Reviews for The First Air War: 1914-1918

The average rating for The First Air War: 1914-1918 based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-03-23 00:00:00 David Hough A worthwhile book since most of its kind simply recall the lives of the aces. Kennett discusses that, but also observation balloons, the relationship in two-seaters, and the reality of training. He also discusses, however breifly, the war outside of the western front. All in all this book is a good way to learn about air combat although he does seem a little too focused on debunking "myths" but he rarely goes in the extreme with this. His main error is contending that aircraft had only a minimal effect on the war, although his own text often contradicts this.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-08-14 00:00:00 Djj Crombie This book isn't really an operational history of air operations in World War One, nor does it offer biographical sketches of any of the major aces. It doesn't even mention aces like Rene Fonck or Werner Voss. Nor is there much technical information on the airplanes themselves; I don't recall seeing a single mention of the Fokker D.VII, or the SE-5A. But it's still a good book. In a handful of chapters, it offers a kind of sociology of aviators, a theory about why the British were so much more offensive-minded in the air than anyone else, the growth of scattered squadrons into autonomous air arms, and it also discusses the weird disconnect between what people thought airpower could do, and what it actually did (namely, that artillery spotting and reconnaissance were airpower's main contributions, and that bombing and ground attack didn't really add up to much. If you want to read about aces, dogfights, airplanes, campaigns, or kill statistics, this may not be for you. But if you're interested in the thinking and demographics of fighter pilots, and the formation of air arms in general, it's worth a read.