A collection of some 800 biographical sketches of the Brit, US, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and South African fighter aces of WWI with 200 b&amp;w photos. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Above the Trenches

FRANKS, NORMAN

Guest, Russell

SHORES, Christopher

Grub Street Publishing

In April 1917 the crews of the Royal Flying Corps and French Air Force launched a major offensive to break the frustrating and deadly stalemate on the Western Front. However, all attempts at supporting the land forces were countered by the new German Jagdstaffeln. What followed was a massacre and the worst month for flying casualties so far in the war. The events 15 months later were no less disastrous with the Allies including the Americans, once again suffering a crushing and unprecedented defeat just six weeks fron the war's bloody finale. This book includes details on all known Allied losses and in many cases the victorious German pilots are provided.

Bloody April, Black September

History

Bailey, Frank

Military

A continuation of the research contained in "Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces, 1915-1920".

ABOVE THE TRENCHES SUPPLEMENT: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915 - 1920 - Supplement

Norman Franks and Russell Guest continue in their research to record the lives and scores of these "aces" of World War I. Gregory Alegi joins them in this volume, with his knowledge of Italian aces, to produce detailed biographies of Italians and Austro-Hungarians, Belgian and Russian aces.

ABOVE THE WAR FRONTS: A Complete Record of the British Two-seater Bomber Pilot and Observer Aces, the British Two-seater Fighter Observer Aces, and ... and Russian Fighter Aces, 1914-1918

Alegi, Gregory

Europe

Even those people who know little of WWI’s air war will have heard of Bloody April. After more than eighteen months of deadly stalemate on the Western Front, by April 1917 the British and French were again about to launch yet another land offensive, this time on the Arras Front. This would be the first opportunity to launch a major offensive since the winter and would require enormous support from the Royal Flying Corps and French Air Force in, hopefully, improved weather. However, the air offensive was to be countered fiercely by the new German Jagstaffeln – Jastas – that had been the brainchild of Oswald Boelcke in 1916. By the spring of 1917, the first Jasta pilots, with new improved fighters – the nimble Albatros DIIIs – were just itching to get to grips with their opponents over the Western Front. What followed was a near massacre of British and French aircraft and crews, which made April the worst month for flying casualties the war had yet seen. Here is a day-by-day, blow-by-blow account of these losses, profusely illustrated with original photographs and expertly told.

Bloody April 1917: An Exciting Detailed Analysis of One of the Deadliest Months in WWI

The fourth volume in this momentous series commences with the attacks on the Italian island fortress of Pantellaria which led to its surrender and occupation achieved almost by air attack alone. The account continues with the ultimately successful, but at times very hard fought, invasions of Sicily and southern Italy as burgeoning Allied air power, now with full US involvement, increasingly dominated the skies overhead. The successive occupations of Sardinia and Corsica are also covered in detail. This volume, then, is essentially the story of the tactical air forces up to the point when Rome was occupied, just at the same time as the Normandy landings were occurring in north-west France. In its pages are found what can justifiably be considered the story of ‘the soldiers’ air force’. Frequently overlooked by more immediate newsworthy events elsewhere, their struggle was often of an equally Homeric nature. With regards to the long-range tactical role of the Allied heavy bombers, only the period from May to October is examined herein, while they remained based in North Africa. Thus the period from November 1943 when the US 15th Air Force was formed to pursue the strategic air offensive against the Reich, together with the RAF’s 205 Group of night bombers, will be covered in a future (sixth) volume. Volume Five will deal with the rest of the tactical war in Italy and Greece, over the Adriatic and Aegean, and with the entry into the South of France to join forces advancing southwards from Normandy.

A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940-1945: Volume 4 - Sicily and Italy to the fall of Rome 14 May, 1943 – 5 June, 1944

Massimello, Giovanni

Africa

The follow-up to Bloody April 1917 continues fifteen months later into World War I. Much had happened over this period. More battles had been fought, won and lost on both sides, but now the American strength was feeding in to France with both men and material. With the mighty push on the French/American Front at St Mihiel on 12 September and then along the Meuse-Argonne Front from the 26th, once more masses of men and aircraft were put into the air. They were opposed by no less a formidable German fighter force than had the squadrons in April 1917 although the numbers were not in their favour. Nevertheless, the German fighter pilots were able to inflict an even larger toll of British, French and American aircraft shot down, making this the worst month for the Allied flyers during the whole of World War I – and this just a mere six weeks from the war’s bloody finale. As with their previous book, the authors of Black September 1918 have analysed the daily events throughout September with the use of lists of casualties and claims from both sides. The book also contains seven detailed appendices examining the victory claims of all the air forces that fought during September 1918. Although it is difficult to pin-point exactly who was fighting who high above the trenches, by pouring over maps and carefully studying almost all the surviving records, the picture of ‘who got who’ in the air slowly begins to emerge with deadly accuracy. Coinciding with the centenary of the end of World War I, Black September 1918 is a profusely illustrated and essential reference piece to understanding one of the crucial months of war in the skies.

Black September 1918: WWI’s Darkest Month in the Air

Americas

During the final year of World War II, the defending Axis forces were steadily driven from southern skies by burgeoning Anglo-American power. This was despite the steady withdrawal of units to more demanding areas. In this fifth volume of the series the activities of the Allied tactical air forces in support of the armies on the ground as their opponents were steadily extracted from northern Italy and the Balkans for the final defense of the central European homeland - are described in detail. The book commences with coverage of the final fierce air-sea battles over the Aegean which preceded the advance northwards to Rome and the ill-conceived British attempt to secure the Dodecanese islands following the armistice with Italy. The authors also deal fully and comprehensively with the advance northwards following the occupation of Rome, and the departure of forces to support the invasion of France from the Riviera coast, coupled with the formation of a new Balkan Air Force in eastern Italy to pursue the German armies withdrawing from Yugoslavia and take possession of newly freed Greece. The effect of the creation within the same area of the US and RAF strategic forces to join the Allied Combined Bombing Offensive is discussed. The final volume in the series will be concerned most especially with this latter campaign.

A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940-1945: Volume 5 - From the Fall of Rome to the End of the War 1944-1945

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