The First Fighter Pilot - Roland Garros

2019-06-06 Biography & Autobiography

Author : Ed Cobleigh
Release : 2019-06-06
Genre : Biography & Autobiography
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 567/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The First Fighter Pilot - Roland Garros by : Ed Cobleigh

Download or read book The First Fighter Pilot - Roland Garros written by Ed Cobleigh. This book was released on 2019-06-06. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Roland Garros enjoyed an exciting life. An aviation pioneer in the early 1900s, he taught himself how to fly a bamboo airplane despite crashing it at Versailles. He was a world-class athlete, a lawyer who wouldn't learn Latin, a sports car salesman on the Champs-Elysées, an airshow pilot and racer. He demonstrated flight to huge crowds up and down the Americas. Ultimately, Roland Garros became the world's first fighter pilot. Leaving his comfortable life in Paris, he flew and fought in the lethal skies of the first World War. Never before had a lone pilot hunted other men in the air. Shot down and captured, he escaped prisoner of war camp, evaded his way across Germany, and crossed the front lines. After a torrid fling in Paris with an exotic dancer, he rejoined his squadron. Garros needed two more aerial victories to become an ace. This creative non-fiction biography puts you in an open cockpit, in air combat, and in Paris experiencing Belle Epoque pleasures. What was it like to fly across the Mediterranean in a rickety monoplane? How did pilots dogfight in WWI? Fasten your seatbelt for exciting aerial action and the adventure-packed life of Roland Garros, the first fighter pilot!

Oswald Boelcke

2016-08-05 History

Author : R.G. Head
Release : 2016-08-05
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 66X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Oswald Boelcke by : R.G. Head

Download or read book Oswald Boelcke written by R.G. Head. This book was released on 2016-08-05. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography of the pioneering WWI flying ace who mentored the Red Baron is “fascinating . . . [it] captures combat aviation at its inception” (MiG Sweep: The Magazine of Aviation Warriors). With a total of forty victories, Oswald Boelcke was Germany’s first ace in World War I—and a century later he remains a towering figure in the history of air warfare, renowned for his character, inspirational leadership, organizational genius, development of air-to-air tactics, and impact on aerial doctrine. Paving the way for modern air forces across the world with his pioneering strategies, Boelcke had a dramatic effect on his contemporaries. The famed Red Baron’s mentor, instructor, squadron commander, and friend, he exerted a tremendous influence upon the German air force. He was one of the first pilots to be awarded the famous Pour le Mérite, commonly recognized as the “Blue Max.” All of this was achieved after overcoming medical obstacles in childhood and later life with willpower and determination. Boelcke even gained the admiration of his enemies: After his tragic death in a midair collision, Britain’s Royal Flying Corps dropped a wreath on his funeral, and several of his captured foes sent another wreath from their German prison camp. His name and legacy live on, as seen in the Luftwaffe’s designation of the Tactical Air Force Wing 31 “Boelcke.” This definitive biography reveals his importance as a fighter pilot who set the standard in military aviation.

Jean Navarre

2010 Fighter pilots

Author : Jim Wilberg
Release : 2010
Genre : Fighter pilots
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 001/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Jean Navarre by : Jim Wilberg

Download or read book Jean Navarre written by Jim Wilberg. This book was released on 2010. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WIth aviation's rapid growth in the Great War came air combat and the beginning of fighter aviation, Jean Navarre became the archetypal fighter pilot, the first French ace of aces, who, together with other brave airmen, created fighter aviation. They became a legend in their own time, and this is their story. [The book includes:] 133 period photos and drawings; color profiles of 16 aircraft, 7 with plan views; five paintings of early air combat; 12 brief biographies of Pegoud, Garros, and other important early aviators. -- back cover.

Fighter Aces of the Great War

2020-04-30 History

Author : Stephen Wynn
Release : 2020-04-30
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 441/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Fighter Aces of the Great War by : Stephen Wynn

Download or read book Fighter Aces of the Great War written by Stephen Wynn. This book was released on 2020-04-30. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A look at the transformation of aerial combat during World War I and the pilots of every country who were celebrated for shooting down enemy aircraft. By the time of the outbreak of the First World War, aviation was only eleven years old. The daddy of battlefield warfare until that point in time had been the cavalry, a position it maintained even as war was declared on the Western Front. Aircraft were not initially seen as an offensive weapon and were instead used by both sides as observation platforms or to take aerial photographs. Even when they were eventually used in an offensive capacity, they did not have machine guns attached to them; if the crew wanted to open fire then they had to use a pistol or rifle. As the war progressed so the use of aircraft changed from being an observational tool, to that of a fighter and bomber aircraft—something that had never been foreseen at the outbreak of the war. This book looks at the fighter aces from all sides. These were pilots who had been credited with shooting or forcing down a minimum of five enemy aircraft, of which there were hundreds. While some of these aces survived, many of them were killed. The most famous fighter ace of all is without doubt the German pilot known as the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen. “It’s the legendary stuff I was brought up on, reading about first world war dogfights . . . Stephen Wynn and Tanya Wynn weave a good tale between them—absolutely enthralling.” —Books Monthly

Kings of the Air

2015-04-30 History

Author : Ian Sumner
Release : 2015-04-30
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 341/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Kings of the Air by : Ian Sumner

Download or read book Kings of the Air written by Ian Sumner. This book was released on 2015-04-30. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Simply superb! . . . easily the best book (in English) available on the French Air Service . . . The book is a gem.”—The Aerodrome In comparison to their British and German counterparts, the French airmen of the Great War are not well known. Yet their aerial exploits were just as remarkable, and their contribution to the war effort on the Western Front was equally important. That is why Ian Sumner’s vivid history of the men of the French air force during the war is of such value. He tells their story using the words of the pioneering pilots and observers themselves, drawn from memoirs, diaries, letters, and contemporary newspapers, magazines and official documents. The recollections of the airmen give an authentic portrait of their role and their wartime careers. They cover recruitment and training, reconnaissance and artillery spotting, aerial combat, ground strafing and bombing, and squadron life. They also highlight the technical and tactical innovations made during those hectic years, as well as revealing the airmen’s attitude to the enemy—and their thoughts about the ever-present threat of injury and death. “No stone unturned, well researched and well written, Kings of the Air should become the ‘go to’ title for information about the French contribution to the air war of the Great War.”—The Past in Review “The narrative provides a complete overview of developments in technology, service organization, naval aviation and the principle missions of the French Air Service, all laced with first-person accounts . . . Kings of the Air should be in the collection of any student of the first air war.”—Over the Front

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