This project aims to understand the motivation of WW 2 fighter pilots. They exposed themselves to great risks while carrying out their missions, often dying in the process.
As part of our data collection, we are offering a platform that allows collectors and enthusiasts to share their invaluable historical documents. Flugbücher are important historical records that allow us to reconstruct pilot’s careers, their performance in training, as well as their level of effort and performance. In addition, it adds to our understanding of unit histories or airfield histories. Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, no comprehensive database exists that can serve as a basis for systematic research using these historical documents.
All uploaded copies of Flugbücher of German pilots will only be used for scientific research, not used for commercial purposes. As soon as we have a reasonable number of flight logs, we will digitize the data and start sharing it for free to the public through this website. Where we cite individual records, we will acknowledge the provider’s contribution in any publication that results from the project.
The project is led by Hans-Joachim Voth, Professor of Economics at the University of Zurich. This website was inspired by the folks over at threedecks.org, a website on the history of navies during the Age of Sail. Their data is so comprehensive and clean that the UK Maritime Museum cites them as the best source for naval history pre-1850. For the summary of a paper using their data, click here.