Review by Lynn Ritger

One of the principal priorities in wartime is to dehumanize one's opponents... to take away recognition that the man on the other side is indeed a mother's son with hopes and dreams and a story of his own. In doing so, however, we rob ourselves of interesting and even inspiring stories of enemy soldiers, sailors, and airmen who answered their country's call of duty just as the Allied soldiers did. With the passing of time, we have been fortunate to learn of their lives through their words as well as those of the men with whom they served. Jerry Crandall and his wonderful wife Judy have made friends with many former Luftwaffe pilots and their families, and they have introduced us to the human side of many former Luftwaffe pilots. Their latest effort is devoted to Hans "Assi" Hahn, a gifted pilot, inspiring leader, and a remarkable man. Hahn's story begins in Gotha, Germany in 1914 and Jerry's narrative takes us from his early years to Hahn's entry into the Luftwaffe in 1935. His first posting was to JG134 "Horst Wessel" in April 1936, and his gift for leadership led to a posting as an instructor in 1937, and an early promotion two years later. 

Hahn moved from I./JG3, where he was posted during the outbreak of war in September 1939, to II./JG2 in December of that year and it was with the Richthofen Geschwader that he was to find his greatest fame as a combat pilot. The book covers Hahn's service with JG2 in comprehensive detail, with many extraordinary photographs covering not only Hahn and his aircraft, but his fellow pilots and their mounts as well. The story of Hahn's forced landing in a French bog and subsequent adventures wandering through the bog in the midst of a howling storm is highly entertaining, and there is one most interesting detail revealed in the story... Hahn's Emil sank into this bog near Carentan "without a trace". This begs the question, could it still be there awaiting recovery?

Another very prominent facet of Hahn's personality was his deep and abiding love of animals, and the menagerie he kept at JG2's base would qualify as a small zoo today! His beautiful Great Dane "Lux" was a favorite of all the pilots in his Gruppe, and the dog was capable of stretching all the way up to greet Hahn in the cockpit of his 109F. That is a large dog, indeed. Lux followed Hahn from JG2 to his last posting with II./JG54 in Russia; it was while serving as Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG54 that he was shot down and force-landed behind enemy lines. Hahn was captured and subsequently imprisoned until 1955. The details of the circumstances surrounding this event are covered very thoroughly in the book, and one can read the transcriptions of the letters sent to his wife detailing his loss as well as commentary from the Russian units which interrogated him.

The remainder of the book is given over to various photos of Hahn during his Luftwaffe career, and a series of beautiful profiles and scrap views done by Tom Tullis. Tom covers 12 of Assi's aircraft as well as views of his rudder markings and several of the aircraft belonging to various squadronmates. Each aircraft's colors and markings are covered in detail, and each of the aircraft rendered in profile by Tom are available on EagleCals releases, four to a sheet. I have used the markings of Hahn's most well-known 109F, WNr. 5749 (Aircraft No. 5) on a Hasegawa 1/48 scale kit with the results given below... as is to be expected, the registration of all the markings were spot-on, and no difficulties were encountered whatsoever in applying them. The F certainly stands out in the sea of completed 109s I have, and it's a pleasure to have the actual color scheme of this aircraft laid to rest after being misinterpreted time and again since the 1960s.

The Crandalls have done a superb job with this book. The quality of the printing is first rate, with heavyweight glossy paper used along with high-quality hardcover binding; and the sheer mass of photographic documentation of Hahn's service career makes the book a valuable addition to any Luftwaffe enthusiast's library. 

My thanks go to Jerry and Judy Crandall for the review samples.