Aviator stories
Fliegergeschichten was a German magazine series in medium format . She appeared from 1953 to 1961 in 206 volumes in Munich Moewig - Verlag . From volume 167, two stories appeared per issue. After its discontinuation, the series with volume 131 was integrated into the Moewig series Soldiers' Stories from All Over the World , which from then on received the title Soldiers and Aviator Stories from All Over the World and was discontinued in 1964.
Production background, topics
The series was edited by aviation expert and author Dr. Peter Supf , who had already worked as co-editor of the War Library of German Youth during World War II . The series may have been discontinued due to Supf's death in February 1961. The Fliegergeschichten appeared parallel to the series SOS - Fate of German Ships , also published by Moewig-Verlag from 1953 onwards ; Both series mark the beginning of the boom in West German war novels in the post-war period .
The main focus was clearly on the representation of the aerial warfare in World War II from the perspective of the air force of the German armed forces . Individual volumes have appeared on numerous German flying aces, such as Manfred von Richthofen (No. 92: Fritz Moeglich : Der Ritter der Lüfte. Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, his life and death ), Ernst Udet (No. 111: Hans Dieter Petersen: Ernst Udet flies for Germany ), Adolf Galland (No. 142: Adolf Galland: Adolf Galland. Flieger und Mahner ), Hans-Joachim Marseille (No. 22 Hans Peter Holl: Marseille - the eagle of Africa ), Walter Nowotny (No. 47: Will Heilmann: Walter Nowotny. Ein Fliegerschicksal ) or Werner Mölders (No. 7, Hans Dieter Petersen: Werner Mölders - undefeated ), but also about the British fighter pilot Douglas Bader (No. 52: Douglas Bader - Jäger-Ace of the Royal Air Force ) . However, numerous volumes have also been published on the history of civil aviation, such as the flights and expeditions of Charles Lindbergh (No. 76: Armin Relling: $ 25,000 for Paris. Lindbergh's first ocean crossing ), Umberto Nobile (No. 66: Rolf Strehl: SOS ... here Nobile ) and Jean Mermoz (No. 157: Kurt Burgbacher: Jean Mermoz - The Conqueror of the Andes ) or the work of post or rescue pilots.
Individual issues also dealt with the Korean War from an American perspective . B. No. 30: Hans Dieter Petersen: A hussar piece in the sky of Korea . Volume no. 62 deals with the so-called Mantell incident on November 7, 1948 near Fort Knox , in which the American pilot Thomas F. Mantell was killed in pursuit of an alleged UFO (Michael Markgraf: Ghostly Accident ) .
There is hardly any information available about the authors, who apparently almost exclusively used pseudonyms . Are known Bertold K. Jochim alias Hans Peter Holl, later editor of Landsers and Fritz Possibly. It is also unclear who illustrated the volumes. What is certain is that volume 205 (Werner Girbig: The Medal of Honor of the Congress ) was designed by Johnny Bruck , who at times illustrated Perry Rhodan and the stories of the soldiers in parallel .
Special issues
From 1957 to 1960 49 special issues with a considerably larger number of pages were published; in No. 11: Death on Hiroshima , the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki . In 1962, four more flight history manuals, also known as aviation primers, were published without numbering .
literature
- Klaus F. Geiger: War novels in the FRG. Contents and functions , Tübingen 1974.
- Heinz J. Galle: Folk books and book novels . Vol. 1: The boom after 1945 - from Billy Jenkins to Perry Rhodan , Lüneburg (Dieter von Reeken Verlag) 2005. ISBN 3-8334-3232-2