Fighter Heroes of WWI

by Joshua Levine

Few are aware of the risks that the pioneering airmen of World War I took. This oral history conveys the perils of those early days, the thrills of learning to fly, and the horrors of war in the air at a time when pilots carried little defensive armament and no parachutes. The men who joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1914 were the original heroes of flying, treading into unknown territory and paving the way for later aerial combat. They became icons for the soldiers in the trenches, and a stark contrast to the hundreds on the ground fighting faceless hundreds as men fought aircraft to aircraft and man to man—for the first time the air became a battlefield of its own. In 1914 aircraft were a questionable technology, used for only basic reconnaissance. But by 1918, hastened by the terrible war, aircraft were understood to be the future of modern warfare. The war changed flying forever. The Wright brothers' achievements of a mere 10 years earlier and Blériot's crossing of the Channel just a few years before the war seemed a distant memory as aircraft became killing machines—the war becoming the ancestor of the fearsome air wars of later years. The stories are presented to the reader in a frank and open way, revealing the feelings of the men who defended the trenches from above and witnessed the war from a completely different perspective. These first-hand accounts tell the almost totally unknown tale of men who rewrote the rules of military engagement and changed the course of modern history as a result.

Genres: World War I, History, Historical, War, Nonfiction

374 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2009

About the author

Joshua Levine was born in the Bahamas. He has a law degree and practiced as a criminal barrister for several years in London. He gave up law and became an actor, appearing in amateur theatre productions. He also worked as an assistant producer, working on a documentary about Handel's Water Music. He wrote a stage play entitled, Crash, and went on to write programs for BBC Radio 4. He is the author of Forgotten Voices, Beauty and Atricity, On a Wing and a Prayer, Operation Fortitude, The Secret History of the Blitz, and Dunkirk.

Reviews

[Russ Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is an interesting book which tries to bring to life the pilots who fought, and mostly died, in the skies above the trenches in the First World War, using archived materials, letters to family and interviews. In this it partially succeeds, however it has been more than a century since the war ended and sometimes the source material doesn't do the subjects justice.

[Gordon McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy Read...well laid out and very informative....Good examples of the general plight of servicemen during the infancy of air warfare

And also the introduction of tactics and technology that would be utilised in the second world war. Bombing and massive destruction of Citys

[Stuart Danvers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read

An interesting book, with eye witness accounts. It was difficult to put down. I read it in a week, not bad for me.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was very interesting.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very interesting first hand accounts of the early years of air warfare.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very personalized story of the British pilots of WWI, drawing on and directly quoting both their letters and their audio memories from museum archives. German pilots are also described, but not in such personal detail. From mere observers to dogfighters and bombers, the war saw aviation develop rapidly on both sides. Many pilots died in the effort, but the Royal Air Force was born.