The Big Show

The Classic Account of WWII Aerial Combat

By: Pierre Clostermann

Narrated by: Julian Elfer

Pierre Clostermann DFC was one of the oustanding Allied aces of the Second World War. A Frenchman who flew with the RAF, he survived over 420 operational sorties, shooting down scores of enemy aircraft while friends and comrades lost their lives in the deadly skies above Europe.

The Big Show, his extraordinary account of the war, has been described as the greatest pilot's memoir of WWII.

©1948, 2008 Flammmarion (P)2020 Tantor

detail

this is one of the most detailed accounts of ww2 aerial combat. clearly due to the authors diligence in keeping a written daily journal. Few ww2 accounts provide this level of detail. Excellent

Finally in Audible

My father gave me a tattered copy of this book in the mid 1990’s. I’ve read it 4 times and at last, listened via Audible. The narrator sounds exactly as I imagined when I read the book.

The best fighter pilot memoir ever. Enjoy!

The savagery they endured daily

As a retired Fighter Pilot, I was amazed at how much combat they encountered and as often as they did and how much they pushed their equipment and the weather. How much they pushed themselves.

fantastic

amazing book especially if you like ww2 aircraft stuff otlr just ww2 in general, this guy is very descriptive and good at painting a picture in your head

Simply one of the best all time books on air combat ever written.

I was stoked to see The Big Show was coming out on Audible. I’ve probably read this book 6-7 times in my life. I’m half way through it and have to say, hearing it told is even more exciting and intense then reading it. The reader does a great job. If you love dog fights and flying you HAVE to get this one. Trust me. You will not regret it.

Classic account of a WW2 fighter pilot-all action

Loved this book! After a brief introduction, almost every chapter was an account of another mission.

This book provides a different view of the fighter pilot's war from most accounts. For one, Clostermann was French, which provides a unique perspective on the war, he flew not only Spitfires but also Tempests, and he describes a ton of different mission types (fighter combat, train strafing, V1 site attacks...).

I learned a ton. For example, I thought that the Luftwaffe was pretty much gone by 1945. But, Clostermann was still involved in a lot of air to air combat right up to the end. In addition, it's kind of shocking to hear how many losses there were in Tempest squadrons.

Anyhow, this book is considered a classic and if you're into WW2 aviation, you really should check it out!

The brilliant visual descriptions.

Great account of events and well written. I enjoyed the flow and the action of the story.

One of the best war books I ever read/heard.

This book was gripping, moving and lyrical. I really felt like I had gone through the war with the author. I felt the enthusiasm and excitement of the early days. Then I felt the increasing tension, dread and sadness of the last days of the war as the author’s squadron was relentlessly thrown into combat against a still potent Luftwaffe. Excellent book.

French

Why do the Brits think that we of the US public school system speak French? Untranslated spoken French! I took Spanish not French.

Enjoyable and Parts Were Probably True

There were 78 German pilots with 100+ kills. The top Allied ace had 40 kills. That the German pilots were the best in the world by an order of magnitude isn’t really disputable. Yet, every book I read by the Allies has them effortlessly shooting down Huns left and right. As they came to find out, Allies tended to exaggerate up to tenfold after missions. This guy similarly was shooting down Germans left and right. Were all of them accurate? The stats say probably not, but he’s a good storyteller, and I enjoyed the book a great deal. 5 / 5 / 5