Erich Sommer - Luftwaffe sas

In his fascinating memoir, Erich Sommer recalls his life in pre-World War II Germany and his adventures as a Luftwaffe navigator and pilot during the war.
When war broke out in 1939, Sommer served in the military as an aviator navigator. He served successfully in the Luftwaffe's first bomber unit to use electronic devices, and then in Morocco as part of the special armistice committee that controlled the disarmament of the French armed forces of the Vichy government. He then flew jamming bomber missions over Great Britain with a rare pressurized cabin version of the Ju 86 bomber. Also on the Russian front, they were assigned to a special formation, to the detachment that was monitoring the movements of the Soviet fleet in the Crimea area with radar-locating Ju 88 bombers. From there, he went to a pilot school, and then joined the detachment that was the first to be equipped with the revolutionary new Arado Ar 234 jet reconnaissance bomber. He carried out the world's first jet powered reconnaissance mission over the Normandy invasion front. He ended the war on the Italian front. After the war, he emigrated with his wife to Australia, where he lived peacefully until his death in 2005.
Erich Sommer served almost all of the time in the pioneering experimental units of the German Air Force from a military technical point of view, and as a keen observer he gives a great picture of German aircraft and electronic developments, especially their practical usability. The experience of hundreds of combat deployments lends credence to his insights. In addition, we learn interesting details about the relations between the German and Hungarian air forces, as well as between the French and the occupying Germans.