Great Books (ww1)

[EyesFront]

Walking through the local Waterstones today, I noticed a new print of "Winged Victory" by VM Yeates. I'll probably get it to replace my old dog-eared copy, but I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in military aviation. It's a vivid insight into air combat in the first world war, but the personalities and their reaction to prolongued stress in combat have relevance to military aircrew in every conflict. Think of it as a grittier companion to "Sagittarius Rising" - which remains my all time favourite WW1 book!

[corsair]

Curiously I saw a copy of 'Winged Victory' today as a second hand book. Must go back and get it tomorrow.

[davejb]

Winged Victory - excellent, as is Saggitarius Rising.
Having devoured Biggles in my formative years (I pick the odd one up for nostalgic reasons, very slowly). 'To The Last Man' by Jeff Shaara is a WW1 novel that includes the air war, and is well worth a read - I also think Derek Robinson's WW1 novels, 'Goshawk Squadron', 'War Story' and 'Hornet's Sting' are very entertaining...like his 'Piece of Cake' there's an attitude that will infuriate those who remember the chaps as 'stout fellows all' whilst anyone who has actually been on a squadron will recognise that characters like 'Moggie' are far from exceptional.

Back in, ooh 1975 or so, prior to mt RAF career, I worked at a book supplier - a midway point between publishers and libraries, and got to read the stock... a series of 3 or so WW1 flying novels, with a slightly blundering hero who tended to do things like stall his 'bus' and accidentally thereby knock the upper plane off Werner Voss' triplane, came out - the character was called Bully or something like that... anyone who can suggest titles/author please chip in, I'd quite like to see what they look like from my current perspective.

Nothing against WW2 or modern day - I doubt I'm alone in being slightly in awe of those who discovered you could deliberately spin a Camel whilst sitting in a Martin-Baker Mk0 from the Harrod's garden furniture range surrounded by inflammable material.

Dave

[BROKENBULK]

I think you may be talking about Thats Me in the Middle by Donald Jack - very funny in places with what seems liike a reasonable portrayal of the fighting. ther were three in the series but I cant remember the other titles.
BB

[Archimedes]

Donald Jack's books were -

Three cheers for me : the journals of Bartholomew Bandy, R.F.C Heinemann, 1963, republished by Quartet Books in 1974

That's me in the middle , as mentioned, Doubleday, 1973; Quartet Books 1974

and

Me Too Doubleday, 1983; Quartet Books 1984

[Buitenzorg]

Sagittarius Rising and Winged Victory are both on my list of all-time favorites. I can also highly recommend “War Birds: Diary of an Unknown Aviator”, the diary of John McGavock Grider as edited by Elliott White Springs, both Americans trained in the RFC/RAF and serving in 85 squadron under Bishop and Mannock.

[PPRuNe Towers]

Other second hand books worth searching would be 'Bloody April' and I second the motion for 'Goshawk Squadron' et al from DR.

The collected Donald Jack books are called 'The Bandy Papers' and extend well beyond the three volumes mentioned. Those first three books are the only things that have ever reduced me into that nutter opposite you on the bus, plane, tube laughing out loud as they read.

I used to compare it to Flashman - very funny story set in well researched historical context which gets bent slightly where needed to suit the plot.

For the young'uns think Series 4 Blackadder although I'm horrified to work out it's just coming up to 19 years since that was first transmitted:uhoh::uhoh:

Absolute thumbs up for the Bandy Papers - Amazon, Abe and the usual suspects will supply some real fun for WW1 aviation fans. The first 3 volumes are very good. Our search engine will pull up similar threads from the past.

Rob - another horse faced Canadian

[davejb]

This completely vindicates my decision to subscribe at zero cost to Pprune, all I remembered was I enjoyed the books, the author was somewhere around the 'H' area of the alphabetically sorted stock department, and the hero was called Bully or similar - now I've got £70 of Mastercard bill and Amazon are a bit better off, and 7 books are enroute <g>

An amazing result all round, and proof (if any were needed) that OASC might not get everything right, but it was damn good at producing contestants for Trivia games :-)

I look forward with keen interest to my collection of Bandy books by first class post - many thanks to all who chipped in.

[EyesFront]

I wish someone would reprint Wind in the Wires by Duncan Grinnell-Milne. My paperback copy cost 3/6 in 1966, and I hardly dare open it these days! In the same vein is No Parachute by Arthur Gould Lee - another book written from the author's 1917 diaries and letters.
What a generation!

[The Adjutant]

Totally agree with Eyes Front. Wind in the Wires was my first "air force" book and I read it till I remembered it almost word for word. Some years later I was given Sagitarius Rising and found that Cecil Lewis was on 56 Sqn when it went to France in 1917, and Duncan G- M of Wind in the Wires joined 56 Sqn towards the end of the war after escaping from captivity. Two views of the same RFC/RAF sqn which I found facinating. Some years later I worked with 56 Sqn in Cyprus and was able to see some of the stuff in their museum and scrap books which were mentioned in the books. Almost puts you in the seat of your SE5A, which I have to say is still my favorate military a/c of all time.
I "blame" both these books for getting me into the Air training Corps, which in turn got me into the RAF back in 68. I lost Wind in the Wires some years ago, but Sagitarius Rising is still in the bookcase, and still read from time to time.

[snapper41]

Odd that when 'Piece of Cake' was televised, DR was ctiticised by many for defaming BoB pilots. His counter was that he was portraying them as normal human beings, a claim that was largely backed up by the veterans.

His sequel to 'PoC' was 'A Good Clean Fight', setting Hornet Sqn in the western desert; also a good read.

[EyesFront]

That's uncannily similar to my own experience .... apart from the bit about working with 56 in Cyprus, sadly. Even our ages are the same!
As a boy, the three books I read over and over again while waiting for the paint on my airfix models to dry were Wind in the Wires, Wing Leader (Johnny Johnson) and Nine Lives (Al Deere). I counted the days until I was 14 yrs 3 months and could join the ATC ... with whom I remain active to this day! Sagittarius rising does get reprinted from time to time, so I have a fairly new copy to reduce the wear on my well fingered original (It probably helped that Cecil Lewis lived to a very grand old age)

[GPMG]

I can't remember the name but there is a book about the Vickers FB5 'Gunbus'. That I read a while back, may have been called '******* over Picardy?'

[anotherthing]

For those with interest in naval aviation of old (or just interested in tales of 'derring-do') may I recommend 'With Naval Wings', by John Wellham.

It includes an inspiring first person account of the attack on Taranto Harbour by the Stringbags.

A great all round read, written by Mr Wellham, an amusing and extremely interesting man who I had the honour to play host to several years ago at a Taranto dining in night.

I think it was a fairly limited release, though it did do a couple of runs and I have seen it on Amazon.

ISBN 1-873376-33-2

[Mike51]

For those who enjoyed 'Winged Victory', I'd also recommend 'Winged Victor' by Gordon F Atkin. This is a biography of 'Winged Victory's author Victor Yeates, and makes fascinating reading.

[EyesFront]

For those who enjoyed 'Winged Victory', I'd also recommend 'Winged Victor' by Gordon F Atkin. This is a biography of 'Winged Victory's author Victor Yeates, and makes fascinating reading

I'll certainly look out for it.

Comparing the new 2007 edition of Winged Victory with my old one (printed 1972), I was sad to see that the new book omits the preface and 'tribute to VM Yeates' written by Henry Williamson. This section added some poignant detail about the circumstances of the author, who died aged 37 shortly after the book was published in 1934. It brings home how accurately the book describes the author's war experiences - even if he did write it ostensibly as a novel

[Chairborne 09.00hrs]

Managed to pick up a copy of Donald Jack's "Three Cheers for me" for the outrageous sum of 10p.

I've now read it, so I'll do the decent thing and pass it on.

PM me if you want it!

[Chairborne 09.00hrs]

"Three Cheers" has now found a new home in La Belle France.

[criticalmass]

Donald Jack's books are gloriously funny, poignant and thought-provoking, but IMHO "Winged Victory" stands head and shoulders above all as the best aviation-related book about WW1 ever written.