Regular price: $19.95

Membership details Membership details
  • A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook, free.
  • 1 credit/month after trial – good for any book, any price.
  • Easy exchanges – swap any book you don’t love.
  • Keep your audiobooks, even if you cancel.
  • After your trial, Audible is just $14.95/month.
OR
In Cart

People who bought this also bought...

Fighting the Flying Circus audiobook cover art

  • Fighting the Flying Circus

  • By: Eddie V. Rickenbacker
  • Narrated by: John Pruden
  • Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 124
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 118
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 120

Captain Eddie V. Rickenbacker, originally from Ohio, was best known as one of the commanders of the 94th "Hat-in-the-Ring" Squadron, a crack unit of World War I pilots that included many former members of the famed Lafayette Escadrille. The 94th ended the war in France with the highest number of air victories of any American squadron.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • World War 1 ace

  • By Jean on 09-25-12
Open Cockpit audiobook cover art

  • Open Cockpit

  • By: Arthur Gould Lee
  • Narrated by: Roger Davis
  • Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars 16
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars 16
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars 16

Author of three books, this is by far his best. Lee puts you in the cockpit in a riveting account of life as a fighter pilot at the front. At times humorous and dramatic, this thoughtful, enlightening, true account is a classic to be ranked with Winged Victory by W. V. Yeates, also published by Grub Street.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Really great insights into WW1 air combat!

  • By B Taub on 12-21-16
Horses Don't Fly audiobook cover art

  • Horses Don't Fly

  • The Memoir of the Cowboy Who Became a World War I Ace
  • By: Frederick Libby
  • Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
  • Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 19
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 19
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars 19

Growing up on a ranch in Sterling, Colorado, Frederick Libby tamed countless horses, drove cattle, and even roped an antelope. When World War I broke out, he enlisted in the Canadian army with the same happy-go-lucky daring and grit with which he approached all things. In France, he became an aviator with the Royal Flying Corp, downing an enemy plane on his first day of battle over the Somme. He went on to become an ace, with 24 victories to his credit, just two less than Captain Eddie Rickenbacher. This is a rare piece of Americana, told in as pure and compelling a voice from the vernacular heart of this country as you will ever hear.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • A Fabulous account of an interesting era

  • By Julie K on 05-09-14
The German Aces Speak II audiobook cover art

  • The German Aces Speak II

  • World War II Through the Eyes of Four More of the Luftwaffe's Most Important Commanders
  • By: Colin D. Heaton, Anne-Marie Lewis, Dr. Dennis Showalter - foreword, and others
  • Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
  • Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars 18
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars 16
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars 16

In The German Aces Speak II, Heaton and Lewis paint a picture of the war through the eyes of four more of Germany's most significant pilots, put together from numerous interviews personally conducted by Heaton from the 1980s through the 2000s. The four ex-Luftwaffe fighter aces bring the past to life as they tell their stories about the war, their battles, their off-duty lives, their lives after the war, and perhaps most importantly, how they felt about serving under the Nazi leadership of Hermann Göring and Adolf Hitler.  

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Get this if you have any interest in WW2 aviation.

  • By Anonymous User on 09-19-18
Above and Beyond audiobook cover art

  • Above and Beyond

  • The Incredible Story of Frank Luke Jr., Arizona's Medal of Honor Flying Ace of the First World War
  • By: Keith Warren Lloyd
  • Narrated by: Joseph Mick
  • Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 9
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars 8
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 8

Above and Beyond is the incredible true story of Frank Luke Jr., the first aviator to receive the Medal of Honor. When America entered the First World War in 1917, Luke became a fighter pilot in the newly formed US Army Air Service and was soon serving with a combat squadron in France. Above and Beyond chronicles Luke's most daring mission of all on September 29, 1918, which cost him his life, and for which he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

  • 3 out of 5 stars

  • Great Material – Not Great for Audio

  • By DK on 02-13-18
The German Aces Speak audiobook cover art

  • The German Aces Speak

  • World War II Through the Eyes of Four of the Luftwaffe's Most Important Commanders
  • By: Anne-Marie Lewis, Jon Guttman, Brigadier General Robin Olds USAF (Ret.), and others
  • Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
  • Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 261
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 240
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 241

Few perspectives epitomize the sheer drama and sacrifice of combat more perfectly than those of the fighter pilots of World War II. As romanticized as any soldier in history, the World War II fighter pilot was viewed as larger than life: a dashing soul waging war amongst the clouds. In the 65-plus years since the Allied victory, stories of these pilots' heroics have never been in short supply. But what about their adversaries - the highly skilled German aviators who pushed the Allies to the very brink of defeat?

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • The best German side account on record!!

  • By Philip Gehman on 12-19-17

Editorial Reviews

Great War fighter pilot Frank Luke flew a scant 10 missions before his final stand behind enemy lines, but the brazen ace would go to his grave the second most victorious US Airman of World War I. Luke's two-week rampage through the western front skies capped a life marked by struggle and delinquency, from his beginnings as a miner and bare-knuckle boxer, to his near arrest for being AWOL on the penultimate day of his life. Husky-voiced performer John McClain captures Luke's fearless, tough-guy public demeanor, while nevertheless revealing the human sympathies of a young man with hopes, dreams, and an unyielding devotion to his family, comrades, and country.

Publisher's Summary

Frank Luke, Jr., was an unlikely pilot. In the Great War, when fliers were still "knights of the air", Luke was an ungallant loner, a kid from Arizona who collected tarantulas, shot buzzards, and boxed miners. But during two torrid weeks in September 1918, he was the deadliest man on the Western Front. In only 10 missions, he destroyed 14 heavily defended German balloons and four airplanes, a rampage unequalled even by the dreaded von Richtofen, and the second highest American tally of the entire war. Cocksure and constantly reprimanded, Luke was actually under arrest on the day of his final flight, but he stole a plane to join the fatal action that won him the first Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to a pilot.

Blaine Pardoe retraces and refreshes Frank Luke's story through recently discovered correspondence. What emerges is a portrait of a life out of an "Old West" that was, by the late Teens, colliding with modernity. Frantic, short, and splendid, the life of Frank Luke, Jr. dramatizes the tragic intervention of an American spirit in the war that devastated Europe.
©2011 Blaine L. Pardoe (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What members say

Average Customer Ratings

Overall

  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Performance

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2

Story

  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Audible.com Reviews
Amazon Reviews
Sort by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Really good insight

Really great history of Luke... enjoyed it alot.i highly recommend this book to any one.

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Ron
  • Allons, TN, United States
  • 02-22-15

It's only boastful if you can't do it...

The story of Frank Luke is that of Knights of old, with the adventure of early aviation as the backdrop. Excellently researched and a story brought forward of Luke's lone wolf style and his well noted flaunt to authority. Know as a braggart of sorts, the fact remains that he did exactly the things he said he would do. The narration of John McLain was dry and uninspiring until he quoted a direct quote from a letter, and became more like a character telling a story. Several times I wanted to quit listening and just read the book. The author spent an great amount of effort and time during and in the afterward of the story to make sure the reader, or listener in this case, knew from his perspective that his (the authors) research and work was the most definitive, and should in fact be the only version would could intelligently consider in the life of Frank Luke. Seemed a little boastful to me!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Very good but not totally outstanding

Well researched and well presented. I liked the book and it was worth the cost, but I cannot say it was over the top like some of the books I have listened to.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful