The Canvas Falcons-By Stephen Longstreet

Greetings All,

I just finished a book from 1970 called The Canvas Falcons by Stephen Longstreet. It was an interesting, if somewhat freewheeling, look at the men and planes of WW1. Has anyone else read this? Barnes and Noble bookstores have apparently been reissuing several books on WW1 aviation that can be picked up for bargain prices. In the final chapter Longstreet talks about a personnal narrative of a pilot he refers to as "Windstaff". The account was quite good, but Longstreet concludes by saying it was never published. I'd appreciate any help on this.

[stephen]

Its in my library but I haven't read it in years. Longstreet seemed to take tremendous liberties in his writing and I don't take much of it that seriously.

[PeterL]

I don't think you'll get many possitive reviews on that book from hereabouts Dereck. This book has been the subject of more than one thread on the forum and the concensus has always been along the lines of "it's a stinker". I bought a cheap copy after reading a couple of these threads just to see how bad it is. It really is that bad.

cheers

Peter L

"Canvas Falcons" is indeed a maggies' drawers, however, it is head and shoulders above ANYTHING written by Weston Birch 'Bert' Hall (a founding member of N-124 Americaine/Lafayette). Hall would have made an outstanding soap opera writer. Has anyone else besides me read any of his "books"? Semper Fi and good to be back!
R/S
Nick Vitale
Gunnery Sergeant Of Infantry
USMC
P.S. Dan-San could you post your email again, I seem to have misplaced it. VBR

[Richard_Schrader]

I was asked to write a review for the reprint of Canvas Falcons. After I panned it so serverely I have never been asked for another review.
Richard

I had the same reservations about it as y'all did as I was reading it. It raises an interesting question, why would Barnes & Noble reissue it? I guess they got the rights cheap. Are the books by Bert Hall easy to find? He sounds like a first class bragger!

[Richard_Schrader]

Dereck;
He was a real cad, but he was also a good fighter pilot.
Richard

I read this book ages ago and have a copy of it somewhere on my shelf. If I recall, it was a pretty good book. Relatively easy read and well-illustrated.

You need to read all those books (that the rest of us have) that are 'general' summaries of the entire air-war 'experience' in one small volume.
Let's see-
Arch Whitehouse- Heroes of the sumlit sky
(and more>>)
Cammeron - Iron Men with Wooden wings
Reynolds - They fought for the sky

(sorry my cat stepped on the enter key in the middle of message! I hope he wasn't commenting on my submission!)to finish-
All these, including canvas falcons deal out the 'good ol' yarns' These were our 'starting points' in the old days before web sights. They (at best) serve as introductions, both to the history AND the perpetuated myths of history. Your task, if you care to accept it- is to investigate each anecdote and separate fact from fancy!
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