Required Readings

" Those of you who don't have any of the Above the Trenches series (and you know who you are!) are
really missing something."
-- Barrett

Ugh! Ya got me! I confess! I'm the cheapskate who is continually thinking, "Why buy the personal library of books when there's an internet forum full of people from whom I can grovel information, and minds like whirling indexes of WWI arcana (and you know who you are!), saving me the trouble of the hunt.

So there it is, one rat out of the woodwork. I'm obviously in need of a few solid reference books, so at this point I'm going to grovel to the whirling indexes for reccomendations. Which books are absolute musts for WWI aviation buffs? What is "Above The Trenches" and "Above The Lines", and what information do they hold?

I remain,
RK

[Barrett]

Ray:

Hey, ease up on yourself! Rather than "a rat out of the woodwork" I'd characterize you as a Seeker of Wisdom, Truth, and Victory Credits.

Grub Street Press in London is the leading publisher of WW I aero reference books, though they also deal in other genres. Address:

Grub Street Ltd
The Basement
10 Chivalry Rd
London, SW11 1HT

Among their US distributors are Articles of War in Chicago and Paul Gaudette Books in Tucson.

The following titles and topics are for your consideration: all use a similar format in providing brief bios and full victory credits for aces of each country:

Above the Trenches: Brits (there's also a supplement)
Above the Lines: Germans
Over the Front: French and US
Above the War Fronts: Italians, Russians & Austro-Hungarians

Additionally, there are broader treatments such as "The Jasta Pilots," Under the Guns of the German Aces (multiple volumes) and The Sky Their Battlefield (allied air casualties.)
Each of these is a first-rate volume, well illustrated and often cross-referenced.
They're often like Clairol: expensive but worth it.

I was on my forage for books at amazon.com when I found this:


The Jasta War Chronology : A Complete Listing of Claims and Losses, August 1916-November 1918
Norman Franks, et al / Hardcover / Published 1998
Our Price: $31.47 ~ You Save: $13.48 (30%) (Not Yet Published -- On Order)

That will probably close a few cans of worms, and probably open a few others...

RK

[stephen]

Going from memory here, so bear with me. Assuming your after reference books only, I strongly support the previous recommendations, and offer two more:

1) The Fighting Triplanes by a guy named Haddingham. Everything you ever wanted to know about the Sopwith Tripe and several of it's offspring. Amazing detail and the best book I've ever seen on the topic by far. Very thick, coffee table sized. Full of b/w photos. Even details on every one of the 144 Tripes produced, including serial numbers and the 4 or 5 models with duel Vickers. Good stuff.

2) Aces and Aircraft of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by Dr. Marty O'Connor. Still the definitive work on the topic ten years after it's publishing. Several appendices which are essentially small books in themselves, including color plates on the aces' aircraft, victory lists for every A/H ace, complete maps of the Italian front, and the added bonus of learning about Italian aces (and British aces on the Italian front) as well, even though the book isn't on that topic. Paid $40 US for a first edition copy and it was worth every cent.

I would call both of these books "must haves."

[Darryl]

All previous plus:

The Red Baron Combat Wing; Kilduff

They Fought for the Sky; Reynolds (old, good luck)

Hawker VC: Tyrell Hawker (not a hope unless really lucky)

The Red Baron; Townshend Bickers (with some good analysis of leadership etc, but fairly critical of MvR.)

Sailor of the Air: Irving Sheedy I think (haven't got it with me at the moment, but it's on the Aerodrome list)

Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter (so I'm told, I don't own it ,HONEST)

Regards

Darryl

[Reinout]

I've always sworn by Neal O'Connors work "The Aviation Awards of Imperial Germany - And the Men who earned them." There are at least four volumes and volume V has probably already been published. Don't know about Volume VI though.

The volumes are:
Volume I: the kingdom of Bavaria
Volume II: the kingdom of Prussia
Volume III: the kingdom of Saxony
Volume IV: the kingdom of Wurttemberg
Volume V:it was supposed to deal with the larger principalities and Grand Duchies of the Empire (think of Baden)
Volume VI: it was supposed to deal with all states not covered in the previous books.

These books (I have volumes II and IV) as far as I know deal with awards and contain small biographies of the men who earned them (hence the title!). The biographies often cover those men who do not receive so much coverage in other books. Examples: Rudolf Windisch, Franz Ray, Ernst Hess and also those who did not score as fighter pilots (see the thread on "Fighter Pilot Washouts" a few weeks ago). Of course men like Ritter von Muller, Richthofen and Kohl are detailed enough.

Hope this helps

Kind regards,

Reinout

I went to my local Barnes & Noble and all they had on WW1 avation was "German Knights of the Air 1914-18. It's not too good. There are typos and the biographies on the aces are kind of dry. I'd like to see half the # of the aces bios with twice the amount of information on each. Or just a thicker book for that matter. More info. They had all 81 aces included but just about a page on each. Just the facts too. No cool rare insights into the pilots lives.

[Vigilant]

"Absolute must?"

John H. Morrow Jr. 'The Great War in the Air: Military Aviation from 1909 to 1921' Smithsonian History of Aviation Series (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993)

Extremely solid work, containing a vast amount of info. Very good on aircraft production in the various countries.

I've got the -gulp- Time-Life series. Well, at least it has some nice pictures.
I agree completely that in most of the books I find, there is far too little personal details. That's what makes people interesting, for goodness' sake!
In my high school library years ago I found "They Fought For the Sky", plus many books by Arch Whitehouse. I never made off with any of the books though I was tempted. Sometimes now I wish I had!
Would be nice if the paperback publishers would take an interest in WW1 again and start reprinting these...not all of us have the time/money to chase around the originals!

Melinda

[Barrett]

Because several items on this thread have asked about WW I publishers, and since I used to be one, I'll try to add some info.

At Champlin Museum Press, when we released Marty O'Connor's definitive Austro-Hungarian aces book (thank you, Stephen!) we knew two things: it was a small market, and the title would sell out. That was 10 years ago, and a $40 book in those days was exceptional. Since then, though CFMP is out of business, the WW I aero market has exploded. Two excellent outfits print little else: Grub Street in the UK and Flying Machines in the US. We're now in the renaissance of WW I aero publication, with genuine scholarly work replacing the oft-repeated tales of the 30s to 60s. For quite awhile WW I was straight-line on the publishing cardiogram but now, with a growing and more knowledgable audience, there's a pulse and respiration.

My theory--and that's all it is--holds that most publishers with rights to the older books (Collishaw, Reynolds, etc) look at the present market and don't see as much demand for memoirs or bios as they do for well-researched reference material such as "Above the Trenches." But if enough of you folks let publishers know you will buy Titles X, Y, or Z, some of them will come back.

I thank you...