Wing for Wing

Air Combat Stories #3

by Thomson Burtis, J. Clemens Gretta (Illustrator)

Continues the record of the daredevil young airman's adventures as one of the leading aces of the war.

212 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

Henry Thomson Burtis was born in Brooklyn, New York. After serving as a lieutenant in US Army Air Service and as a member of the aerial border patrol, Burtis worked as a newspaper reporter before becoming a writer. He wrote more than two hundred stories for pulp magazines such as Adventure as well as over 20 novels, most of which had an aviation theme and were written for children. Many of his stories appeared in The American Boy. In Old Oklahoma was one of several films that were adapted from his short stories.

Thomson Burtis died in Santa Monica, California, on April 24, 1971.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book in a series of books for boys known as The Air Combat Stories. The first four appeared in 1932 and were written by Thomson Burtis, who was the author of the Rex Lee non-military aviation series. Three more appeared from 1935-1937, but they were written by Eustace L. Adams, who was the author of another popular non-military boys' aviation series that featured Andy Lane. These seven were all set during the first World War, but another nine books were published from 1941-1946 that are frequently listed as part of the same series. I consider them a separate set, because they were all set in the second World War, all had "A Yankee Flier" as part of the title, obviously featured different characters and settings, and were written by Rutherford George Montgomery under the pseudonym of Al Avery. Wing for Wing is an action-packed story that continues to relate the exploits of Ace pilot Rudford Riley, a young American, who's a member of The Phantom Five, a group of special duty Army and Navy, American and British airmen. They welcome a pilot to the squad, get a new commanding officer, deal with spies and sabotage, and all the while engage in chivalrous air combat. It's a very patriotic book, and glorifies the exploits of the Five while disparaging the German enemy, whereas more modern books would concentrate on the horrors of conflict. It's obviously dated, but is still an entertaining adventure.