Pierre Clostermann died today at 85

[Kjetil Aakra]

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

[Sergio Luis dos Santos]

Clostermann was a great Brazilian Ace that flew for France

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

[Von Alles]

Kjetil, please add me to the list

Old soldiers never die

Von Alles

[Von Alles]

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

Von Alles

[Skyraider3D]

Originally Posted by Eric Larger

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

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

[Peter Clare]

See obituary in the Telegraph web site.

[Nick Beale]

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…"!

[SES]

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

[TonyC]

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...