A good book on the air war.

[the_ageing_young_rebel]

Hi

I was wondering if anybody could recommend a good book about the air war of ww1. Nothing too heavy and weighed down by engenering details or anything, just a nice good introduction.

Thanks

[Dolphin]

You could try one of these:

A Brief History of the Royal Flying Corps by Ralph Barker, ISBN 1 84119 470 0;

Tumult in the Clouds by Nigel Steel & Peter Hart, ISBN 0 340 63846 X; or

The First of the Few by Denis Winter, ISBN 0 7139 1278 2.

They're a bit British-centric, but they'll serve to give you an idea of how things worked. Also, the bibliographies should help to guide you towards other books worth reading. You may have to search further to get a picture of activities on fronts other than France and Flanders.

For good well-illustrated information on fighter pilots, I recommend the Aces series published by Osprey, eg Albatros Aces of World War I, SPAD VII Aces of World War I, Sopwith Camel Aces of World War I, etc.

I hope that this helps you.

Gareth

[Doc2]

I like "Winged Mars" by Cuneo, and Volume II of the set, which is called "The Air Weapon 1914-1916". Doc

[Michael Molkentin]

I'll second those suggested by Dolphin.

All are really engaging and well researched. My personal favourite is Winter's 'First of the Few'. Personally, I'd read it first and then Hart & Steel's "Tumult in the Clouds". They both focus on the 'ordinary' characters of the air war and don't get caught up with the 'aces'. Both are unfortunately out of print and reasonably pricey (a reflection on how well they're sought after). They should be readily available in public libraries though.

I'd also highly recommend V M Yeats "Winged Victor" or Arthur Lee's "No Parachute".

Yeats book is a semi-autobiographical account written in novel form. He has an extraordinary knack for creating atmosphere. You will really feel like you're in a squadron mess in 1918. But its very, very dark- downright depressing actually. Lee's book is a collection of his letters to his wife and his diary entries. He writes beautifully evocative prose and really takes the reader through the salient features of the air war (life on the aerodrome, dogfighting, ground attacks, tactics, strain etc.).

Cecil Lewis "Sagitarius Rising" is a bit of a classic. It was also written by a pilot (its a post war memoir). He has an excellent turn of phrase but writes in a slightly more abstract style. His book is a more like a series of 'snapshots' or impressions of the air war than a blow by blow narrative.

Michael Molkentin

[garywilson1972]

Try 'On a Wing and a Prayer' by Joshua Levine

Or two books by Robert Jackson which are very similar in content are 'Air War Flanders 1918' and 'Aces' Twilight' - my personal preference of the two is 'Air War Flanders 1918'

I've heard good things said about Peter Hart's 'Bloody April' but haven't read it yet myself; or Peter Hart has also written 'Aces Falling' - I think this has mixed reviews on Amazon but you might want to check it out for yourself.

A nice coffee-table type book for an overall viewpoint is 'War in the Air 1914-45' by Williamson Murray.

Hope this is some help.

[RobL]

I reccomend Peter Hart's three WW1 in the air books wholeheartedly - 'Somme Success', 'Bloody April' and 'Aces Falling'. Superb books that get rid of a few myths, and most importantly (to me) assert the fact that observation was the most important role of the RFC, not the glamorous scouts

[the_ageing_young_rebel]

thanks