I particularly enjoyed The Big Show by Pierre Clostermann.
A few people have read this book and recommended it. I knew a (now long departed) bloke who flew on Clostermann's squadron as a Sgt pilot after the D-day landings (when they were based on 'bare bones' strips in France) and he became quite passionate when Clostermann's name was brought up - in about as negative a way as you can get. Didn't have a good word to say about the man, particularly his habit of taking the Flight back for a second sweep over German airfields. (The Number 3 and 4 on such sweeps - i.e., the hapless Sergeants - faced the German AAA gunners when they were now fully alert and ready for action.) Col said Clostermann lost more wingmen than he had breakfasts, (a point I seem to recall that Clostermann admitted to in the book). Col didn't like the man as a leader on the ground either.
When I read 'The Big Show', I thought Clostermann made a few comments that hinted that my old friend Col might not have been far off the mark in his assessment of the man. (I seem to recall his mentioning reaming out his groundcrew at the bare bones bases for leaving smudges on his canopy.)
When I came upon the bit early in the book about his sitting around the French messes in Indonchina so bored that he would spend hours on end "...fascinated, watching the small lizards on the bar room walls as they caught insects", I knew Col had been right - the man was a bloody
Gecko Watcher!
(Anyone of a certain age who spent any time in the tropics with the RAAF [and possibly the RAF?] will understand what that entails immediately.)
Having said that, his escape from Saigon to Malaya in the Auster, refuelling from 4 gallon drums through the torn out roof in flight, was a mean feat, as were his explots after getting to Europe. I don't suppose you survive what he went through without ruffling a few feathers along the way.