Hello and welcome to another World War II podcast I'm Angus Wallace

when I plan the podcast I don't usually sit down and look at the subject and how it

relates to those episodes around it. Hence we've often found

ourselves in the Pacific in quick succession. In this instance it seems rather

serendipitous we're going from looking at the fall of France in the last episode

to looking at the experiences of German fighter pilots in Europe.

The two topics complement each other rather well. But before we kick off just a quick

reminder, this podcast is brought to you by the small donations of listeners like yourself. A dollar or two each month from each of you goes a long way to helping me find the time to put the show together. The band of loyal

listeners do not go unrewarded. No. For instance I was able to make available to patrons of the show an extra 30 minutes of Robert Fawcick and I

discussing the counterfactual question of whether the French could have fought on from North Africa after the fall of France.

To find out more on how to become a patron of the show, go to

podcast or see the donate page on the website

W-W-2 podcast on the website W-W-W-2 podcast.com and it's a big thank you to those who support the podcast with a small

Contribution each month. It really is appreciated. So joining me today is Patrick Erikson.

Patrick is the author of Alarmstadt, The German Fighter Pilots Experience in the Second World War.

Since the 1970s, Patrick has been an associate member of the German Air Force

Veterans Association, interviewing and corresponding with former members of the Lufuwaifer.

So thanks for joining me. Shall we start with the pilots themselves?

I had an uncle who was in bomber command and he'd been to public school in Britain, which confusingly is private school.

I wondered how elite were the German Luftwaffe pilots at the start of the war.

That's a difficult one to answer because the Luftwaffe was a very modern force that

that only come into being in the early 1930s having no traditions

...