In the spring of 1917, when
the world's first great air war was at its height, the British squadrons were
losing 200 pilots a month and British pilot life expectancy was eleven days.
The aeroplanes the pilots flew were rudimentary open-cockpit biplanes, with a single
machine bolted to the wood and fabric wing intended for shooting down the
equally frail German planes.
This book tells the story of that first great air war, illustrating its devastating emotional impact on the participants and their families in a narrative enriched by the private correspondence that flowed between them and diaries, reports and interviews. The aerial combat tactics that the sacrifices of those First World War aviators created became so tactically effective that they were used to deadly effect in the Second World War.
This book tells the story of that first great air war, illustrating its devastating emotional impact on the participants and their families in a narrative enriched by the private correspondence that flowed between them and diaries, reports and interviews. The aerial combat tactics that the sacrifices of those First World War aviators created became so tactically effective that they were used to deadly effect in the Second World War.
About the
Author
Ian Mackersey is a writer
and documentary film-maker; his speciality is aviation biography. He began his
career as a writer for The Dominion
and later the New Zealand Herald and
lived in Britain and Zambia, before returning to New Zealand.
Hachette New Zealand - Hardback - $60.00 RRP
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