An addition to the deservedly popular Images at War series. This new book covers the fascinating story of the French Air Force during WWI – Highly Recommended.
NAME: Images of War, The French Air Force In The First World War, Rare Photographs From Wartime Archives FILE: R2655 AUTHOR: Ian Sumner PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 156 PRICE: £14.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWI, World War One, Great War, First World War, World War 1, aviation, aerial warfare, airships, balloons, man-carrying kites, monoplanes, biplanes, fighters, fighter aces ISBN: 1-52670-179-0 IMAGE: B2655.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/y7w5vtkr LINKS: DESCRIPTION: An addition to the deservedly popular Images at War series. This new book covers the fascinating story of the French Air Force during WWI - Highly Recommended. The French aviation industry was a world leader in the early years of aviation and the newly created French Air Force served with distinction during WWI. It had taken a somewhat different path to that followed by the British and the Germans and was to be overtaken by these nations during the war, before falling further behind during the inter-war peace. The images in this book, together with a well-written supporting text, shows some of the differences. Where the Germans had made significant advances in rigid airship design as part of its naval aviation, and Britain had also made great advances with its Royal Naval Air Service in the use of rigid and semi-rigid airships for naval convoy escort, and anti-submarine patrol, the French, who had been the early pioneers of dirigibles, placed a lower priority on airship development and deployment by the French Air Force. In part this may be due to the early lead established by French fixed wing heavier-than-air machines. Strangely, the French Air Force continued to make use of man-carrying kites, which had been discounted by the German and British Armies and by the Royal Navy after extensive naval trials from 1903 to 1908. The French also returned to service the spherical observation balloons of the previous century, which had a number of serious weaknesses, although these were progressively replaced by the more streamlined captive balloons of the type developed by the British and German Armies. In fixed wing aircraft, the French continued to develop leading edge machines, taking the first steps to using fixed forward firing machine guns on single seat fighter aircraft, firing through the propeller arc. The images in this book are, almost without exception, of the greatest clarity and definition, giving some indication of the extent of French photo library stock. Considering the conditions, under which many images were shot, processed and stored, books of this type often have to use a number of images that have suffered from the conditions of the time.