Arch Whitehouse

FALCONS OF FRANCE got me hooked on WWI reading but none of you "veterans" have ever heard of it. Arch Whitehouse, God love his books, was a fake, James Hall was the real thing.

[Billy_Bishop]

Depends on what you mean by "fake." Whitehouse WAS a Veteran of WWI. As has already been mentioned, he was not an ace, but he did have 4 confirmed victories to his credit.

Yeah, he embellished his wartime career, so what. I think if you look at the history of most WWI veterans who survived the war, that you will find most embellished the part they played in it at one point or another.

Whitehouse was just better at embellishing than most.

VBR,

Al Lowe

[Graeme]

No doubt about it - Arch's books were a damn fine read, just don't hold too much store against his historical accuracy.

Graeme

What a surprize !!!!!

People on a WWI forum who have never even read some of the greatest books of WWI. You have probably never even read Arch.

Never read the Falcons of France. Experts my Aunt Jane.

Billy H wants confirmation: Wasn't it Archie Whithouse who wrote stories about the adventures of "Grease Monkey Griffin" in an aero-pulp called "Flying Aces"? As I remember it GMG was based at Bar le Duc, and during the pilot's noon day snooze he would take off, land behind German lines and give them fits; then he would RTB and pretend nothing happened. (Boys, I would give my good conduct medal-the one they pinned on my chest in the Navy Brig in Honolulu-for a copy of that mag with a GMG story.)


At least Archie had a sense of humor and a Mark Twain style when it came to stretching the truth.
VBRs: Billy H

[alex_revell]

What you guys are missing about Arch was that he was also a spiritualist of some standing. If I remember correctly - it's many years since I read any of his books - he talks about meeting Ball at Estree Blanche when 22 Sqdn moved there in Sept 1917. Ball had been dead for five months so this makes our Art a pretty powerful medium!
Alex

[Richard_Schrader]

All;
I suspect that Arch was really a Texan. He never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Richard

[PatrickConnell]

Hello folks

topgun56:
Why are you always so caustic towards other members on this board in your posts? Is there really a need for it?

As it turns out, in reply to your statement regarding "Falcons of France" and reading Arch Whitehouse, I have in fact read both, and did so first as a boy in the 1960's and have done so again many times since. I was gifted with a copy of "Falcons" printed in 1929 by a long time family friend. Arch Whitehouse reads enjoyably, but I prefer Hall's book.
I agree with your assessment of it being one of the finest fictional accounts of the Great War in the air, as James N. Hall was an excellent writer.

What I don't necessarily agree with however, is how you have applied a blanket insult to the entire membership of this community. If you have issues with members of this community, take them to the source via email, private message or some other means, and leave the other members, myself included out of your flame-war...just a suggestion.

I wish you all well and safe flying

Patrick

Patrick,

Thank you for your suggestion. In most cases I have DONE as you suggested.

[Billy_Bishop]

I think if any of us did any digging into Whitehouse's past, we'd more than likely find that he was a novelist, first and foremost. And like a lot of war veterans, his memory was colored by time and age.

Myself, I prefer the Arch Whitehouse who's books first got me interested in the subject. Being written by someone who was there, they had a special color and feel that was not always present in other books.

Comparing Bishop's Winged Warfare to any of Whitehouse's books, it became apparent that Winged Warfare was ghost written by someone who likely had not actually seen war.

And as Bishop himself later admited, it was wartime propaganda, and he could not bring himself to read it.

VBR,

Al Lowe