There is only so much to be said about the great RB and its many mods! So I thought I would start a thread about books that cover the topic of WWI air combat.

I have several but the latest I have found is Winged Victory by V. M. Yeats and it is a gem! I hear the book has been out of print but it is now available on Amazon.

I haven't finished the book yet, it's a novel over 400 hundred pages long written with the caliber of writing skill found in Sagittarius Rising. The author was a RFC pilot in the great war and I get the feeling this 'novel' is 9/10 history.

If you haven't read this one yet be sure and pick it up, I am less that half way through it and can tell already it's a keeper

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1904010652/103-4963246-7915823?v=glance&n=283155

i think i still have The Canvas Falcons in paperback from when i was a teenager... that got me started on WW1 flight sims, which back in those days were board or miniatures games...

S! Toadvine

There was a similar post on this over at WoV some months ago. I can't remember who it was who posted this bibliography but it is impressive. Have a look here....

http://www.cbrnp.com/RNP/CDv2/REFERENCES/books.htm

Wow that is a huge list. Winged Victory is on it too.

Winged Victory: V M Yeates
'THE BEST ' WW1 AVIATION BOOK
'Novel' based on Yeats experiences flying Camels with 46 Sqn

He puts novel in quotes like I did. The book really seems more like an autobiography than fiction. Yeats was writing the book from memory years after his stint with the RFC. I think he chose the novel format so he wouldn't be held to such strict accounting of the facts. If he got a few events or dates mixed up it's not an issue, he has a lot more freedom in the telling of his experience keeping his account in novel form.

I can't remember the exact title, but I think it was "Old Horses Don't Die" or something along those lines. Its an incredible story about an American pilot in WWI.

Ah yes, Horses Don't Fly. I read that one a while back. Found it in my local used book store. Amazon has it too. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1559705...glance&n=283155

Thats what it was called! Hehehe, I was close, thanks Toadvine.

Hello Toadvine yeah "Horses Don't Fly" great book,another was "The Fledgling" by Arch Whitehouse, a very good book he was an arial gunner in a Fee. Thanks, BadOgre for the WoV link!

For those who liked Winged Victory (a classic you might be interested in "Winged Victor". It's biography of VM Yeates (author of Winged Victory)by Gordon Atkin. Excellent reading.

Here are some other books not included in the link in BadOgre's post.

America's First Air War. ISBN 1 84037 113 7. Covers the development of the USAS and USNAS from the Wright Brothrers to the end of the war in Europe in 1918, including some fascinating side shows like chasing Pancho Villa across Mexico and the incident off Vera Cruz.

First Of The Many. ISBN 09 087360 2. Traces the creation of the Independant Force and it's wartime history.

French Aircraft Of The First World War. ISBN 1 891268 09 0. A massive 620 page tome that covers every aircraft ever used by the Aviation Militaire, and every flying unit in the air force.

Janes Fighting Aircraft Of World War I. ISBN 1 85170 347 0. Based on the 1914 to 1919 editions of 'All The Worlds Aircraft' it offers a comprehensive (if not always accurate) look at the history and development of military aircraft during WWI.

Osprey titles:
British Fighter Units Western Front 1914-1916
British Fighter units Western front 1917-1918
German Fighter Units 1914-May 1917
German Fighter Units June 1917-1918
Groupe de Combat 12 'Les Cigognes'
Spad VII Aces Of WWI
Spad XII/XIII Aces of WWI
Sopwith Triplane Aces of WWI

The Australian Flying Corps. The official history of the Australian flying corps in WWII, from the famous 'Half Flight' in Mesoptamia in 1915 through to the Western front in 1918.

The Red Baron Combat Wing. ISBN 1 85409 266 9. Rather than only the man, this books deals with his legacy and all-pervading influence on fighter tactics.

Sharks Among Minnows. ISBN 1 902304 92 6. Fascinating coverage of Germany's first fighter pilots and the Fokker scourge from July 1915 to September 1916. Nicely covers both sides of the fence ie Allied pilots flying against the Fokker and the German pilots.

Who Downed The Aces In WWI?. ISBN 1 898697 51 5. Has facts, figures and photo's on the fate of over 300 pilots flying over the Western Front. It's surprising just how many of the aces were killed by other aces.

My favourite books based in this setting are:

War Story
Hornets Sting
Goshawk Squadron

Theses are three fiction books based on the air war. They are by Derek Robinson. Very well written with very dark humour running through, but really will make you think. Hornets sting is particularly hard to get hold of but worth it to get the trilogy.

There are few bookds that have made me think more than Goshawk Squadron, there is a particularly moving bit where one of the lead characters shoots himself as his fuel tank catches fire. Very harsh, vary moving, Thats the style of these books.

Cowman

That WoV list was AB1 Colslaw's I think. I remember posting in that thread. I've several of the books mentioned and am always on the look out for more. I have the Robinson trio and they are good, as is Horses don't Fly and Winged Victory. I recently got Winged Victor from Cross & Cockade and it is very interesting, confirms a lot of what Toadvine said above.

Don't miss Falcons of France (Nordhoff & Hall) (High Adventure - by Hall alone is almost the same but not as fun) Flying Furies (McCudden) and The Will Turner Flight log series - he's working on #3 for a long time now and it should be worth the wait.

Here's my list from WoV:
I have some of the books from the posted lists:

Fighting the Flying Circus: Capt E V Rickenbacker (good read)
Flying Fury: Maj J T B McCudden (excellent)
Sagittarius Rising: Cecil A Lewis (kind of prosey but good)
Winged Victory: V M Yeates (very good)

I also recommend:

The Fighters by Thomas Funderburk (annecdotes about specific pilots or units, often in their own words, lots of line drawings and photos)
The Great Air War by Aaron Norman (Excellent, easy to follow, thick book. I get more out of it each time I read it).
Aces High by Alan Clark, an excellent coffee table sized book with great photos and credible text)
Horses Don't Fly by Fred Libby, an excellent account of his life from childhood to RFC service as an expatriate American--a great read.
Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War by Lamberton, an encyclopedia styled book with excellent scale drawings and photos.

I also have all the Squadron/Signal Publications _...in Action_ booklets (Albatross, Bristol Fighters, deHaviland DH2, Fokker DVII, Fokker Dr1, Fokker Eindecker, Nieuport, SE5a, Sopwith and Spad), except the ones for the BE2 and the DH9.

I also have a large collection from the Osprey Aircraft of the Aces paperbound series of books that profile the aces that flew specific models, with color profiles in the middle and titles like
Sopwith Triplane Aces of WW1
Spad 7 Aces of WW1
Nieuport Aces of WW1
Albatross Aces of WW1
Fokker Triplane Aces of WW1
Fokker D7 Aces (vols 1 & 2 for that one)
British and Empire Aces of WW1
American Aces of WW1

Specific to Esc 124, I have:
Herbert Malloy Mason Jr _Lafayette Escadrille_
Georges Thenault _The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille_
James N Hall _High Adventure_ & _Falcons of France_ (with CD Nordhoff)
Osprey Publishing (Jon Guttman) _SPA 124 Lafayette Escadrille_
Bert Hall _One Man's War_
The above High Adventure is not the one by A H Cobby DSO DFC**. It largely overlaps Falcons of France, the later work of James N. Hall & Charles Nordhoff

I also recommend the following fiction:

Goshawk Squadron
Hornets Sting
War Story
All 3 by Derek Robinson

The Aviator's Apprentice
Turner's Flight
Both by Chris Davey
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I can't emphasize enough how much the experience of reading about the great air war has enhanced my enjoyment of playing Red Baron. I'll take this one step further and say that I also found it extremely worthwhile to read about the war as a whole, rather than just about the air war. I started with Sir John Keegan's book The First World War and then got the illustrated version of the same title, which was entirely different, built around extensive artwork and photographs rather than the somewhat textbook like detail of the first book. The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman is a very good look at not only the battle of the frontiers in the first month of the war, but of the personalities and politics that spawned the war in the first place.

Finally, Flying the Old Planes by Frank Tallman gives one a good sense of what the Rhinebeck pilots do.

I agree, it is very interesting to read about all facets of the war, I started with a strong interest in the ships of WWI, I own Jane's fighting ships 1914 and Jane's fighting ships 1919. The 1919 book is definately very interesting. But I seem to be collecting a wider series of WWI subjects the more I read.

I just finished Winged Victory last night. It really tells two stories in tandem, one is telling the day to day life of a squadron as they fly combat missions in Camels over the western front and the other is the account of the mental anguish the main character endures as the pressure of war and death become more and more unbearable. At its core the book is a tragedy with the theme being the hopelessness of war and how it destroys the living as well as the dead.

As far as the flying and combat, the part that presumably interests us the most, the book is really good. Yeats goes into detail about the Camel and what it was like to fly it. Most all of the novel is describing combat over the front; bombing, strafing and dogfighting. There is no shortage of action and it is all told well by a man who saw it all. Yeats loved to fly but hated to kill and sadly that is what these machines were all about.

I just finished the book Pips recommended -- the biography of VM Yeates (author of Winged Victory)by Gordon Atkin.

Now I just went back to read Winged Victory again.

It kind of gave me a chill to note that I have the unabridged 2004 Grub Street paperback printing and to know WHO Henry Williamson was, and why the book was dedicated to him (all things learned reading Atkins book).