High Adventure: A Narrative of Air Fighting in France

"The best and most graphic account that has yet been published of how American boys face the trials and glories of aviation." -Philadelphia Public Ledger

"Among the newest books about actual fighting, the most thrilling is 'High Adventure'....A keen sense of humor, nerves a-tingle to the romance of war, an utter lack of boastfulness and an ability to describe his feats and sensations in clear and vivid English - these are the outstanding high qualities of the book." -Boston Post

"One of the most gripping aviation stories which has yet been written. The author enlisted in the Lafayette Escadrille long before America entered the war; and, after months of gallant service, was shot down. He is now a prisoner in Germany. The details of his training, the typical life of an escadrille, the thrilling incidents of fighting in the clouds, all the features of an aviator's life are here described fully and vividly." -Philadelphia Press

"The story thrills with the sky adventures of the writer....With the adventure, too, there goes along here a fund of information concerning airplanes and the secrets of their control." -Washington Star

"In all the descriptive writings of war aviators 'High Adventure,' by James Norman Hall, is preeminent for the vivid force with which the author shares his experiences with the reader and camouflages by entertaining anecdote and graphic description a wealth of information about the airman's work. Captain Hall is the author of 'Kitchener's Mob,' written before America entered the war. He went to France soon after as a member of the American Flying Squadron, made an unusually long record of successful fighting, was wounded in a sensational battle with a German 'circus,' recovered, went to flying again, was shot down and taken prisoner, and has just been released. His story of these adventures is a rare combination of journalistic skill and modesty concerning personal achievement." -The Independent

"He was not the weather-worn soldier who had fought in rain and mud with 'Kitchener's Mob,' which he so clearly portrayed some years before. He lacked the dignity of a hero made famous on the entire western front by his deeds and daring. This slightly built 'avion' with a keen brown eye was just Hall. One's inclination was to slap him on the back and to call him 'Jim.' We had all read his tales of 'High Adventure' which are familiar to the 'Atlantic Monthly's' readers. When asked to describe his previous experience in falling two miles with a...bullet in his shoulder, engine going at full speed, and miraculously regaining consciousness in time to straighten out three hundred feet above ground, landing in a French first-line trench, he said, smiling, 'You'll have to excuse the attempts of an amateur. That was when I first began.'" -The Outlook

Contents

I. The Franco-American Corps

II. Penguins

III. By the Route of the Air

IV. At G. D. E.

V. Our First Patrol

VI. A Balloon Attack

VII. Brought Down

VIII. One Hundred Hours

IX. "Lonely as a Cloud"

X. "Mais oui, mon vieux!"

XI. The Camouflaged Cows

XII. Cafard

Letter from a German Prison Camp