Can you recommend a good WW1 aviation book for newbies?

[totoroman]

"the Red Baron Combat Wing: Jagdgeschwader Richthofen in Battle" by Peter Kilduff was one of the first books I bought on this subject. I liked it because it went into some discussion about confirmed and unconfirmed victories. gave a decent overall picture of how the unit developed and operated.

since the first aviation history book I ever bought was Donald Caldwell's book on JG26 the large quanitity of annotations and appendices were pretty easy to negotiate. I also appreciated the daily victory and casualty lists of JG1's respective staffel. helped put everything in perspective.

since nearly all of the other recommendations thus far have been on Allied fliers... it seemed reasonably to through out a German focused work.

it seemed to be a well-researched book, and I thought the writing was lucid and concise.

[totoroman]

sorry about the typos and stuff. I recognize that not everybody will agree that the Kilduff is good for Newbies... but the first book I ever bought on military aviation was the book on JG26 by Donald Caldwell, so perhaps I'm not the best person to consult on this matter.

I'd recommend anything by Elliott Whie Springs: Diary of an unknown aviator, Nocturne Militaire, Contact, Above The Bright Blue Sky, etc. They all have bags of air experience plus a really good description of the social times they lived in.

Good reading, enjoy!

Bob

Dear Nick,
Why not try "The Canvas Falcons" by Stephen Longstreet? It really goes into a lot of detail, includes numerous personal accounts, and, if anything (and pardon the unintentional pun), goes a long way to "shoot down" a lot of the romantic nonsense about WW1 aviation. I gave this book to a co-worker as an intro to the era, and he got a lot out of it...
You can find it for less than ten dollars American at Barnes & Noble, on-line or in their stores; they reprinted it, as well as some other titles of interest, including "Aces High", which would be my second choice (unfortunately, the author's name escapes me...)

[wings]

"No Parachute", by Arthur Gould Lee.

anything about richthofen


leon

by all means, read "In the company of eagles", by Ernst K. Gann... and ("how could we forget") "The Blue Max", by Jack Hunter..."Hals und Beinbruch

I also recommend "they fought for the skies" by Quentin Reynolds for best overall coverage.

Aces High's author is Alan Clark. It's a very good book and it's easy to read. It has about 270 pages so you can read it fast.
Enjoy it.
Eduardo

One of the best books I've read on WW1 aviation is;The First of the Few by Dennis Winter,a penquin P.B[1982] Interesting ,good research