Best WW1 Flying Novel.

30 October 2000, 03:38 AM

G-8 and His Battle Aces! That brings back a memory or two. As a kid, I read them fresh off the newstand in pulp fiction. What would an original copy be worth now? Don't have one, my mother threw them all out.

30 October 2000, 04:05 AM

"War Birds" The Diary of an Unknown Aviator by

Elliot White Springs was the best novel of WW-I flying. And, yes, it was a NOVEL.

30 October 2000, 04:07 AM

What, yet another "splattering Spandaus" epic?
"Yippee! I stitched his butt to the cockpit..."
Purely a lucky shot, Barrett!

Lufbery · 30 October 2000, 05:05 AM

All,

Check out In the Company of Eagles by Ernest Gann. It's an excellent novel about that builds to a duel between a French pilot and a German squadron leader with whom the French pilot has a beef. Both pilots are portrayed sympathetically, the writing is crisp, and Gann can describe flight and all its wonders like few other authors. Most striking of all is the humanity of his characters.

-Drew

alex_revell · 30 October 2000, 07:50 AM

Ginger's right, there's only one.

Winged Victory by Yeates. Quite apart from the fact that he was there,a Camel pilot in 46 squadron, Yeates was a wonderful writer. So many ex-RFC pilots told me that that was exactly what it was like for the ordinary pilot, as apart from the 'aces'

Michael · 30 October 2000, 08:39 AM

Any WWI novel in hardcover will fly well if you chuck it spine forward with a bit of a spin.....

:->

Michael

31 October 2000, 06:02 AM

Absolutely not! All it will do is sail a short distance. In order to make it fly, one would have to mount an Ohlsson .60 with a modern Top Flight prop, preferably a rather high pitch.

31 October 2000, 08:29 AM

Why go through all the expense of buying and mounting a GHQ 60 and prop
when you can tear out the pages if they're 8-1/2"x11" and make some great
long-distance sailplanes.

Boom · 31 October 2000, 04:08 PM

chattering?? BT, what're you thinking. As all the accuracy types out there know, Douai not quite right, but works for our working title. Dare we ask the forumites for suggestions?

Remeber such suggestions as "Flaming Fokkers Fell in Flanders Fields" and "Sizzle, Sizzle, Zonk" (a la Mannock)?

cheers, Boom

4 November 2000, 01:34 PM

Alex Revell wrote:
"Ginger's right, there's only one.

Winged Victory by Yeates. Quite apart from the fact that he was there,a Camel pilot in 46 squadron, Yeates was a wonderful writer. So many ex-RFC pilots told me that that was exactly what it was like for the ordinary pilot, as apart from the 'aces'"

Actually, there is an ace in WV--McLaren appears, thinly disguised. The other pilots respect him for his ability but he doesn't quite seem "normal". And he wasn't, since he was so talented--but it's an interesting insight.