Books on Gottfried Leske

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

Don Caldwell
A question for the old-timers
Sun Aug 4 01:28:16 2024
216.176.25.165

I recently picked up the book "I was a Nazi Flier" by Gottfried Leske (Dial Press, New York, 1941)in a used bookstore. I had seen the book decades ago, but had never read it. Who knows this book's true story? It appears to be a total fabrication, but someone went to a lot of work to get the superficial details correct. Did the actual author ever 'fess up?

Horrido!

Don

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Chris Livingston
Will try to check the copy in "my" library
Fri Aug 9 02:32:41 2024
66.207.237.94

Hi Don,

Don't know the immediate answer, but as an undergrad at North Carolina State University I remember seeing the book in the library. I never got around to reading it, though I read many many other aviation books ... when I should have been doing homework ... 'tis the story of my life.

Now that I'm back at NC State as a postbac and probable eventual grad student (in physics, since I have been deemed unworthy of graduate history programs) and I'll try to give it a look soon. Not that I'll likely be able to solve the mystery, but I can always use another excuse to read another book.

[Richard T Eger]

Searching via Google failed to turn up anything definitive on Gottfried Leske, so the answer to this question still awaits.

Regards,
Richard

[Joe Furst]

The book is a great example of English propaganda made for the American public pre December 7, 1941.

Pure fabrication it is, and it reads that way now.

But, if you were reading it in 1940?