Achieve A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story Of Combat And Chivalry In The War-Torn Skies Of World War II Crafted By Adam Makos Listed As Paper Copy
on A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
better than a good novel A great story that is a true and inspirational one!I never write reviews but this book was so good, I thought I had to do so.
So many things had to go just right and the timing always had to line up, or this book would never have existed, Brave and honorable men do exist in real life, We just normally don't get to hear about them, Read the book. You'll be glad you did, I guess you would say this book is flogging a dead bomber, The story is worthwords, maybebut having been there and done that, the authors have gone on to stretch it into a book, Its a lot of stretching,
Still, I read it through because somewhere in all this, I learnt a lot more about what life was like for German airmen supporting the Africa Corps in WW.
Considerably more interesting was Luftwaffe experience of the last days of the Third Reich and even more, the truth about the World's first jet warbird, the ME, under actual combat conditions.
Read it only if you love WWaerial combat stuff, I felt this was extremely well written and an incredible story that needed to be told, I had read some reviews that stated they didn't care for how the stories of thedifferent men told in flashback were interspersed but I followed the flow extremely well.
The thing that struck me was how my impressions ofpilots on different sides of the war had, in reality, a same common enemy that they felt dragged them into battle.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it my highest recommendation, I am an avid reader of WWII sweeping histories, personal stories, events, etc. This book, A Higher Call, is one of the best, in my opinion, I lived in Germany for/years in the early's, being a missionary there for the LDS Church, That experience whetted my life long obsession with all aspects of the war, partially started by the Nazi's under Hitler, This true story recounts the acts of a german fighter pilot who endangered himself by shepherded a horribly damaged Bout of Germany and out over the Baltic Sea to give them a chance to get home.
Unbeknownst to him, they made it, The German and American Pilots metyears later, after ayear search, Their reunion was emotional to say the least, The author of the book, editor of a magazine devoted to american military aviation, did not want to write the story of the enemy, He was talked into it, met the two pilots and has written a masterful story, which affected his life as well, This is a definite read, one that defines honor and respect, If I could have given more than, I would have, This book was that good, it was so well written, yet the story could have written itself, It is something you usually read about in novels, but think, "This could not be for real, " But yes, it was. I concerns two WWII pilots, Franz Stigler, a German and Charlie Brown, an American, Neither was political. Stigler was a young German born of devout Roman Catholic family in Bavaria who were avidly antiNazi and Charlie was the son of American farmers.
Both were dedicated to their countries, One day, Charlie was bombing northern Germany when a score of German fighters appeared around him, he was strafed on all sides, and his plane was rapidly getting punched to pieces by all the bullets, Suddenly the German fighters were gone, and Charlie was just beginning to hope he could turn around and try and make it home when a lone German plane showed up on his right wing.
Franz Stigler. At first Charlie thought "this is it" we are goners, but for some strange reason no shots were fires and the German pilot hung on their right wing as they turned towards the North Sea.
He kept pointing and mouthing words which were intelligibly to the Americans, but Franz was trying to get them to go to Sweden, a/hours flight where they could be safe.
But Charlie did not understand, not did he realize that the German gunners on the North Sea shore did not fire because they saw one of their own with the American plane and figured he was going to take them down over the water.
But instead he escorted them farther out to a safe area and watched them turn toward England, Saying a prayer he returned to Germany, Neither plot knew the other and Franz knew he had to keep quiet or he could be shot,
The story continued mostly about Franz and the difficulty of his next two years under the failing German fighting, he continued halfhearted and witnessed the hell that the people were going through due to the greed of Hitler and Goering, Goering in one part showed his absolute evil in refusing to give the Air Force the newly minted Jet fighters and kept them for the bombers as the Air force went on with younger and less trained pilots in older and worse planes.
When the war was over, both men went on with their lives, sometimes thinking about each other and the odds that the other might had survived.
When they were old men, Franz, who had moved to Vancouver B, C. was attending a get together of pilots from the war and decided to tell his story, It went out to the world, and somehow, Charlie Brown read about it, the two men met, It was so beautiful, I criedespecially when the haters came out against Franz, a good and decent man calling him a Nazi, which he never was.
But it sure was one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read, I am not a fan of warfare, but this was so good, some of the battled did not bother me because the story was that good.
Highly recommend to anyone who wants to read a moving and beautiful story of the decency of one German pilot and the men who lived because of him.
This was a great book, At Christmastime in, a German who was already one of the leading fighter pilots at that point of the war comes across a severely damaged B, barely able to fly, but instead of shooting it down, he leads it out into the Atlantic and gives the crew a chance to survive.
He had never shown such mercy before, and the risk of his own execution was profoundly real, yet he couldnt bring himself to shoot them down.
The two pilots met nearlyyears later, and that account is also part of this amazing story that I recommend highly! Stretches one event for an entire book, yet.
. . The most interesting parts are the disintegration of the mighty Luftwaffe, and how a "Band of Brothers" of true believers not in National Socialism, but in air power escaped during the last months of war, from Göring's grasp.
They slid to Austria with an everdecreasing number of serviceable aircraft, plus the few remaining Messerschmitt jets, A small act of humanity saves many lives, When a German ace pilot refuses to shoot down a damaged Bbomber, the German pilot is later reunited with those who he saved, Four days before Christmas, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany, At its controls was ayearold pilot, Half his crew lay wounded or dead, It was their first mission, Suddenly, a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bombers taila German Messerschmitt fighter, Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the American bomber in the squeeze of a trigger, What happened next would defy imagination and later be called the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II,
On opposites sides.
But united through the bond of a horrific moment captured in the midst of battle,
This is an incredibly emotional story that was both informative, intriguing, and easily visualized, It's not often true stories can hold a readers attention so well, but this one far surpassed what I expected, The moment between Franz and Charlie is brief compared to the extent of the rest of the book, but I wasn't bored in the least.
You get to see both Franz and Charlie's life before and after which gave me so much information about the Air Force, lifestyle and thinking of that day.
I realized while reading this how easy it is to come up with a prejudged idea of one side during a war, I learned so much about the German Air Force that I never knew, . . they were NOT joined with the SS and one place said many of the German pilots feared Goering more than the Allied pilots, That just barely scratches the service of the details given that I know I will be referencing in the future,
I give this book five because of the incredible true story that no fiction reader could create, There was some swear words and taking God's name in vain, as well as a few moments of gory details of the wounds some pilots received.
There is some Catholic and other religious statements mentioned, There was a conscious belief in God from both Franz and Charlie,
Starting with an encounter between a badly shot up Band an ace German fighter pilot on Christmas Eve of, the author tells the story of the pilots of theairplanes.
In telling the story he also tells a little of his own growth in researching that story,
While this book is the story of the two pilots, Charlie Brown yes thats really his name who was piloting the Band Franz Stigler, who was flying the ME, this narrative is mainly Stigler's story.
At the time of the encounter Stigler was just a victory away from completing the requirements for being awarded a Knights Cross, one of Germany's highest awards for valor.
Remarkably, Franz decides to let the Bgo and even escorted through a flak belt until it reached the North Sea, While Mr. Makos tells both mens story the majority of the narrative follows Lt Stigler, The author follows Stigler through his war and how he became a fighter pilot and eventually to fly the MEjet fighter in the closing days of the war.
Never a Nazi, Stigler is portrayed as a man who was fighting the good fight for a bad cause, A prewar Lufthansa pilot, he became civilian instructor pilot for the Luftwaffe, where he taught many of the men who flew with the Condor Legion in Spain.
He was eventually dragooned into the Luftwaffe when he complained that he got no respect from the aviation cadets because he was a civilian,
The narrative illuminates what the life of a fighter pilot was like in the Luftwaffe, For example in telling the story of Stiglers service in North Africa, the sand, bad food and probably more importantly the comradeship between pilots and their crew chiefs/mechanics is well drawn.
In fact, when North Africa falls, Stigler along with most of his squadron mates squeeze their mechanics into their airplanes when they are transferred to Sicily rather than let them be captured.
During this period Stiglers ambition to win a Knights Cross is emphasized,
As the war drags on, Stiglers ambition for glory wanes, He often gives the credit for airplanes he shoots down to young pilots in his squadron, Finally in the waning days of the war, he requests permission to join VGand Adolf Galland in flying the ME, His story of the last days of the war is heart rending, esp when he gives in to the pleas of one of his young pilots, who really has no business flying such a high performance aircraft, and lets the young man fly a combat sortie.
The young pilot crashes on landing, is horribly burned and eventually dies,
Charlie Browns story doesnt take up anywhere near the pages of the narrative, but then again his war was nowhere as long, In comparison to the Germans who basically flew until they were killed, the Americans had a fairly short combat tour ofmissionsmonths of flying at the time Brown was flying.
At the time of his encounter with Stigler, Brown was on only his second mission, He was able to nurse his airplane back to Britain and when he told his story, it was met with disbelief and then classified! Mr Markos does tell the story of the rest of Brown's tour, including some very scary moments of noncombat flying climbing through heavy clouds full of other airplanes with the danger of collisions at any moment, flying at,ft in an unheated aircraft where the temperature was up toF etc.
This section is also very enlightening, but takes up less than half of the pages of Stiglers story
The final section of the book is how the two men eventually met and became fast friends until their deaths in.
After the war Stigler spent many years trying to find fate of the men he spared but, was unsuccessful until they finally met at reunion in the late 's.
This is the kind of story that restores ones faith in humanity! Its a solidstar read,
I bought this book for my husband, I usually read time travel, romance, and apocalyptic books, I read the cover and it sounded interesting, I've always loved nonfictionespecially history concentrating on time travel during the Civil War, After all, this is a New York Times Best Seller, so I decided to give it a
try, thinking I would read the first chapter then fall asleep.
Withpages also filled with many, many pictures never printed before, I was captured with the plot immediately, No way could I stop reading this book, It intertwines the lives of enemies Germans and the Americansespecially two men, It took the author eight years of research to write this book, His impeccable details proves his acclaimed research, It does not glorify war, in fact, almost the opposite, It shows how the fighter pilots REALLY felt, The vivid details, love, heartbreak, families torn apart, some killed, but most of all it gives a very clear picture of World War, I thought my history was pretty goodlittle did I realize, I knew nothing! I thought everyone knew what Hitler was doing with the concentration camps! It tells of how hearts change in war, sometimes for the worst, but also sometimes for the best.
I cannot say enough about this book to give it the justice and proclamation it deserves, I've always wanted to visit camps in Germany, with many other major landmarks, I envy the author of his knowledge, This book just heightened my personal desires, Maybe someday I will be able to visit the places in Gemany with this book forever burned into my mind, Highly recommended to everyone. .
So many things had to go just right and the timing always had to line up, or this book would never have existed, Brave and honorable men do exist in real life, We just normally don't get to hear about them, Read the book. You'll be glad you did, I guess you would say this book is flogging a dead bomber, The story is worthwords, maybebut having been there and done that, the authors have gone on to stretch it into a book, Its a lot of stretching,
Still, I read it through because somewhere in all this, I learnt a lot more about what life was like for German airmen supporting the Africa Corps in WW.
Considerably more interesting was Luftwaffe experience of the last days of the Third Reich and even more, the truth about the World's first jet warbird, the ME, under actual combat conditions.
Read it only if you love WWaerial combat stuff, I felt this was extremely well written and an incredible story that needed to be told, I had read some reviews that stated they didn't care for how the stories of thedifferent men told in flashback were interspersed but I followed the flow extremely well.
The thing that struck me was how my impressions ofpilots on different sides of the war had, in reality, a same common enemy that they felt dragged them into battle.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it my highest recommendation, I am an avid reader of WWII sweeping histories, personal stories, events, etc. This book, A Higher Call, is one of the best, in my opinion, I lived in Germany for/years in the early's, being a missionary there for the LDS Church, That experience whetted my life long obsession with all aspects of the war, partially started by the Nazi's under Hitler, This true story recounts the acts of a german fighter pilot who endangered himself by shepherded a horribly damaged Bout of Germany and out over the Baltic Sea to give them a chance to get home.
Unbeknownst to him, they made it, The German and American Pilots metyears later, after ayear search, Their reunion was emotional to say the least, The author of the book, editor of a magazine devoted to american military aviation, did not want to write the story of the enemy, He was talked into it, met the two pilots and has written a masterful story, which affected his life as well, This is a definite read, one that defines honor and respect, If I could have given more than, I would have, This book was that good, it was so well written, yet the story could have written itself, It is something you usually read about in novels, but think, "This could not be for real, " But yes, it was. I concerns two WWII pilots, Franz Stigler, a German and Charlie Brown, an American, Neither was political. Stigler was a young German born of devout Roman Catholic family in Bavaria who were avidly antiNazi and Charlie was the son of American farmers.
Both were dedicated to their countries, One day, Charlie was bombing northern Germany when a score of German fighters appeared around him, he was strafed on all sides, and his plane was rapidly getting punched to pieces by all the bullets, Suddenly the German fighters were gone, and Charlie was just beginning to hope he could turn around and try and make it home when a lone German plane showed up on his right wing.
Franz Stigler. At first Charlie thought "this is it" we are goners, but for some strange reason no shots were fires and the German pilot hung on their right wing as they turned towards the North Sea.
He kept pointing and mouthing words which were intelligibly to the Americans, but Franz was trying to get them to go to Sweden, a/hours flight where they could be safe.
But Charlie did not understand, not did he realize that the German gunners on the North Sea shore did not fire because they saw one of their own with the American plane and figured he was going to take them down over the water.
But instead he escorted them farther out to a safe area and watched them turn toward England, Saying a prayer he returned to Germany, Neither plot knew the other and Franz knew he had to keep quiet or he could be shot,
The story continued mostly about Franz and the difficulty of his next two years under the failing German fighting, he continued halfhearted and witnessed the hell that the people were going through due to the greed of Hitler and Goering, Goering in one part showed his absolute evil in refusing to give the Air Force the newly minted Jet fighters and kept them for the bombers as the Air force went on with younger and less trained pilots in older and worse planes.
When the war was over, both men went on with their lives, sometimes thinking about each other and the odds that the other might had survived.
When they were old men, Franz, who had moved to Vancouver B, C. was attending a get together of pilots from the war and decided to tell his story, It went out to the world, and somehow, Charlie Brown read about it, the two men met, It was so beautiful, I criedespecially when the haters came out against Franz, a good and decent man calling him a Nazi, which he never was.
But it sure was one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read, I am not a fan of warfare, but this was so good, some of the battled did not bother me because the story was that good.
Highly recommend to anyone who wants to read a moving and beautiful story of the decency of one German pilot and the men who lived because of him.
This was a great book, At Christmastime in, a German who was already one of the leading fighter pilots at that point of the war comes across a severely damaged B, barely able to fly, but instead of shooting it down, he leads it out into the Atlantic and gives the crew a chance to survive.
He had never shown such mercy before, and the risk of his own execution was profoundly real, yet he couldnt bring himself to shoot them down.
The two pilots met nearlyyears later, and that account is also part of this amazing story that I recommend highly! Stretches one event for an entire book, yet.
. . The most interesting parts are the disintegration of the mighty Luftwaffe, and how a "Band of Brothers" of true believers not in National Socialism, but in air power escaped during the last months of war, from Göring's grasp.
They slid to Austria with an everdecreasing number of serviceable aircraft, plus the few remaining Messerschmitt jets, A small act of humanity saves many lives, When a German ace pilot refuses to shoot down a damaged Bbomber, the German pilot is later reunited with those who he saved, Four days before Christmas, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany, At its controls was ayearold pilot, Half his crew lay wounded or dead, It was their first mission, Suddenly, a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bombers taila German Messerschmitt fighter, Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the American bomber in the squeeze of a trigger, What happened next would defy imagination and later be called the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II,
This is the true story of the two pilots whose lives collided in the skies that daythe Americannd Lieutenant Charlie Brown, a former farm boy from West Virginia who came to captain a Band the Germannd Lieutenant Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria who sought to avoid fighting in World War II.
A Higher Call follows both Charlie and Franzs harrowing missions, Charlie would face takeoffs in English fog over the flaming wreckage of his buddies planes, flak bursts so close they would light his cockpit, and packs of enemy fighters that would circle his plane like sharks.
Franz would face sandstorms in the desert, a crash alone at sea, and the spectacle of,bombers each with eleven guns, waiting for his attack.
Ultimately, Charlie and Franz would stare across the frozen skies at one another, What happened between them, the Americanth Air Force would later classify as “top secret, ” It was an act that Franz could never mention or else face a firing squad, It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search for one another, a last mission that could change their lives forever.
On opposites sides.
But united through the bond of a horrific moment captured in the midst of battle,
This is an incredibly emotional story that was both informative, intriguing, and easily visualized, It's not often true stories can hold a readers attention so well, but this one far surpassed what I expected, The moment between Franz and Charlie is brief compared to the extent of the rest of the book, but I wasn't bored in the least.
You get to see both Franz and Charlie's life before and after which gave me so much information about the Air Force, lifestyle and thinking of that day.
I realized while reading this how easy it is to come up with a prejudged idea of one side during a war, I learned so much about the German Air Force that I never knew, . . they were NOT joined with the SS and one place said many of the German pilots feared Goering more than the Allied pilots, That just barely scratches the service of the details given that I know I will be referencing in the future,
I give this book five because of the incredible true story that no fiction reader could create, There was some swear words and taking God's name in vain, as well as a few moments of gory details of the wounds some pilots received.
There is some Catholic and other religious statements mentioned, There was a conscious belief in God from both Franz and Charlie,
Starting with an encounter between a badly shot up Band an ace German fighter pilot on Christmas Eve of, the author tells the story of the pilots of theairplanes.
In telling the story he also tells a little of his own growth in researching that story,
While this book is the story of the two pilots, Charlie Brown yes thats really his name who was piloting the Band Franz Stigler, who was flying the ME, this narrative is mainly Stigler's story.
At the time of the encounter Stigler was just a victory away from completing the requirements for being awarded a Knights Cross, one of Germany's highest awards for valor.
Remarkably, Franz decides to let the Bgo and even escorted through a flak belt until it reached the North Sea, While Mr. Makos tells both mens story the majority of the narrative follows Lt Stigler, The author follows Stigler through his war and how he became a fighter pilot and eventually to fly the MEjet fighter in the closing days of the war.
Never a Nazi, Stigler is portrayed as a man who was fighting the good fight for a bad cause, A prewar Lufthansa pilot, he became civilian instructor pilot for the Luftwaffe, where he taught many of the men who flew with the Condor Legion in Spain.
He was eventually dragooned into the Luftwaffe when he complained that he got no respect from the aviation cadets because he was a civilian,
The narrative illuminates what the life of a fighter pilot was like in the Luftwaffe, For example in telling the story of Stiglers service in North Africa, the sand, bad food and probably more importantly the comradeship between pilots and their crew chiefs/mechanics is well drawn.
In fact, when North Africa falls, Stigler along with most of his squadron mates squeeze their mechanics into their airplanes when they are transferred to Sicily rather than let them be captured.
During this period Stiglers ambition to win a Knights Cross is emphasized,
As the war drags on, Stiglers ambition for glory wanes, He often gives the credit for airplanes he shoots down to young pilots in his squadron, Finally in the waning days of the war, he requests permission to join VGand Adolf Galland in flying the ME, His story of the last days of the war is heart rending, esp when he gives in to the pleas of one of his young pilots, who really has no business flying such a high performance aircraft, and lets the young man fly a combat sortie.
The young pilot crashes on landing, is horribly burned and eventually dies,
Charlie Browns story doesnt take up anywhere near the pages of the narrative, but then again his war was nowhere as long, In comparison to the Germans who basically flew until they were killed, the Americans had a fairly short combat tour ofmissionsmonths of flying at the time Brown was flying.
At the time of his encounter with Stigler, Brown was on only his second mission, He was able to nurse his airplane back to Britain and when he told his story, it was met with disbelief and then classified! Mr Markos does tell the story of the rest of Brown's tour, including some very scary moments of noncombat flying climbing through heavy clouds full of other airplanes with the danger of collisions at any moment, flying at,ft in an unheated aircraft where the temperature was up toF etc.
This section is also very enlightening, but takes up less than half of the pages of Stiglers story
The final section of the book is how the two men eventually met and became fast friends until their deaths in.
After the war Stigler spent many years trying to find fate of the men he spared but, was unsuccessful until they finally met at reunion in the late 's.
This is the kind of story that restores ones faith in humanity! Its a solidstar read,
I bought this book for my husband, I usually read time travel, romance, and apocalyptic books, I read the cover and it sounded interesting, I've always loved nonfictionespecially history concentrating on time travel during the Civil War, After all, this is a New York Times Best Seller, so I decided to give it a
try, thinking I would read the first chapter then fall asleep.
Withpages also filled with many, many pictures never printed before, I was captured with the plot immediately, No way could I stop reading this book, It intertwines the lives of enemies Germans and the Americansespecially two men, It took the author eight years of research to write this book, His impeccable details proves his acclaimed research, It does not glorify war, in fact, almost the opposite, It shows how the fighter pilots REALLY felt, The vivid details, love, heartbreak, families torn apart, some killed, but most of all it gives a very clear picture of World War, I thought my history was pretty goodlittle did I realize, I knew nothing! I thought everyone knew what Hitler was doing with the concentration camps! It tells of how hearts change in war, sometimes for the worst, but also sometimes for the best.
I cannot say enough about this book to give it the justice and proclamation it deserves, I've always wanted to visit camps in Germany, with many other major landmarks, I envy the author of his knowledge, This book just heightened my personal desires, Maybe someday I will be able to visit the places in Gemany with this book forever burned into my mind, Highly recommended to everyone. .
Adam Makos