Recommended Books about WW1 Air Combat

O

Olham54

The Bordeaux-Red Baron
Hi, all
Just read RABU's reference (Thank you for it, RABU), and I was wondering, if there are perhaps THE ULTIMATE THREE books, one SHOULD read about WW1 air combat?
Now, before everyone just trows titles in here, I'd be glad, if only those of you answered, who have read at least five good books about this subject; so perhaps the best three would "condense" out? Thanks in advance.
Olham

PS: Off course I've noticed "Good reads and ripping tales", but there are so many book thrown at me, and I'm a very slow reader. So, again:
I'd just like to see, if we can come to the TOP THREE ones.
 
Hallo Olham,
It's a very broad topic, but by any criteria, Sagittarius Rising would have to be considered for your list.
Cheers,
shredward
 
Hi,

Flying Fury by James McCudden, covers both the observers point of view and the pilots, and he was also one of the master tacticians of WW1, and as a bonus (in my opinion you get the view from the ground at the start of the war as McCudden started as a mechanic.

Thanks
Rugbyfan1972
 
If you're after the common-man experience instead of the superstar "This is how I shot down every aircraft the enemy put in the sky" propaganda, no question..."No Parachute". It's more of a compilation of diary entries and letters home (written when the events were fresh in the author's mind, some the same day, rather than months or years later) than a narrative. As I recall, the author wasn't one of the great aces, but someone whose goal was to survive to the next mission. The letters were censored, both officially and by the author so as not to alarm his family, but they are often accompanied by his diary entries of the same events, which are much more honest and poignant.
 
Why place limits on knowledge? Regardless, here goes:

1. Tumult in the Clouds, The British Experience of the War in the Air, 1914-1918, N. Steel & P. Hart, (1997)

2. Germany's First Air Force 1914-1918, P. Kilduff, (1991)

3. Bloody April: Slaughter in the Skies Over Arras 1917, P. Hart, (2005) Reading this book should forever shed the ridiculous obsession with dogfighting "chivalrous knights." Two-seaters were the satellites of the day; opposing fighters sought to stop their activities; friendly fighters sought to protect them. A movie such as (e.g) the Great Waldo Pepper, which to many has somehow become representative of WW1 aviation, is to actual WW1 aviation as a Dr. Pepper commercial is to real life.

Okay, one more:

4. The Red Baron's Last Flight, A Mystery Investigated, Franks & Bennet, (1997). The Roy-Brown-shot-down-Richthofen nonsense still exists. Based on that, many have yet to read this book.
 
Ok, am reading this one.......

Sagittarius Rising, and got Flying Fury, J. McCudden, ( alas not the original but a 1968 printing thats in great shape from eBay @ $ 45.)

Cheers,

british_eh
 
von Baur said:
If you're after the common-man experience instead of the superstar "This is how I shot down every aircraft the enemy put in the sky" propaganda, no question..."No Parachute". It's more of a compilation of diary entries and letters home (written when the events were fresh in the author's mind, some the same day, rather than months or years later) than a narrative. As I recall, the author wasn't one of the great aces, but someone whose goal was to survive to the next mission. The letters were censored, both officially and by the author so as not to alarm his family, but they are often accompanied by his diary entries of the same events, which are much more honest and poignant.
Click to expand...

No Parachute by Arthur Gould Lee. I read it the first time in junior high school. Excellent book. I could almost feel the joy (and the intense apprehension) when he described the feeling of trading in his Pup for a Camel after hearing of the Camel's rep. Awesome read!

CJ

PS You'll find a skin of his aircraft in Phase 2.
 
I'll take a different approach.

All the above books are excellent reads, many of them classic's. However they don't really address the 'how to fight in the air' question. The approach they adopt if more along the lines of 'what life was like in the war'. And other than in a very general way not a lot of of space is given over to the how to actually fight n the air, other than well known keys like use height, the sun, keep speed up etc.

For books on how to actually dogfight one needs to look at fiction. So my three recommendations are:

* In The Company Of Eagles, by Ernest K. Gann.
* The Blue Max, by Jack D. Hunter.
* The Camels Are Coming, by W.E. Johns.
 
Thanks, all. So far, there are these 3 books being mentioned several times:
SAGITTARIUS RISING (?)
FLYING FURY (James McCudden)
NO PARACHUTE (Arthur Gould Lee)

Any German point of view books? And is PIPS right - are the above not so much about how to dogfight? And if so, which other good books are?
 
I've only read "No Parachute: A Fighter Pilot in World War I" but it's a great
book.
 
Great books, all, but remember there was a helluvalot more to WW1 air combat than just dogfighting scouts.
 
Sagittarius Rising and No Parachute are both great, but for the feel of dogfighting I still reckon Biggles takes a lot of beating.
 
For a German point of view I'd go with Ace of the Iron Cross. Its an autobiography of Ernst Udet. It goes through his wartime career, first as a two-seater pilot and then as a scout pilot. It also includes his post-war flying exploits in Africa, ect. Its a great read. It really flows and has alot of detail.

Its a translation of Mein Fliegerleben. Thought I'd give you the German title in case you feel like reading it in German.


-Rooster
 
Greetings.
These are my 3 favs, though some may be difficult to find these days.
Falcons of France, Nordhoff & Hall
Fighting the Flying Circus, Rickenbacker
The Red Night of Germany, Gibbons

Also:
The Years of the Sky Kings (two holers) Arch Whitehouse
Heaven High Hell Deep, Norman Archibald
Winged Warfare, Bishop
I believe the last can still be had in paperback. The rest maybe ebay or the used book stores.
Good luck.
Scratch
 
Add these

Factual and Recent
On a Wing and A Prayer Joshua Levine
Aces Falling Peter Hart
Novels and quite old (try ebay)
Killing for the Hawks Frederick E Smith
In the Company of eagles Earnest K Gann,
All of the above are first class reads.
 
The Blue Max is actually a good read. A fictional book, but with a few historical characters involved to give it some validity for the era.
 
Cameljockey said:
Dog-Fight: Aerial Tactics of the Aces of World War I by Norman Franks. Stackpole Books (http:// www.stackpolebooks.com/cgi-bin/Stackpole Books.storefront)...
Click to expand...

Sorry Cameljockey, your link didn't work and I poked around Stackpole but couldn't find it there either. A simple search at Amazon turned it up, but FYI for others, the reviews are a little less than stellar, but personal preferences being what they are...
http://www.amazon.com/review/produc...cm_cr_acr_txt?_encoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

EDIT: I should add the book is reviewed as having a lot of very good information in it, but as mentioned, could have been better edited. Truly, I did not mean to slag anyone's favourite and sincerely apologize if I offended...


WWI Aerial Fiction Category:
My vote is (ahem, who else?) my childhood hero as written by Donald Jack, "Three Cheers for me", "That's Me in the Middle", "It's Me Again", are can't-put-it-down WWI fiction classics with a wry sense of Canadian humour. Won several Stephen Leacock humour awards.
 
It really could have been better edited as there were more than a few typos, and the author did tend to wander at times, but overall, I thought it was pretty good. Except when he started talking about the bombing in WWII.

CJ
 
Seems difficult to find any German books, as most aces didn't return from the war. I found MvR's "Der Rote Baron", which is said to be diary-based and written by himself (that would have been still at war then - but I'm suspicious there, as the oldest one I found at Ebay, was from 1933 - so I'm not sure, if perhaps it was manipulated for propaganda by the Nazi's. Does anyone know?);
and I saw "Mein Fliegerleben" by Ernst Udet (which was already mentioned here). So, does anyone know more about the above, or can recommend other German titles? Thank you all.
Olham
 
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