Ace of Aces: The Incredible Story of Pat Pattle - the Greatest Fighter Pilot of WWII (Ace Pilots of World War II)

A look at a part of the Second World War which is all but forgotten. A time and place where biplane fought for control of the skies. Pat Pattle and all the others deserve to be remembered for their service and sacrifice.

With so many official records destroyed by retreating a!lied armies in WWII, it is a tribute to the author's tenacity and thoroughness that he was able to flesh out the details of both Pattle's life and character, as well as his unmatched accomplishments as a pilot and commander. A well-told and captivating story with my only complaint being that it ends so abruptly with no forewarning and very little detail about the death of Pattle. A greater lead in and more thorough wrap-up would have been appreciated.

Well written story about an obscure portion of the fighting of British Air assets in support of the Kingdom of Greece during WWII. It appears that a particular fighter pilot for Britain probably was the greatest Brit Ace of them all (British, that is). Unfortunately, this pilot was killed in action, and the squadron’s records were lost in the British retreat from Greece during combat in the war. After the end of WWII, no one was interested in digging into a small ‘sideshow’ like Greece and so this Ace and his companions’ heroics were ignored by the British Military.In 1965. a young researcher stumbled across this story & began rooting out the details of not only this amazing pilot but the incredible story of the small British force that is sent to help the unequipped Greeks fight off both Italy and Germany. This is a riveting story and reminds one somewhat at times of Lawrence of Arabia. A handful of British military thrown into an untenable situation and outnumbered beyond measure.The Brits certainly had a way about them. Anyway, this is a good read about a part of WWII you normally won’t hear much about. And the end shouldn’t surprise anyone who has had many dealings with governments, either.

A true read of life as a pilot in WWII, not to mention the not often talked about fight in Greece. A must read for WWII historians and aviation enthusiasts!

I have studied World War II because many family members fought in this war. I had not known about "Pat" Prattle. I was amazed at what he was able to do with the equipment that he and his men were given to fight with. The fighting in Greece was something that most history books do not talk much about. This story was really interesting and though I knew that Pat was killed in action, my heart broken reading how he lost his life. What would've made this book better would have been to have pictures of Pat and the airplanes he flew. A very good read. I'm glad I read it.

Interesting story, I hadn't heard of this ace before so take my review with grain of salt I guess. Anyway, unfortunately the book seems written by more of a cheerleader than a true historian. In no way is this a put down of the pilot himself, he seemed a remarkable individual. However, its just the author didn't really seem to acknowledge that there were many other legendary pilots on both sides in other theaters making similar contributions under equal or greater difficulty against extremely deadly foes. The title of "Greatest Fighter Pilot of WWII" just doesn't quite hold up for me. Again, I wish to make no offense to the legacy of this obviously brave and talented pilot as one of many who deserve our respect and admiration.

I've read a fair amount regarding the phyrric victory in Crete by the Germans but the Greek theater of WW2 has been nearly forgotten. The brave Greek and Commonwealth troops deserve more recognition

This was a gift for a friend of mine and he gave it rave reviews! He was very happy with it and said it had a lot of information that he was not aware of. He said he truly enjoyed reading it.

I first read this book as a boy in 1974 as I had a great interest in WW2 pilots through the making of many model aeroplanes. This was one of the very first ACE Fighter Pilot books that I read. There were many superb pilot stories that I remember from the war period (Al Deere, Bob Stanford Tuck, Heinz Knocke, Douglas Bader, Ginger Lacey and especially Pierre Clostermann's The Big Show, but I have always had a deep affection for this book about Pat Pattle.This book details a period before America joined the war when Britain and her allies were more or less losing everywhere, flying with tired or sometimes obsolete aircraft against superior numbers under awful, retreating conditions in many cases.Pat Pattie amazingly scored many of his victories in an outdated Biplane - The Gloster Gladiator. Much later on he acquired a Hawker Hurricane, but he never got close to getting his hands on a Spitfire, Tempest, Mustang, Lightning, Thunderbolt or Corsair. Imagine what he could have done with his own Squadron of modern Fighters and Pilots at a more winning period of the war.I highly recommend this book and Pat Pattie highest scoring Western Allied Fighter Pilot of WW2 deserves to have his story heard by as many WW2 aficionados as possible.The book title of greatest fighter pilot of WW2 is perhaps an over exuberant one. Many other Allied pilots would have racked up much larger totals if they hadn't been rotated into other roles at the end of their tours of duty. George Screwball Beurling (1942 Malta Ace) for example ended up on tedious trips around Canada promoting war bonds when his total was already approaching 40 kills in a very short period of time. How many would be have scored if he'd fought all through the war ?Many Soviet pilots scored as many or more than Pattle, but their records were unknown in the West after the war.It's also no surprise that all the highest scoring aces were German. They flew more missions than any other air force and were not rotated away like Allied pilots. They had periods of leave, but basically flew until they died, were wounded or promoted away from combat.Some pilots also flew much better aeroplanes against inferior opposition, so kill totals can be very misleading. The title of greatest fighter pilot of WW2 will never be resolved, but Pat Pattle was certainly one of the best especially as he was flying against the odds in most cases.

A brilliant book which I first bought in paperback in 1973, Hardback later and now in a Kindle edition. Squadron Leader M. J. St. John "Pat" Pattle DFC and Bar was killed during the defence of Greece in 1941 having amassed over 41 victories. A fact not known for years due to destroying records during the evacuation. Today most historians and researchers, such as Chris Shores in Aces High, point out he may have scored 50 or more victories. What is not in doubt is that he scored at least 41 in a period of 1940-41 over the desert and then Greece with 80 Gladiator biplane squadron then in command of 33 Hurricane squadron. He had the most victories on Hurricanes and also on Gladiators of all pilots on the type. Sadly, he was killed flying to rescue a fellow pilot (Woods) who was being attacked and also killed- on 20th April 1941 along with Pattle. The book is a landmark work putting Pattle back where he deserves and is well researched, well written. This is the updated version. Full of air combat accounts that are not repetitive and not hard reading. A poignant tale of hard work, sacrifice and duty, little known. There should be a film or a documentary about this hero, based upon this book and the testimonials from pilots who flew in action alongside him, such as Roald Dahle-the author of many books made into films. Pattle lies with his Hurricane in the sea close to Psyttaleia , on an uninhabited island in the Saronic Gulf between the harbor of Piraeus, near Athens and the Kynosoura peninsula on Salamis Island, Greece. E C R Baker wrote of all the major 20 plus victory aces in his earlier book: Fighter Aces of the RAF which is worth buying also. The book is a good read and you will not be disappointed. Paul Davies Aviation Historian.

This is an excellent book that covers the air war in the Western Desert and in the ‘forgotten’ campaign in Greece. It is meticulously researched and very well written. The record of an overlooked air ace in the war against Italy and Germany. It puts the lie to the common conception that the Gloucester Gladiator was a hopeless plane and the Hawker Hurricane couldn’t put up a fight against the Me Bf109, although, of course, so much comes down to the knowledge and skill of individual pilots, not just the planes themselves... If you love to study WW2 and haven’t read this book you really must download it.

As someone who has read exploits of fighting men over 50 years now, every now & then you come across a book that you knew nothing about. The author in my opinion researched this man (Pat Pattle) & has simply covered his life from a lad born in South Africa to joining the RAF & becoming the highest scoring ACE in a fighter. Sad as never heard of him as he did not fight in the BOB. He flew in Greece & the files were mainly destroyed once the Germans took over from the Italians & were forced to leave the area. But the author traced surviving pilots & groundcrew & put together this mans extraordinary skill of being a top fighter pilot even in a Gladiator then later in a Hurricanes. Wont give away the story but for me I really rated the book, & wished it would have been longer. The author E C R Baker done a 1st class job in tracing people & giving there in interpretation of those days way back then. 5 star.

This is the story of a WW2 fighter hero who was nto born in Britain - so of course history will ignore him.He got to where he was by talent not birth - see above.He fought in a campaign which is not part of the standard British narritive so see above.A fascinating story of a person who was incredibly focussed in what he wanted to do then went and did it.Who was a real leader not someone who thought they had a right to be.A very good history, well told, it deserves to be more widely read.R