HERMAN THE GERMAN

by Gerhard Neumann ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 25, 1984

Gerhard Neumann retired in 1980 after 32 ""exciting, fully satisfying"" years with General Electric, 17 as head of its jet engine division--but the Big Story is his role, as a German national (""Herman the German""), with Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers in WW II China. And like many stories that are ipso facto remarkable, its interest is largely circumstantial: ""a series of coincidences of meeting the right people at the right place, at the fight time."" That, on top of ""my German upbringing""; certain distinctly Germanic traits--self-discipline, total application, meticulous attention to detail--in a Jew who professes to have been virtually untouched by anti-Semitism in 1930s Germany; and a natural interest in every sort of vehicle--from kayaks to planes to elite cars. When young Gerhard opted to study engineering rather than enter the family feather business, his father apprenticed him to Frankfurt/Oder's top auto mechanic, Herr Schroth, whose rigorous, dirty-nails training prepared him ""to handle any repair on anything mechanical"" anywhere. Then, graduating from ""Germany's oldest technical college"" (in 1938), he answered a Chinese ad for engineers to maintain German military equipment--and, after a pioneer, multi-stage flight, found himself stranded in Hong Kong, reliant on his proficiency as an auto mechanic. . .which also led to release from internment as an enemy alien and (""coincidence in timing!"") employment with Chennault, then advising the Chinese Air Force. Would he be willing to lead a convoy of trucks to the Burmese border? Could he service a diplomat's imported Packard? ""And what in hell is wrong with getting him into the States illegally?"" Thus, ""the incredibly lucky path that led to my setting foot on American soil for the first time as a U.S. Air Force master sergeant who was still a German citizen."" On the way, he reassembled the first captured Zero; in the US, he met military and political big-wigs, as well as his lawyer wife-to-be; later, he became a US citizen by special act of Congress. And he and wife Clarice traveled by jeep from Hong Kong to Jerusalem before he finally settled in at GE. The sketchy post-1948 chronicle has chiefly to do with jet-engine development. Neumann himself is not an especially engaging guy. But the adventures with engines in extraordinary situations do have built-in appeal.

Pub Date: July 25, 1984

ISBN: 141847925X

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1984

Categories: NONFICTION