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Pierre Clostermann - The Big Show

ISBN: 0304366242

So, not one of your literary greats but for me a monumentally influential work that I first read at twelve years old and which saw me become a Royal Air Force flyer by the age of nineteen. For raw immediacy and the evocation of the fear of death in combat only Robert Graves comes close. In the Big Show Clostermann turned his diary, which he wrote on returning from each of his 420 missions, into the story of war in the air.

It is not the immediacy that captivates however; it is the way the essence of the warrior spirit is captured – the blending of man and his weapon, the respect for the enemy and the sense of serving a greater and common purpose. What surprises most on re-reading in our supposedly more enlightened times is how Clostermann and his comrades 'just got on with it' despite a pilot loss rate that makes modern struggles seem rather homely.

Can you take this as an anti war tract? No, it's just a very fine read about an unassuming French hero flying his Spitfires and Tempests for the RAF and surviving against overwhelming odds. After re-reading The Big Show I found out that Pierre Clostermann died earlier this year – I was very moved by the passing of a personal icon.

Reviewed By: Richard Hawksworth

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