Ace of the Black Cross: The Memoirs of Ernst Udet

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Description

Above the mud and misery of the trenches and the endless slugging matches of the First World War any other contest was once played out with all of the military glamour, chivalric values and deadly outcome of a mediaeval, knightly tournament. This was once the battle in the air between the first primitive aircraft and the intrepid aviators who flew them. This image of air war is brought nobly to light in the memoirs of Ernst Udet, the German ‘ace of aces’, whose impressive wartime record was once second only to the legendary ´Red Baron´. Written in a jaunty, Boy’s Own style Udet paints a romantic picture of his experiences and captures what possibly many young pilots should have felt as they flew off every day to duel with the enemy, the elements and an unreliable technology. Ace of the Black Cross also illustrates the best way in which war and defeat left this young generation of tough, spirited, individuals rootless and restless. After the war Udet used his flying skills to give displays to crowds of gawping onlookers, a circus act that left him frustrated and envious. In 1941, disillusioned and depressed, he shot himself. At the wall before he died he scrawled a message for Göring: ‘Iron man, you will have betrayed me’.

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