cannot paint any more black crosses below the canopy ?"
bregds
SES

Re: Pierre Clostermann died today at 85
 

I regret his passing, but that is how it is...

How many RAF linebooks there must be which have priceless line-shoots for us to look at now, with little real understanding of the spirit of those who wrote them!

Let's start a movement to have the line-books published! Let's see again the spirit of those who went before, long-dead in many cases (no copyright!!!)

Of the few RAF line-books I have seen there are a few real gems which stop one in one's tracks... let's see them in print, please.

Lines like " ...and I could see the cross-hairs through her knickers" don't belong here (that's one I read...) but there are really some clever and insightful ones... and some hilariously under-stated ones too...

One day, maybe...