The BLOND KNIGHT of GERMANY

Photograph and bookplate on the front end paper signed by

Erich Hartmann

Published by Arthur Barker. First edition 1970.  318 pages and plenty of photos

A Fine condition hardback book in bright red boards with gilt titles. Clean, bright and tight.  The Fine condition dustjacket is bright, unclipped and unfaded. An excellent copy of this very scarce book.  The Hartmann signature is in pencil and is taken from a Military Gallery Profile card.

This is the classic biography of the highest scoring ace in history and is the very scarce British first edition, predating even the German edition. 

Erich Hartmann was the top scoring Luftwaffe fighter pilot of WWII. Nicknamed “Bubi” by his German comrades and “The Black Devil” by his Soviet adversaries, he flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He claimed, and was credited with, shooting down 352 Allied aircraft—345 Soviet and 7 American—while serving with the Luftwaffe. During the course of his career, Hartmann was forced to crash-land his damaged fighter 14 times due to damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down or mechanical failure. Hartmann was never shot down or forced to land due to enemy fire.  He survived the war to spend 10 years as a Soviet POW and then re-joined the reformed German Air Force and commanded a wing of F-86 Sabres before his politically unwelcome views about the purchase of the F-104 Starfighter effectively finished his career. He passed away in 1993.

This book is seldom found in such good condition and has been enhanced by the addition of a Hartmann signature.