Another book in the very popular Images of War Series, this time looking at the ‘Aces’ of the Great War from 1916 to 1918. The usual outstanding selection of rare photographs is supported by concise and clear text in the form of captions and much longer introductory pieces. A very affordable volume with many remarkable images of war.
NAME: Images of War, Great War Fighter Aces 1916-1918, rare photographs from wartime archives FILE: R2483 AUTHOR: Norman Franks PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: hard back PAGES: 123 PRICE: £12.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWI, World War One, World War 1, First World War, The Great War, aviation, fighter aircraft, aerial combat, aces, air war, biplanes, triplanes, monoplanes. RNAS, RFC, RAF, French Air Service, German Air Service
ISBN: 1-47386-126-8
IMAGE: B2483.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/lqy9hbq LINKS: DESCRIPTION: Another book in the very popular Images of War Series, this time looking at the 'Aces' of the Great War from 1916 to 1918. The usual outstanding selection of rare photographs is supported by concise and clear text in the form of captions and much longer introductory pieces. A very affordable volume with many remarkable images of war. A picture may speak a thousand words and here is a fantastic selection of images that speak volumes. The standard of reproduction of the images is first rate. Crisp images that could have been shot this morning. The text is more extensive than in some volumes in this popular series, but it is still concise and full of insight. The 'aces' of The Great War were truly pioneers in the very new activity of flying. The period covered in this volume is when fighter aircraft had really come of age. In 1914, the only service to fly aircraft that were truly integrated weapons systems was the Royal Naval Service Service. That was the result of the period from 1903 to 1911 when the Royal Navy approached aviation and flight as just another useful tool to help the Royal Navy maintain command at sea and meet the duties laid upon it. Initially the RN conducted extensive trials with man-carrying kites provided by Sam Cody. However, they were closely associated with Cody's work on his powered kite which was the first powered aircraft to make a fully controlled flight in Britain in 1908. The RN then worked with the Royal Aeronautical Society to establish the first military pilot school in 1911 and select the first class of aviators. The first naval aviators to graduate were given the task of identifying all of the roles that could be fulfilled at sea by aviation and what weapons systems should be designed and built. The result was that the RNAS was formed a few weeks before WWI broke out to give the RN full control of its air assets and an RNAS floatplane dropped the first torpedo from an aircraft. The British RFC and the French and German Air Services started the war with 'scouts' that were unarmed and intended only to scout for the armies, taking photographs and writing reports that were then flown back to base and dropped or handed over to the army commanders. Inevitably aircrew took a variety of weapons aloft and tried to damage or discourage enemy scouts, but it was not until 1916 that the true fighter aircraft was in common service, frequently single seat and armed with one of more forward firing machine guns. There was still much experimentation, but the death toll now began to mount rapidly as aircraft increasingly made other aircraft their targets. This volume looks at men and machines with an excellent selection of images to illustrate the progression of the 'ace' and the swings in fortune as one protagonist enjoyed a technical advantage before losing it to the enemy.