I would like to expand my collection. I have Fighter vs Fighter, They Fought for the Sky, and The Day the Red Baron died. (Love those used book stores.) And Canvas Falcons.

I want to get the book that Droops mentioned, the one on Pfalz aircraft. I think there is a Fokker one as well.

Any good ones guys?

"The First Air War 1914-1918" by Lee Kennett


"Found this book at my local used book store. Seattle is great for used book stores!

So, it is pretty good so far. I am about half done with it. It covers details about the air war that are passed over in most air war books that focus on the pilots and their individual exploits. This book touches on the planes, their motors, design, reputation, and flight characteristics. Right now I am in a chapter that talks about the behind the sceens personel that designed and built the planes. He is also going into detail about the sheer amount of labor involved in just keeping the planes in the air. Maintainence of these tempermental contraptions was intense! Everything needed constant attention, to the motors, to the machineguns, to the airplanes' frames, wires, cables and fabric. All this stuff was waiting to fail in mid flight and was only prevented from happening by constant, intense maintainance.

He is also talking about the general type of man who volunteered for this new branch of military combat and how they were trained. The next chapter is going to look at life in a squadron for the airman. Their individual habits, customs and life style.

The book seems to be well researched. It is not very long but comprehensive and interesting. Check it out if you get a chance!"

That was my post I copied from the Hells Angels forum. Since then I have gotten further along in the book. It is a very good read and can be found at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/det...=glance&s=books

I Found another great read at that same book store where I found Air War called "Sagittarius Rising". I think this one is more well known but I had never read it until last month. It was written by a Royal Flying Corps pilot named Cecil Lewis. I have read several books on the experiences of the individual pilots, Richthofen's autobiography among them; but so far Cecil's book sets the standard. Cecil lived through the war and wrote his story in the 1930s. He had plenty of time to process and reflect on the whole experience. Manfreds book was very good too, but has the feel of a book that was offered up on the spot. I am sure if Manfred would have lived through the war his book would have benifited from years of processing events and being able to put them down in a more leisurely pace. But both books are excellent.

Sagittarius Rising: Cecil Lewis. I have a Time- LIfe Books edition that was reprinted from the 1936 edition in 1991. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0809496011/103-2401960-6702209?v=glance

The Red Baron The Autobiography of Manfred Von Richthofen: edited by Stanley M. Ulanoff, published by Barnes and Nobel 1995 New copies are sold out at the moment, but pick up a used one! http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=2V9SNFREWK&isbn=1566198399&itm=48

The best books I've read so far on WWI aircraft technology and flying the old warbirds:

Three Wings For The Red Baron, Von Richthofen, Strategy, Tactics, And Airplanes, by Leon Bennett (in-print)

From Bleriot To Spitfire, Flying the Historic Aeroplanes of The Shuttleworth Collection, compiled by David Ogilvy (out-of-print, but you can get it)

Both very insightful.......I'd get em.

i can recommend "flying fury" five years in the royal flyingcorps by james McCudden.
its a greenhill military paperback.

cracking read and full of info.

Winged Victory by V M Yeates. Absolutely terrific! As Sunscream posted a few days ago, it's a semi autobiographical novel, based on the author's experiences as a Camel pilot with 46 Sqn in France in 1918.

Thanks guys!!

All of the above books are excellent reads. Especially Flying Fury and Sagittarius Rising. But here's a few more sample bio's for you Ironhand.

A German Airman Remembers, by Hans Schroder.
Recollections Of An Airman, by Louis Strange.
The Red Baron, by Peter Kilduff.
High Adventure, by A.H. Cobby.
Richthofen, by William Burrows.
Winged Warfare, by Billy Bishop.
Ace Of Aces, by Rene Fonck.
An Aviators Field Book, By Oswald Boelcke
September Evening: The Life and Final Combat of the German World War One Ace Werner Voss, by Barry Diggins


And some Historical aviation books too.

The Red Baron Combat Wing, by Peter Kilduff
Sharks Among Minnows, by Norman Franks
The Australian Flying Corp, by F.M. Cutlack
The Royal Flying Corp IN WWI, by Ralph Barker
The Friendless Sky, by Alexander Kent
Bloody April, Black September, by Norman Franks

wings of war.
by:rudolf stark.

S!

"No parachute," by Arthur Lee.

"Wind in the wires," Grinnel-Milne.


Hautz

Is the Red Baron by Peter Kilduff the one with excerpts of MvR's After Action Reports? I've been trying to find that one since I moved 9 years ago and couldn't remember the authors name.

Perhaps the best summation of the air war is "The Great Air War" by Aaron Norman. Only printed once in the late 1960's, so check Abebooks and Alibris.

"Germany's First Air Force 1914-1918" by Peter Kilduff is very good. I like it because it covers some of the less well known stuff like two seaters, heavy bombers, and the balloon corps.

I think the book you are looking for is "Under the Guns of the Red Baron" I found this review:

http://www.dawnpatrol.org/FITS/Aerodrome/A120/A120UnderTheGuns.html

Great suggestions gang

I don't think that was it but thanks, that book will do fine

It is Pen. The ISBN is 0-304-35207-1.

A R Weyl's "Fokker: The Creative Years" (edited by J M Bruce) by Putnam is a must for GAS education. The only drawback is that after reading the story you may never want to fly a Fokker build Fokker anymore

No, that isn't the book I used to have. My book had some of his after action reports but it didn't have the biographical sketch of the allied airmen involved.

My book had a great interview with his mom though. He was a kid at the time and I don't remember why they were interviewing her but during the interview he was climbing up in some tree and the mom didn't care that he was swinging around and might get his neck broke. The interviewer walked away with the impression she was either going to raise a couple of hellraisers or her kids would be dead by puberty.

No WW1 aviation library is complete without Floyd Gibbon's biography of Manfred Von Richtofen, "The Red Knight Of Germany."
Although much new information has come out since the book was written decades a go, it still remains the best written book on the subject, in my opinion.

Sorry Pen I didn't make myself clear in the post above.

When I said it is i was referring to Kilduff's book, ie The Red Baron. The ISBN applies to that book, not Under The Guns whatever.

I agree with you Joe, the book by Floyd is indeed one of the best on Manfred. Fascinating reading.

The Time Life "Knights of the Air" is a great coffee table book and comes at the right price. "Fighting the Flying Circus" also Time Life is a nice autobiography and priced right also.