The Big Show: Some Experiences Of A French Fighter Pilot In The R.A.F.
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 7th pr.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Previous owner
Few memoirs of the Second World War carry the raw, unfiltered intensity of Pierre Clostermann's The Big Show, a searing first-hand account of aerial combat told through the eyes of one of the Free French Forces' most decorated fighter aces. Flying Spitfires and Tempests with the Royal Air Force, Clostermann chronicles the brutal rhythm of life and death above the skies of Europe — the adrenaline of the dogfight, the camaraderie of the squadron, and the crushing weight of loss that accumulates with every mission. Translated by Oliver Berthoud and prefaced by Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Slessor, the work stands as one of the most celebrated and authentic combat memoirs of the twentieth century. Clostermann writes with the precision of a pilot and the soul of a poet, capturing not merely the mechanics of war but its profound human cost. Widely regarded as a classic of wartime literature, The Big Show endures as an indispensable testament to courage, sacrifice, and the peculiar brotherhood forged in the crucible of aerial warfare — leaving the reader to wonder how any man could return from such an abyss and find words adequate to describe it.
Author: Pierre Clostermann
Format: Hardback
Published: 1953, Chatto and Windus
Genre: WW2
Edition: 7th pr.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Previous owner
Few memoirs of the Second World War carry the raw, unfiltered intensity of Pierre Clostermann's The Big Show, a searing first-hand account of aerial combat told through the eyes of one of the Free French Forces' most decorated fighter aces. Flying Spitfires and Tempests with the Royal Air Force, Clostermann chronicles the brutal rhythm of life and death above the skies of Europe — the adrenaline of the dogfight, the camaraderie of the squadron, and the crushing weight of loss that accumulates with every mission. Translated by Oliver Berthoud and prefaced by Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Slessor, the work stands as one of the most celebrated and authentic combat memoirs of the twentieth century. Clostermann writes with the precision of a pilot and the soul of a poet, capturing not merely the mechanics of war but its profound human cost. Widely regarded as a classic of wartime literature, The Big Show endures as an indispensable testament to courage, sacrifice, and the peculiar brotherhood forged in the crucible of aerial warfare — leaving the reader to wonder how any man could return from such an abyss and find words adequate to describe it.