The BLOND KNIGHT of GERMANY

Presentation copy to aviation historian Chris Shores

Photograph attached to the front endpaper signed by

Erich Hartmann +
Trevor Constable & Raymond Toliver

Inscribed on the half title page:

To my friend Chris Shores
with much appreciation for your co-operation
Raymond Toliver 22 June 1970
and Trevor Constable

Published by Doubleday & Co. First edition, first printing 1970.  318 pages and plenty of photos.  With very useful appendices.

A Fine condition hardback book in black boards with blue & gold titles and blue end papers. Clean, bright and tight.  The Near Fine condition dustjacket is bright and complete. A very smart copy of this iconic book.  The photograph measures 5 x 4 inches, fits nicely in the book and is signed in black ink.  It has a date stamp of Apr 70.

This is the fascinating biography of the most successful fighter ace in the history  of aerial warfare. 

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.

A unique first edition copy of this classic book.