High Adventure/Ff33

by James Norman Hall

In "HIGH A Narrative of Air Fighting in France," the author (James Norman Hall) relates in sparse, straightforward prose the experiences of an American who went over to France during the First World War to train as a fighter pilot (un pilote de chasse) in the French Aéronautique Militaire.Hall himself had served as a fighter pilot on the Western Front with the Escadrille Lafayette - and later with the United States Army Air Service before being brought down by ground fire in May 1918 and spending the remainder of the war as a POW in Germany. This book is infused with much of Hall's own combat experiences, which give it an authenticity that will strike a chord with the reader."HIGH ADVENTURE" offers reportage with some elements of high drama.

Genres: History, Research, World War I, Aviation

239 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

An American author best known for the novel Mutiny on the Bounty with co-author Charles Nordhoff.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

A memoir of the author's days in the Lafayette Escadrille, the group of American pilots who fought for France in WWI before the United States entered the war. I cannot say that the book itself was all that spectacular, but Hall did mention a few things that I don't remember seeing in other books of this type.

For example, he felt ashamed that the US was yet not in the war; he was humbled by the royal treatment he was given as an American; he noticed and completely sympathized with the irritation some of the infantry soldiers felt towards pilots; and he described in detail some of the outfits the pilots wore. This last tickled me because of course in our day we don't think about pilots being exposed to the cold temperatures of high altitude flying. Here is a short description of fellow pilots preparing for a raid:
"Rodman was buttoning himself into a combination suit which appeared to add another six inches to his six feet two. Barry, who was leading the low patrol, wore a woolen helmet which left only his eyes uncovered. I had not before noticed how they blazed and snapped. All his energy seemed to be concentrated in them. Porter wore a leather face-mask, with a lozenge-shaped breathing-hole, and slanted openings covered with yellow glass for eyes. He was the most fiendish-looking demon of them all."

The name James Norman Hall nagged at me from the time I started reading. I knew that name from somewhere, but couldn't think where. After a chapter or two I broke down and Googled. Turned out Hall had already served with the British Army and had written a book about that experience (he posed as a Canadian to get into the service and was discharged when his ruse was eventually discovered.)

I have that book on my lists of WWI titles to read, but that was still not the reason the name seemed familiar, so I kept going. When Hall returned to the States after his discharge, he began to work for the Atlantic Monthly and was sent overseas again to write a report about the Lafayette Escadrille. He became so caught up in the excitement of it all that he joined the group himself and had the adventures which became this book, parts of which were apparently published in the Atlantic Monthly. The final chapter was a letter written from a German POW camp after Hall was shot down and captured, and he begins with a question before going on to explain the details of his final flight.
"I've been wondering about the ultimate fate of my poor old “High Adventure” story, whether it was published without those long promised concluding chapters which I really should have sent on had I not had the misfortune to be taken prisoner. I hope the book has been published, incomplete as it is. Not that I am particularly proud of it as a piece of literature!"

Meanwhile, did I ever find out why the name seemed so familiar to me? Yes, I did. Hall and another Lafayette pilot, Charles Nordhoff, were asked to collaborate on a history of the Lafayette Escadrille. The two men had not known each other in France, but quickly became close friends. They accepted an assignment to write travel articles set in the South Seas, and went to Tahiti for research. Nordhoff married and stayed in Tahiti for many years. Our man Hall married and stayed in Tahiti the rest of his life, passing away in 1951.

By the time Nordhoff left the islands a few years after divorcing his wife in 1936, he and James Norman Hall had collaborated on many articles and a few novels. Most notable of these (and the only ones I have read) were these three: Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea, and Pitcairn's Island!

[Chrissie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The American, author James Norman Hall (1887- 1961), writes of his flying in France during the First World War. For the Atlantic Monthly, he agreed to write a series of articles about American volunteers fighting in France’s Lafayette Escadrille. The United States had not yet joined the war. What we read are journal entries recording his experiences—how he was taught to fly, daily routines, weekend sojourns in Paris, targeting of enemy infantry troops and combat missions behind enemy lines. He speaks of his own emotional turmoil—recognizing his own fear, thrill, disgust and horror.

The presentation is confusing—background information is scanty. One gets no sense of Hall’s personality. One would guess that the writing would be exciting, which it is not, except for one episode when he describes a bombing mission.

At the end of the book is collected background information, which is at this point too late. There is an additional short section presenting biographical details.

The audiobook is narrated by Andre Devin. What is delivered is a theatrical performance including sound effects, snippets of music, off-key singing and an excessive dramatization of the author’s written lines. None of this I enjoyed. The French is so poorly spoken that I had a hard time figuring out what he could be trying to say. One star for the narration performance.

Given the work’s historical significance it is of course important that the journal entries have been preserved.

[Jack Hwang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good narratives about the author's own experiences in Lafayette Escadrille.

Hall was commissioned as a captain in US Army Air Service in 1918 and commanded No. 94 Squadron. His aircraft malfunctioned in May, 1918 and crash-landed behind the German line. He ended the war as a POW and with 3 or 4 confirmed aerial victories (plus a couple of unconfirmed).

He was famous for his Bounty Trilogy, co-authored with Charles Nordhoff.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief and interesting glimpse at the life of a World War I pilot's experience. The book is more like a diary crossed with a travel narrative. The style of writing is adequate for the material. The book was cut short due to the pilot being captured. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Great War or in early aviation.

[Susan Arra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

The narrative is tedious but the war scenes are only a small part of it. This LibriVox reader has a voice too low to be clear, and his pronunciations of French words are ridiculous.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars (liked it)

[Timothy Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the three air ace books listened to in the last few months, I find this one the most interesting. Hall, an American, served in a French squadron, so he had better equipment than his countrymen (who, as Richenbacker in the previous book complains, were given neither modern machines or parachutes).

His book is structurally odd, as it was published before the conclusion of the war: its final chapter is a letter written by Hall from a POW camp. Its self-effacing humor reminds me most of Vet in a Spin by James Herriot. Recommended to those interested in military history of the period, and those who like autobiographies generally.

This review originally appeared on book coasters

[Timothy Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the three air ace books listened to in the last few months, I find this one the most interesting. Hall, an American, served in a French squadron, so he had better equipment than his countrymen (who, as Richenbacker in the previous book complains, were given neither modern machines or parachutes).

His book is structurally odd, as it was published before the conclusion of the war: its final chapter is a letter written by Hall from a POW camp. Its self-effacing humor reminds me most of Vet in a Spin by James Herriot. Recommended to those interested in military history of the period, and those who like autobiographies generally.

[Mariam Cheshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

For World War I flying this was one of the best. The author took us from hopping around (I think they were called penguins) to the terrors of flying. I was right there flying on every mission. :-) Probably as many were killed learning to fly as were killed in combat. It has been a lot of years since I read this book but it is still in my mind as one of my favorites.

[Jerry Mercer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Perspective

Liked the first person account of war in the air during WWI. Although the writing is not very sophisticated, it gives a good perspective of the young pilot's experience.

[Mahlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written, but otherwise unremarkable story, about air combat during WWI.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read if you have any interest in early aviation. Available from Gutenberg and Librivox.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story about flying in World War I.

[Charles H Berlemann Jr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story composed of elements of James Norman Hall's diary from when he joined the French Foreign Legion shortly before the USA entered the First World War. It goes up till just after he is captured by the Germans in the summer of 1918 and getting ready to end the war. It provides an interesting view the attempts of the French to get the American Volunteers into the fight and the need for pilots in the air. The picture isn't that dashing when Hall actually gets into it and down to the brass tacks of what happens. The horrors of doing a rocket attack on German Observation Balloons and arguing about the morals of machine gunning the observers in their parachutes to the fighting to survive their first 100 hours over the front. The picture that Hall paints of just the the polar opposite of the films and books of the intra-war period, where they were dashing young men in their flying machines. Instead he paints a picture of men who by 1916/1917 where already burned out of war and in some cases had the 1000 yard stare, kids looking for adventure and finding none, finally the old timers who were trying to teach these young kids how to survive. The book is short and to the point that most of it is spent on Hall's time in flight school with the French Army and his adventures in getting his wings before his first set of missions. After a couple of his patrols and his assignment to the famous Lafayette Squadron, he finds out (along with the rest of the Americans) that the US has entered the war. In the end that is where the book sort of ends because the last chapter is more of a epilogue to his adventures since it opens with an International Red Cross post card to Boston saying please print my diary. Then it discusses his shoot down and subsequent capture. Still an interesting book and offers an interesting counter point to Eddie Rickenbacker's own story of adventure in the war.