With the Flying Squadron: In the Royal Naval Air Service

Harold Rosher flew with the RNAS from August 1914 until his death in February, 1916. He was primarily based in the United Kingdom or in France supporting the British Expeditionary Force along the Belgian coast with # 1 Wing, Royal Naval Air Service. He flew a wide variety of aircraft incl the Bristol fighter and the BE2c. On the day of the declaration of war, Rosher applied for a commission in the Royal Naval Air Service. The letters which form this book were written between August 1914 and February 1916. They are spontaneous and utterly unstudied documents, and they have been printed almost exactly as Rosher wrote them. Many of them are quite ordinary; most are spiced with slang; the long ones describing his share in the great historic raids are thrillingly dramatic. They provide a detailed picture of daily war life in the Royal Navy Air Service, including pilot training. Especially moving is his description of his feelings while bombing Antwerp under terrific fire. Three days after the date of the last letter, at the age of twenty two, Rosher was killed at Dover when the aircraft he was testing went out of control and crashed. This is a valuable account of the early RNAS activities in the war, and information is provided about the raids conducted by RNAS personnel and aircraft types.