.

... I've been fortunate recently to add several more 1st editions to my personal library here at home. To start is "My Helpful Angel Flew With Me", a brief but interesting memoir of American pilot William H. Cupples. Next is an excellent original 1920 copy of "A History of the 17th Aero Squadron", by Frederick M. Clapp; a great contemporary record source of this USAAS unit, equipped with Camels in the Great War. And finally, the massive work "The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War 1914-1918", by F.M. Cutlack. This is the very rare 1st edition, printed in 1923 by Angus and Robertson Ltd of Sydney. I'm actually still waiting for this one to arrive from the seller in the Netherlands and it's scheduled to show up today, (oh the sweet, sweet anticipation).


With these latest additions my shelves look like this.


Personal Narratives, Biographies, and Novels:

"Above the French Lines: Letters of Stuart Walcott, American Aviator", Stuart Walcott, (1918 1st Edition)
"Ace of the Iron Cross", Ernst Udet, (1970 English translation, 1st Edition)
"Ace With One Eye: The Story of ‘Mick’ Mannock VC", Frederick Oughton, (1963 1st Edition)
"Adventure's A Wench: The Autobiography of Charles Veil as told to Howard Marsh", (1934 1st Edition)
"A Flying Fighter", E.M. Roberts, (1918 1st Edition)
"Airmen O' War", Boyd Cable, (1918 1st Edition)
"All Quiet on the Western Front", Erich Remarque, (1929 English Edition)
"An Airman Marches", Harold Balfour, (Vintage Aviation Library Edition)
"An Airman Remembers ", Hans Schröeder, English translation, (1936 1st Edition)
"An Airman's Outings", Alan 'Contact' Bott, (1917 1st Edition)
"An Aviator's Field-Book", Oswald Boelcke, English translation, (1917 1st Edition)
"An Escaper’s Log", Duncan Grinnell-Milne, (1926 Edition, author’s personal copy with revision notes)
"An Explorer in the Air Service", Hiram Bingham, (1920 1st Edition)
"A Poet of the Air", Jack Morris Wright, (1918 1st Edition)
"A Rattle of Pebbles: The First World War Diaries of Two Canadian Airmen", Brereton Greenhous, (1987 1st Edition)
"Beyond the Tumult", Barry Winchester, (1971 1st Edition)
"Black Fokker Leader", Peter Kilduff, (2007 1st Edition)
"Captain Arthur Ray Brooks: America's Quiet Ace of W.W.1", Walter A. Musciano, (1963 1st Edition)
"Cavalry of the Clouds", Alan 'Contact' Bott, (1918 1st Edition)
"Cloud Country", Jimmie Mattern, (1936 Pure Oil 1st Edition) 3-volume set
"Days on the Wing", Willy Coppens, English translation, (1931 1st Edition)
"Death in the Air", William Heinemann, (1933 Edition) (famous faked aerial photos)
"Double-Decker C.666", Haupt Heydemarck, English translation, (1931 1st Edition)
"Eastern Nights and Flights: A Record of Oriental Adventure", Alan 'Contact' Bott, (1920 1st Edition)
"En L'air!", Bert Hall, (1918 1st Edition)
"Extracts From the Letters of George Clark Moseley", (1923 1st Edition)
"Fighting the Flying Circus", Edward Rickenbacker, (1919 1st Edition)
"Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps", James McCudden, (1918 1st Edition)
"Flying Corps Headquarters 1914-1918", Maurice Baring, (1968 1st Edition with supplementary notes)
"Flying for France", James McConnell, (1917 1st Edition)
"Flying Minnows", Roger Vee, (1935 1st Edition)
"Flying Section 17", Haupt Heydemarck, English translation, (1934 1st Edition)
"Flying With Chaucer", James Norman Hall, (1930 1st Edition)
"From Many Angles", Frederick Hugh Sykes, (1942 1st Edition)
"Go Get 'Em!", William Wellman, (1918 1st Edition)
"Granville: Tales and Tail Spins from a Flyer’s Diary", Granville ‘Granny’ Gutterson, (1919 1st Edition)
"Guynemer, Knight of the Air", Henry Bordeaux, English translation, (1918 1st Edition)
"Head Wind: The Story of Robert Loraine", Winifred Loraine, (1938 1st US Edition)
"Heaven High, Hell Deep", Norman Archibald, (1935 Signed 1st Edition)
"High Adventure", A.H. Cobby, (1981 Edition)
"High Adventure", James Norman Hall, (1918 1st Edition)
"Horses Don’t Fly: A Memoir of World War I", Frederick Libby, (2000 1st US Edition)
"I Flew for the Lafayette Escadrille", Edwin C. Parsons, (1962 1st Edition)
"Immelmann: The Eagle of Lille", Franz Immelmann, English translation, (1930 1st Edition)
"In the Clouds Above Bagdad", J.E. Tennant, (1920 1st Edition)
"In the Teeth of the Wind: The Story of a Naval Pilot on the Western Front 1916-1918", C.P.O. Bartlett, (1994 1st Edition)
"Into The Blue", Norman MacMillan, (1929 1st Edition)
"Jagdstaffel 356", M.E. Kahnert, (1939 1st English Edition)
"Kitchener's Mob", James Norman Hall, (1916 1st Edition)
"Letters From a Flying Officer", Rothsay Stuart Wortley, (1928 1st Edition)
"Letters From a World War I Aviator", Josiah P. Rowe Jr., (1987 Edition)
"Malaula! The Battle Cry of Jasta 17", Julius Buckler, (2007 1st Edition)
"Memories of World War 1", William Mitchell, (1960 Edition)
"Memoirs of Brigadier-General Gordon Shephard", Gordon Shephard, (1924 1st Edition)
"My Experiences in the World War", John J. Pershing, (1931 1st Edition) 2-volume set
"My Helpful Angel Flew With Me", William H. Cupples, (1975 1st Edition)
"Night Bombing with the Bedouins", Robert Reece, (Battery Press Edition)
"Night Raiders of the Air", A.R. Kingsford, (1939 Edition)
"Nocturne Militaire", Elliot White Springs, (1934 Edition)
"No Parachute", Arthur Gould Lee, (1970 1st US printing)
"Norman Prince, A Volunteer Who Died for the Cause He Loved", George Babbitt, (1917 1st Edition)
"One Airman's War: Aircraft Mechanic Joe Bull's Personal Diaries 1916-1919", Mark Lax, (1997 1st Edition)
"Open Cockpit: A Pilot of the Royal Flying Corps", Arthur Gould Lee, (1969 1st Edition)
"Over the Front in an Aeroplane", Ralph Pulitzer, (1915 1st Edition)
"Rovers of the Night Sky", W.J. 'Night-Hawk' Harvey, (1919 1st Edition)
"Sagittarius Rising", Cecil Lewis, (1936 1st US Edition)
"Sopwith Scout 7309", Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor, (1968 1st Edition)
"Stepchild Pilot", Joseph Doerflinger, (1959 1st Edition)
"That’s My Bloody Plane: The World War I experiences of Major Cecil Montgomery-Moore, as told to Peter Kilduff", (1975 1st Edition)
"The Balloon Buster: Frank Luke of Arizona", Norman S. Hall, (1928 1st Edition)
"The Diary of a P.B.O.* * poor bloody observer", Frank J. Shrive, (1981 1st Edition)
"The Escaping Club", A.J. Evans, (1936 Edition)
"The Flying Poilu", Marcel Nadaud, English translation (1918 1st Edition)
"The Red Battle Flyer", Manfred von Richthofen, English translation, (1918 1st Edition)
"The Red Knight of Germany", Floyd Gibbons, (1927 1st Edition)
"The Spider Web", T.D. Hallam (P.I.X.), (1979 Edition)
"The Way of the Eagle", Charles Biddle, (1919 1st Edition)
"Up And At 'Em", Harold Hartney, (1940 1st Edition)
"Victor Chapman’s Letters From France", John Jay Chapman, (1917 1st Edition, signed by his father)
"War Birds; Diary of an Unknown Aviator", Elliot White Springs, (1926 1st Edition)
"War Flying in Macedonia", Haupt Heydemarck, English translation, (1936 1st Edition)
"War Letters of Edmond Genet", Edmond Genet, (1918 1st Edition)
"Whom The Gods Love", Lewis C. Merrill, (1953 1st Edition)
"Wind in the Wires", Duncan Grinnell-Milne, (1918 1st Edition)
"Winged Peace", William Bishop, (1940 1st Edition)
"Winged Victory", V.M. Yeates, (1934 1st US Edition)
"Winged Warfare", William Bishop, (1918 1st Edition)
"With the Earth Beneath", A.R. Kingsford, (1936 1st Edition)
"With the Flying Squadron", Harold Rosher, (1916 1st Edition)


History, Reference, and General Interest Books:

"A History of the 17th Aero Squadron", Frederick M. Clapp, (1920 1st Edition)
"A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914 to 1918", G.J. Meyer, (2006 Edition)
"Air Aces of the 1914-1918 War", Bruce Robertson, (1964 Edition)
"Aircraft of World War I, 1914-1918", Jack Herris & Bob Pearson, (2010 1st Edition)
"Aircraft of Today", Charles Turner, (1917 1st Edition)
"Aviation in Canada 1917-18", Alan Sullivan, (1919 1st Edition)
"Bristol F2B Fighter: King of Two-Seaters", Chaz Bowyer, (1985 1st Edition)
"Capronis, Farmans, and Sias: U.S. Army Aviation Training and Combat in Italy With Fiorello LaGuardia 1917-1918 ", Jack B. Hilliard, (2006 1st Edition)
"Colliers New Photographic History of the World War", (1917 Edition)
"Color Profiles of World War 1 Combat Planes", Giorgio Apostolo, (1974 1st Edition)
"Decisive Air Battles of the First World War", Arch Whitehouse, (1963 1st Edition)
"Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War", W.M. Lamberton, (1964 Edition)
"Flying The Old Planes", Frank Tallman, (1973 Edition)
"Fragments From France", Bruce Bairnsfather, (1917 1st Edition) (Great War cartoons by the master of the genre)
"French Military Aeronautical Branch Badges Up to 1918", Phillippe Bartlett, (2003 1st Edition)
"German Aircraft of the First World War", Peter Gray and Owen Thetford, (1962 1st Edition)
"German Air Power in World War 1", John H. Morrow, Jr., (1982 1st Edition)
"Heroes of Aviation", Laurence La Tourette Driggs, (1919 1st Edition)
"High Flew the Falcons", Herbert Molloy Mason Jr., (1965 1st Edition)
"High in the Empty Blue", Alex Revell, (1995 1st Edition with author's signature card)
"Historic Airships", Rupert Holland, (1928 1st Edition)
"History and Rhymes of the Lost Battalion", L.C. McCollum, (1929 Edition)
"History of the World War", Francis March, (1918 1st Edition)
"History of the Great World War", Rolt-Wheeler and Drinker, (1919 1st Edition)
"Italian Aces of World War I and their Aircraft", Roberto Gentilli, Antonio Iozzi, Paolo Varriale, (2003 1st Edition)
"Land and Water" Magazine, (entire April through September 1917 series, hard bound, ex-library copy)
"Ludendorff's Own Story", Erich Ludendorff, (1919 1st Edition) 2-volume set
"Mapping the First World War: Battlefields of the Great Conflict From Above", Simon Forty, (2013 Edition)
"Marine Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War", Heinz J. Nowarra, (1960 Edition)
"Military Aeroplanes", Grover C. Loening, (1918 Edition)
"Naval Aviation in World War I", Naval Aviation News, (1969 1st Edition)
"National Geographic" Magazine, (entire 1918 series, hard bound, ex-library copy)
"New England Aviators 1914-1918: Their Portraits and Their Records", (1919-20 1st Edition) 2-volume set
"Reconnaissance & Bomber Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War", W.M. Lamberton, (1962 Edition)
"Rhymes of a Red Cross Man", Robert W. Service, (1916 1st Edition)
"Schlachtflieger! Germany and the Origins of Air/Ground Support 1916-1918", Rick Duiven and Dan-San Abbott, (2006 1st Edition)
"Source Records of the Great War", (1923 1st Edition) 7-volume set
"The Air Defence of Britain 1914-1918", Christopher Cole and E.F. Cheeseman, (1984 1st Edition)
"The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War 1914-1918", F.M. Cutlack, (1923 1st Edition)
"The Aviation Pocket-Book 1917", R. Borlase Matthews, (1917 Edition)
"The Belgian Air Service in the First World War", Walter M. Pieters, (2010 1st Edition)
"The Fighting Triplanes", Evan Hadingham, (1969 1st Edition)
"The First War Planes", William Barrett, (1960 Edition) (the one that started it all for me)
"The Great Air War", Aaron Norman, (1968 Edition)
"The Great War", George H. Allen, (1919 1st Edition) 5-volume set
"The Great War in the Air", Edgar Middleton, (1920 1st Edition) 4-volume set
"The Imperial Russian Air Service, Famous Pilots and Aircraft of World War One", Alan Durkota, (1996 1st Edition)
"The Lafayette Flying Corps", James Hall and Charles Nordhoff, (1964 Kennikat Press limited edition two-volume set)
"The People's War Book and Atlas", (1920 1st Edition, signed by Lt. Col. William A. Bishop)
"The Secrets of the German War Office", Dr. Armgaard Karl Graves, (1914 1st Edition)
"The Sky On Fire: The First Battle of Britain", Raymond H. Fredette, (1966 1st Edition)
"The Story of a North Sea Air Station", C.F. Snowden Gamble, (1967 Edition with supplementary notes)
"The United States in the Great War", Willis Abbot, (1919 1st Edition)
"The U.S. Air Service in World War I", Maurer Maurer, (1978 1st Edition) 4-volume set
"The War in the Air", Raleigh and Jones, (1st Edition) 9-volume set including map cases, (originally in the military library at Whitehall; my personal Jewel of the Crown)
"The War That Ended Peace", Margaret MacMillan, (2014 Edition)
"The Western Front from the Air", Nicholas C. Watkis, (1999 1st Edition)
"Time-Life Epic of Flight", 23-volume set, (not old and not strictly WWI but still a lot of good info and photos)
"True Stories of the Great War", (1918 1st Edition) 6-volume set
"U.S. Official Pictures of the World War", Moore and Russell, (1924 1st Edition) 4-volume set
"Winged Mars, Volume I: The German Air Weapon 1870-1914", John R. Cuneo, (1942 1st Edition)
"Winged Mars, Volume II: The German Air Weapon 1914-1916", John R. Cuneo, (1947 1st Edition)
"1920 World Book Encyclopedia", (entire set with addendums, great for cross-referencing in a contemporary context)


Instructional Books:

"Aeroplane Construction and Operation", John Rathbun, (1918 1st Edition)
"English-French War Guide for Americans in France", Eugene Maloubier, (1918 Edition)
"Learning to Fly in the U.S. Army", E.N. Fales, (1917 1st Edition)
"Lewis Machine Gun 'Airplane Type' Service and Operation Manual", (1918 Edition)
"Manual of Rigging Notes Technical Data", (1918, possible reprint)
"Manual for Aero Companies", John M. Satterfield, (1916 1st Edition)
"Notes and Rules for Pilots of the Signal Corps Aviation Sections", (1918 1st Edition)
"Practical Flying", W.G. McMinnies, (1918 1st Edition)
"Technical Notes on the Breguet Aeroplane - 14 B2 Type", (1917 1st Edition)
"Technical Notes: Royal Flying Corps", (1916 1st Edition)
"The A-B-C of Aviation", Victor W. Pagé, (1918 1st Edition)
"The Art of Reconnaissance", David Henderson, (1916 1st Edition)
"The Eyes of the Army and Navy", Albert Munday, (1917 1st Edition)
"Training Manual, Royal Flying Corps, Part I", (1914 1st Edition with 1915 Addendum)
"Training Manual, Royal Flying Corps, Part II", (1914 1st Edition)
"Science of Pre-Flight Aeronautics", (1942 Edition)
"Self-Help for the Citizen Soldier", Moss and Stewart, (1915 1st Edition)



So many books, so little time.

.

RAF....what a splendid collection you madman! Great reference for finding good reads.....thx!!!

Lou, what drew you to first war aviation? It's clearly been a life-long passion. That is a truly amazing collection.

I knew when I read the thread title you had picked up some more gems.
I know where I am headed when the zombie apocalypse starts.
Shooting zombies may get old. Might have to break it up with some reading.

I don't have as many as you but I have some rare ones! One is 'War In An Open Cockpit, the Wartime Letters of Cpt. Alvin Andrew Callender, R.A.F.' edited by Gordon W. Callender,Jr. and Gordon W. Callender, Sr. It is No.211 of 500 printed.

You need to grab some of these! http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1...blue+max+airmen

Lou--and everyone--are you a member of the League of WW1 Aviation Historians? You aren't? Why not?! http://www.overthefront.com/ Their quarterly journal Over the Front is more than worth the modest yearly investment.

[quote=JFM]You need to grab some of these! http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1...blue+max+airmen

Which one would you recommend to start with? Any other more modern addition worth our money? I love Aces and Duel Osprey books but I am lost regarding other collections...

They are ALL worth the money. Packed with biographical info as well as details about the airplanes the men flew, along with BIG, clear photographs (many previously unpublished), and color profiles. Osprey WW1 books are great and I have them all but some of their photos are so small you need the Hubble telescope to see any detail. You won’t have that problem with an Aeronaut book. And in 2016 they have some very exciting titles coming out!

I just took this photo to show the inside of one of the Blue Max Airmen books (the MvR one) and the size of Aeronaut books compared to an Osprey book.

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Thanks for the comments gents, much appreciated.

Gaw, my wife would heartily agree about me being a madman.

Duke, when the zombie apocalypse comes feel free to stop by. I’ll have fresh coffee and cartridges for you.

ARUP, that is a rare book to be sure, and one that is on my shopping list as well.

Raine, my inclinations towards Great War aviation began at a fairly early age, nine if memory serves, (and memory is serving with less and less reliability as time pass). In that year two things happened that helped bring this about.
The first was when the retired airline pilot who lived across the lake from my family took me up in his Stearman trainer. I’d never been in a plane before, let along an open cockpit, and to say it was thrilling would be one of the great understatements of history.
The second occurred when I was given a Revell model kit of the Sopwith Camel for Christmas. I’d been building models for a while at that point, but they’d been primarily cars and WWII aircraft as my leanings then tended towards both. However, after the aforementioned first flight of that summer I’d become more and more enamored with open cockpit biplanes and I am sure my comments at the dinner table reflected this. Since my parents were relatively adept at stimulating what they perceived as “healthy” interests their children might display, they gave me the Camel kit. My brother, who is two years my junior, went along for the ride when they gave him the Revell Fokker Triplane kit. I’ve felt bad for him about this since growing up as I now realize that we were often looked at as “the boys” by my parents, in the sense that what one did both would do, and I as the eldest was usually the one leading the way. I’ve no doubt this explains why, when we hit our teenage years, that my younger brother became far more defiant of our parents than I. But I digress.
After assembling the Sopwith my interest in WWI aviation was every bit as cemented as those little green bits of plastic were. And as it was a British plane I’d just built my loyalties fell firmly on that side of the mud. I wonder sometimes what would have happened if my parents had switched the kits round and I'd gotten the DR.1. I’m sure my library would have had a different focus - or perhaps not, who knows. And to the library, it all began with a little soft cover book entitled "The First War Planes", by William Barrett, which I was given shortly after the Camel build. The rest, as they say, is history, (in this case WWI aviation history).

Jim, I am not a member of the League of WW1 Aviation Historians as I am by no means a historian of WWI aviation but rather an aging student. And, if I may paraphrase Marx (Groucho), I question the integrity of any club that would have me as a member. But seriously, my focus in Great War aviation may be too recherché even for that illustrious group as I’ve zeroed in primarily on wanting to know and understand what the pilots themselves felt and thought and believed and dreamed and dreaded in those exciting and terrifying times. My personal library tends to reflect this focus. That being said, I applaud and appreciate the League and individuals like yourself who continue to strive to get the facts and figures correct, and to dispel the rumors and myths and flat-out errors that exist in regards to this subject. You Sir are a historian. Beautiful books by the way.

.

Lou, it is an erroneous belief that one must be a "historian" to belong to the League, in the sense of a researcher/author/writer, etc. Most of the members are NOT. We're just fans of WW1 aviation; that's the only requirement. You fit that requirement, right? The journals are much, much more than just detailed compendiums on specific airplanes (although they can and do include such topics from time to time). Instead they cover a wide range of topics, from squadron histories to the development of aviation medicine to photo essays to letters home to anecdotes and accounts from pilots. For instance, the new journal there is an interview with Rumpler pilot Rudolf Hunze, conducted in the late 1970s. Many journals contain pilot diaries from each side that would be right up your alley! For instance, this is from Vol 15 No 3, 2000:

"Dec. 26 1918: Lt. De Coursey crashed at Ourches. 'He ran into a water tower or something and cut up his face pretty bad.' In DeCourcy's own words:

'I went to visit a friend of mine who was a bombing pilot flying DH-4s. He was about ten miles from our flying field. I circled the field and was cocked up on the side when this SPAD engine cut out. I felt a bump and the next thing I knew I woke up in a hospital at Toul. I stayed in the hospital for nine months. I broke my whole face and knees, mostly my face. When I hit the ground my face went right into the back of a Vickers machine gun and shoved my lower jaw about half an inch backward. I cut this lip off and poked a hole underneath my eye. In April they sent me to Bordeaux and then to Ft. McHenry outside of Baltimore. I stayed there until September 1919 when they said they couldn’t do anything more for me. At first I couldn’t bite a ham sandwich in two and I wondered if I would ever be able to eat again. They worked on me and pulled my lower jaw forward and did a pretty good job. They didn’t know much about oral surgery in those days.’”

Each issue is crammed with big, rare photos and contain plenty of profiles and three-views by illustrators such as Ronny Bar, Bob Pearson, Juanita Franzi, Allan Toelle, etc., and with cover paintings by Steve Anderson, Russell Smith, James Dietz, Mike O’Neal, etc. Articles are submitted by Peter Kilduff, Greg VanWyngarden, Lance Bronnenkant, Jack Herris, Alan Toelle, Colin Owers, Bruno Schmaeling, etc., although anyone can submit an article for publication.

Here is a link to a sample article, a first-person narrative by Hanns-Gerd Rabe: http://www.overthefront.com/over-the-fro...ts-in-flanders

You are doing yourself an egregious disservice...

JFM, you've sold me. I think I'll join, just need to approve it with the CFO.

Much of the detail one finds in WoFF has been culled from Over the Front, Cross and Cockade, and their predecessors
Cheers
shredward

Arup, rare indeed.

What impresses me so much about Lou's list is the number of first editions. I have many of the same titles, but only a few 1st's. Same words, but those originals really do give a different feeling, don't they?

.

loftyc, I agree completely, there is something quite different about it. You wonder who has read that book before you, could it have been one of the surviving WWI pilots themselves - or a family member or friend of a fallen hero mentioned in the book? You just never know, unless you happen across a volume with an inscription or other such provenance that proves the connection, and then it becomes something rare indeed.

Jim, I truly appreciate the invite to the League and I will give it serious thought. I have to say though that I find it more than a bit intimidating when I see the list of members and their collective knowledge and published works. IMHO, it's akin to some rube from - well - Minnesota, back in the 1920s, being invited to the Algonquin Hotel in New York to join the literati of the day at the Round Table. I've a strong hunch I'd be more comfortable sitting back in the kitchen with Luigi.

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Oh, bollocks, Lou. You've seen the list of 600+ members? A mere handful have published anything. Or will ever. Or will ever consider it.

Listen, this rube from Ohio was in the League YEARS before I ever wrote anything. You couldn't get anymore anonymous than I, and I'm still mostly so. If I can be in the league with Jon Guttman, ANYone can be in the league. I'm a flea on the back of a sperm whale compared to that guy. A match in the Albert Hall. A pebble in the shadow of Mt Everest. He forgot more yesterday than I'll ever know in 40 more years of study. Same goes for Greg VanWyngarden, Peter Kilduff, Alan Toelle, etc. And yet at the biennial League seminars, there they are, freely talking to/mingling with everyone. They don't lord their knowledge over people, they share it. They WANT to share it. When I find myself sitting at a table with Greg those guys, I'm not intimidated. I feel damn lucky to be there and shut up and start listening! Plus, everyone else there knows all sorts of things about different aspects of WW1 aviation, and they've not published anything. Many are modelers and bring their models. Many are gamers and bring their board games and play them constantly--I always see them "at war" in the hotel lobby. But everyone is eager to share and learn and just have fun discussing whatever. Many bring their spouses. All are great people! I've not encountered a jerk yet.

BTW, next League seminar is coming up in Dayton in October, during the WW1 Dawn Patrol Rendezvous. You (and anyone) can be at the table, too! Plus, USAF Museum! WW1 airshow! The USAF Museum bookstore puts a serious hurting on my credit card. The Fly-in has gift shops galore, selling all sorts of WW1 stuff--models, books, prints, photos, etc. Want a Russell Smith painting? He'll be there selling them! Want to see a Maxim attached to a Mercedes engine firing blanks? It'll be there! Want to gain weight eating too much food? Burgers, brats, hotdogs, yadda! Want to be surrounded by fellow WW1 aficionados who understand the difference between a SPAD and Nieuport and don't think you are a nerd for knowing it, too? It's the place to be.

Even if you refuse to join the League--you should still consider the WW1 Rendezvous! The League organizes the seminar around the fly in, but they are a separate entity.


http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Upcoming/WWIDawnPatrol.aspx

Ah. I only live about 3 hours away and I am going to do my damndest to go this year.
Twice before stupid stuff has ruined plans for the Fly-In.

And in regards to OTF (or Cross & Cockade) I have been an off and on member over the years.
Still have the issue from (IIRC) 1977 or 78 announcing me as a new member. Obviously I was a young lad of 16 or so...

Was a member last year and have to renew for this year.
The problem for me is I am strictly a Western Front guy so some years are better then others in regards to the published journals.

My neighbor just buzzed my house in his airplane.
He even has a landing strip on his chunk of property.
I'll take this as a sign from above that the Fly-In is a "go" for this year!

Since we are talking book orders just placed an order for two. Hardly priceless First Editions like high-stepper Lou (I am just a country bumpkin) but I am trying.
Meant to also order the English version of Bodenschatz's (JG1 Adjutant upon its creation in 1917) book (thanks JFM!) but forgot as I was in a hurry. Ah well. I'll place another order in a few weeks probably when I renew my OTF subscription for the year.

1) Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces, 1915-1920
Christopher F. Shores

2) Above the Lines: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914-1918
Norman L. R. Franks

Jim, I went to the last one at Dayton and would have to say that if you are the least bit interested in WWI aviation, it is a must. I plan on going again this year. Anyone up for an impromptu WOFF get together?

I've said this before, so please bear with me, O Humble Man!

A fantastic collection!