Belgian aviation

18 December 1998, 10:44 AM

Anyone know of any good books dealing with Belgian aviation specifically. I have a lot of info with side references. Also ran across a book on it from the early 20's in my local "antiquarian" (i.e. absurdly expensive) book store. $175.00 was a little to steep for a book in French (I'm struggling to keep up on English). I contacted Flying Machine Press and they said they aren't planning anything since it is obscure, no one is a real expert in it and there isn't much of a market on it.
I'm not just interested in Coopens, Meulemeester, Thieffry, Jacquet, d'Aische and Oliesagers but in all the different units and their aircraft. Thanks for any help !!!!!!!

18 December 1998, 11:17 AM

John,
Grubb Street's "Above Flanders' Fields" is a good start.

Regards,
Andrew Smith

18 December 1998, 12:18 PM

Thanks for the info on Flanders Field - it's on my Christmas list already. The descriptor on the book service I looked at described it as about British aviation. (Hopefully my wife has ordered it and not gotten innovative and ordered the singing bird clock or something). Is the book about British aviation with a Belgian adjunct or is the book description in error ?
Also wondering about specific unit histories - any current reprints on 9me etc ..... I haven't found anything - thanks

John G.

Vigilant · 18 December 1998, 12:38 PM

I know either Grub Street or the Frank-Shores-Guest crew did a book quite recently on Belgian aviation. I recall reading the review. I'll look it out.

18 December 1998, 04:54 PM

Check out the Belgian Air Force (well, not official )website that
includes some nice pages on WWI:
www.baha.2-be.net/ww1.htm

Vigilant · 19 December 1998, 07:35 AM

John, That book was "Above Flanders Fields" referred to above.

22 December 1998, 05:10 AM

"Above Flanders Field" is the current book put out by Grub Street, and is very thorough on the subject of Belgian aviation in WWI. The French book you ention sounds like Willy Coppnes book, "Days on the Wing", which is long out of print, and even in English fetches a hefty price. It was later released in paper back as "Flying in Flanders", and can usually be found for $6 or less. This is Coppens personal story, and a very interesting book to read. Let me know if you can't find a copy and I'll see if I can help there too.