Sjömansbiblioteket

One of the most noteworthy German fighter pilots of World War I was Leutnant der Reserve Carl Degelow, whose squadron of mostly black Fokker D.VII fighters posed a formidable threat to some of Britain’s most celebrated air units on the Western Front.

Degelow had a unique approach to aerial combat which fascinated the author, Peter Kilduff, so much that in 1979 he wrote Germany’s Last Knight of the Air about his exploits, a book long out of print. During the intervening 30 years Kilduff has obtained new information and original photos, plus copies of significant German archival material and documentation which shed much new light on this legendary ace.

Black Fokker Leader is a completely new work with unpublished material about Degelow and his comrades – how he was almost court-martialled; how his career was saved by Carl Josef Jacobs; how Degelow helped Willy Rosenstein escape from Nazi Germany, and much more. Plus new insights into men like Field Marshal Erhard Milch, Degelow’s wing commander in WWI; and V-2 rocket chief General Hans Jeschonnek, a Degelow protégé in 1918.

Presented in the acclaimed author’s objective, well-sourced manner, there will also be a wealth of British, French and Belgian documentation to counter-balance German claims. Many of Peter Kilduff’s previous books have been published in the UK and US and translated worldwide.