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The Unsubstantial Air: American Fliers in the First World War
The Unsubstantial Air is the gripping story of the Americans who fought and died in the aerial battles of World War I. Much more than a traditional military history, it is an account of the excitement of becoming a pilot and flying in combat over the Western Front, told through the words and voices of the aviators themselves. A World War II pilot himself, the memoirist and critic Samuel Hynes revives the adventurous young men who inspired his own generation to take to the sky. The volunteer fliers were often privileged-the sorts of college athletes and Ivy League students who might appear in an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, and sometimes did. Others were country boys from the farms and ranches of the West. Hynes follows them from the flying clubs of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale and the grass airfields of Texas and Canada to training grounds in Europe and on to the front, where they learned how to fight a war in the air. And to the bars and clubs of Paris and London, where they unwound and discovered another kind of excitement, another challenge. He shows how East Coast aristocrats like Teddy Roosevelt's son Quentin and Arizona roughnecks like Frank Luke the Balloon Buster all dreamed of chivalric single combat in the sky, and how they came to know both the beauty of flight and the constant presence of death. By drawing on letters sent home, diaries kept, and memoirs published in the years that followed, Hynes brings to life the emotions, anxieties, and triumphs of the young pilots. They gasp in wonder at the world seen from a plane, struggle to keep their hands from freezing in open air cockpits, party with actresses and aristocrats, rest at Voltaire's castle, and search for their friends' bodies on the battlefield. Their romantic war becomes more than that-a harsh but often thrilling reality. Weaving together their testimonies, The Unsubstantial Air is a moving portrait of a generation coming of age under new and extreme circumstances.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published October 21, 2014
25 people are currently reading
548 people want to read
About the author
Samuel Hynes
58 books12 followersA scholar and literary critic, Samuel Lynn Hynes Jr. attended the University of Minnesota before serving in the United States Marines as a torpedo bomber pilot during the Second World War. After completing his degree at the University of Minnesota, he earned his masters and doctorate degrees from Columbia University. Hynes taught at Swarthmore College from 1949 until 1968, Northwestern University from 1968 until 1976, and Princeton University from 1976 until his retirement as Woodrow Wilson professor of literature emeritus in 1990.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
February 2, 2015
The author (as a veteran Second World War combat pilot) brings a special sensitivity and awareness to the subject matter of this book --- the young American men who flew in combat in Europe during the First World War --- that stands it in good stead. Airplanes are so commonplace to us today that we tend to take them for granted. But in 1917 and 1918, they were new technology, seen first-hand by very few people, fragile yet robust as their potential continued to grow. And under the impetus of the war, as airplanes continued to develop as lethal, efficient, killing machines, a mystique developed around the scout, 'chasse', or pursuit (fighter) pilot, who was equated with the knights of yore.
"The Unsubstantial Air" offers the reader through diary and letter excerpts from the airmen themselves rarefied views into what flying and the war was for them. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and highly recommend this book for anyone who has a curiosity about what flying was like when aviation was in its infancy.
"The Unsubstantial Air" offers the reader through diary and letter excerpts from the airmen themselves rarefied views into what flying and the war was for them. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and highly recommend this book for anyone who has a curiosity about what flying was like when aviation was in its infancy.
January 28, 2024
I heard about this book from a friend and requested a copy from the library. It wasn't yet in my local library system, but they found one for me (librarians are wonderful people) and I read it straight through.
I was a USAF fighter pilot from 1973 to 1997. Samuel Hynes flew fighters for the Marine Corps from 1943 to 1953. The Unsubstantial Air is about the first American fighter pilots, the young men who flew with the British and French ... and later on, the USA ... during the Great War. You can safely assume I was enthralled by Hynes' book.
Using wartime diaries, letters, telegrams, newspaper articles, and personal recollections of surviving early aviators, Hynes traces the fascination of young American men with the idea of flying; the establishment of college flying clubs in the USA; the early days of Americans heading off to England and France to play a role in the momentous war in Europe. He follows the paths of the first volunteers, who generally started off as French Foreign Legionnaires or ambulance drivers and then gravitated to aviation. He recounts the beginnings of wartime flying training in the USA, the way young men with minimal flight training were transported to England and France, the building of training airfields overseas and the different ways men were taught to fly by the French and British. He follows key figures (Quentin Roosevelt, son of Teddy, for one; Billy Mitchell for another), who organized and oversaw American flight training in France in preparation for the USA's eventual entry into the war.
All of this, and particularly the chapters describing actual combat over the front lines, is riveting reading, but what most fascinated me was discovering how little the essentials have changed. What attracted the first young men to flying in combat ... the romantic idea of one-on-one combat, of being a knight of the air ... is what attracts young men and women today. The desire to be above all things a chasse pilot (a pursuit pilot, or as we call them today, a fighter pilot, sent aloft to shoot down enemy aircraft), as opposed to a "mere" observation or bomber pilot ... that too appears to be eternal.
No one knew how to conduct aerial combat in the beginning. They learned quickly: how to conduct aerial gunnery, how to strafe and bomb, how to provide mutual support to other pilots; the fundamentals every fighter pilot today must master. The life fighter pilots lived, the independence and spirited parties and drinking and whoring, the eagerness to take off at dawn to confront the Boche, the shock of a comrade's sudden death ... well, it's the life Samuel Hynes lived in WWII and Korea; it's the life I lived in F-15 squadrons during the Cold War and Desert Storm.
This really is a fabulous history of the beginnings of aviation and air power in wartime (as an aside, it's taken us almost a hundred years, but the vision of air power pioneers like Billy Mitchell, which is powerfully spelled out in Hynes' history, have finally become reality with improved aircraft, better command and control, and smart weapons). If you're at all interested in military aviation, The Unsubstantial Air is essential reading.
I was a USAF fighter pilot from 1973 to 1997. Samuel Hynes flew fighters for the Marine Corps from 1943 to 1953. The Unsubstantial Air is about the first American fighter pilots, the young men who flew with the British and French ... and later on, the USA ... during the Great War. You can safely assume I was enthralled by Hynes' book.
Using wartime diaries, letters, telegrams, newspaper articles, and personal recollections of surviving early aviators, Hynes traces the fascination of young American men with the idea of flying; the establishment of college flying clubs in the USA; the early days of Americans heading off to England and France to play a role in the momentous war in Europe. He follows the paths of the first volunteers, who generally started off as French Foreign Legionnaires or ambulance drivers and then gravitated to aviation. He recounts the beginnings of wartime flying training in the USA, the way young men with minimal flight training were transported to England and France, the building of training airfields overseas and the different ways men were taught to fly by the French and British. He follows key figures (Quentin Roosevelt, son of Teddy, for one; Billy Mitchell for another), who organized and oversaw American flight training in France in preparation for the USA's eventual entry into the war.
All of this, and particularly the chapters describing actual combat over the front lines, is riveting reading, but what most fascinated me was discovering how little the essentials have changed. What attracted the first young men to flying in combat ... the romantic idea of one-on-one combat, of being a knight of the air ... is what attracts young men and women today. The desire to be above all things a chasse pilot (a pursuit pilot, or as we call them today, a fighter pilot, sent aloft to shoot down enemy aircraft), as opposed to a "mere" observation or bomber pilot ... that too appears to be eternal.
No one knew how to conduct aerial combat in the beginning. They learned quickly: how to conduct aerial gunnery, how to strafe and bomb, how to provide mutual support to other pilots; the fundamentals every fighter pilot today must master. The life fighter pilots lived, the independence and spirited parties and drinking and whoring, the eagerness to take off at dawn to confront the Boche, the shock of a comrade's sudden death ... well, it's the life Samuel Hynes lived in WWII and Korea; it's the life I lived in F-15 squadrons during the Cold War and Desert Storm.
This really is a fabulous history of the beginnings of aviation and air power in wartime (as an aside, it's taken us almost a hundred years, but the vision of air power pioneers like Billy Mitchell, which is powerfully spelled out in Hynes' history, have finally become reality with improved aircraft, better command and control, and smart weapons). If you're at all interested in military aviation, The Unsubstantial Air is essential reading.
May 2, 2018
Aviation during World War I is remembered today for it sense of romance. The dashing figure of the pilot, a daredevil in the cockpit, became a hero of generations of boys (including Charles Schulz, who made Snoopy dream of fighting the Red Baron by flying his doghouse). Samuel Hynes recaptures the excitement and glamour of aerial battle in World War I.
Many of the young fliers were college boys (many colleges established flying clubs in the early 1910s) but others were less-privileged country boys. The book takes us through their training (often quite basic) to the voyage to Europe, bar-hopping in London and Paris and finally into battle. Making skillful use of letters and diaries, Hynes captures the ambitions of the young pilots to achieve glory while facing (or avoiding) the risks involved. In this dance between valor and death, they found excitement, danger and the destruction of war.
Many of the young fliers were college boys (many colleges established flying clubs in the early 1910s) but others were less-privileged country boys. The book takes us through their training (often quite basic) to the voyage to Europe, bar-hopping in London and Paris and finally into battle. Making skillful use of letters and diaries, Hynes captures the ambitions of the young pilots to achieve glory while facing (or avoiding) the risks involved. In this dance between valor and death, they found excitement, danger and the destruction of war.
September 10, 2021
an exemplar of its kind and quite literally a perfect book. wish all histories of the war were this eloquently written + compulsively readable! thank you mr. hynes!
August 26, 2020
A must read for those interested in the United States aviation in WW1
This is the second time I read this book. It reads like a a ken Burns documentary. I enjoyed every page. This is my favorite book on WW1 aviation.
This is the second time I read this book. It reads like a a ken Burns documentary. I enjoyed every page. This is my favorite book on WW1 aviation.
March 21, 2015
Clever and lyrical and horrifying all at once.
December 2, 2018
Outstanding history (and at times meditation) on America's first flying warriors. The planes of World War 1 were only a little more than a decade removed from the Wright Brothers first success, and they were primitive indeed. But the romance of flying had already caught fire on American universities (and beyond), as flying clubs cropped up everywhere, paralleling the rapid military developments in the air overseas. These young men wanted to a a part of the show, and some of them started filtering (as volunteers) toward France before America even entered the war. Their attraction toward fighting in the air was a romantic one, like knights in one-on-one combat. There is some early truth to that, which Hynes (a combat pilot himself) beautifully captures throughout the book. This passage in particular captures that "Dawn Patrol" romanticism.
And so they flew their first patrols and saw what the earth at war was like. The treeless shell-torn ground, the blown-in trenches, the ruined towns, and beyond the front the French roads, white and straight and bordered by poplars, that are the only dependable guides to where you are. And they felt the strange beauty of it all: how the flashes of the artillery show up most brilliantly in the hours before first light, and how sunrise is more splendid seen from the air high above the mud and desolation, how the dawn repays the discomfort and danger. And saw -- or didn't see -- their first German plane. And learned -- or didn't learn -- the lessons of flying disciplines.
And Hynes spends considerable time discussing those "disciplines." This is never boring, and I doubt few are even aware of how these pilots were trained, and what they had to endure once they took to the air. They had no parachutes, the planes were flimsy, and tactics were something they were discovering (and revising) as they flew. Hynes builds his history largely around the diaries and letters of several pilots, so you hear their voices, their excitement, their fears, and late, as casualties skyrocketed, their fatalism. Highly recommended.
Note: As I was finishing this book, I watched the "Wings,"the old 1927 movie about the Air War. I highly recommend it. There's a forgettable love story or two, but what makes the movie so fascinating, especially after reading Hynes' book, is how accurate the movie is.
And so they flew their first patrols and saw what the earth at war was like. The treeless shell-torn ground, the blown-in trenches, the ruined towns, and beyond the front the French roads, white and straight and bordered by poplars, that are the only dependable guides to where you are. And they felt the strange beauty of it all: how the flashes of the artillery show up most brilliantly in the hours before first light, and how sunrise is more splendid seen from the air high above the mud and desolation, how the dawn repays the discomfort and danger. And saw -- or didn't see -- their first German plane. And learned -- or didn't learn -- the lessons of flying disciplines.
And Hynes spends considerable time discussing those "disciplines." This is never boring, and I doubt few are even aware of how these pilots were trained, and what they had to endure once they took to the air. They had no parachutes, the planes were flimsy, and tactics were something they were discovering (and revising) as they flew. Hynes builds his history largely around the diaries and letters of several pilots, so you hear their voices, their excitement, their fears, and late, as casualties skyrocketed, their fatalism. Highly recommended.
Note: As I was finishing this book, I watched the "Wings,"the old 1927 movie about the Air War. I highly recommend it. There's a forgettable love story or two, but what makes the movie so fascinating, especially after reading Hynes' book, is how accurate the movie is.
April 11, 2024
I listened to the audiobook and it is pretty good.
This book is a history of a few things: 1) American pilots who volunteered to fly in WWI and in the Lafayette Escadrille and is named after Marquis de Lafayette of The Revolutionary War 2) the history of airplanes and use in combat of this era and only 13 years after the Wright Brothers took flight from Kill Devil Hills at Kitty Hawk, NC and 3) the aviation history of WWI.
The book is on the long side though it is very detailed and the narrator was a great choice with clean, crisp enunciation.
Memorable for me was the story about a German pilot dropping a note at one of the French fields about one of the French pilots killed in action and where he was buried. There was a gentlemanly way and respect during this war that seems to have been lost and given way to terrorism.
I also liked the other books from many of the pilots during this time and I have added most of them to my reading list.
Unfortunately, flying an airplane in this era was inherently risky, much more than today, and many pilots perished as a result of mechanical failures or crashes rather than in combat.
I highly recommend this book.
This book is a history of a few things: 1) American pilots who volunteered to fly in WWI and in the Lafayette Escadrille and is named after Marquis de Lafayette of The Revolutionary War 2) the history of airplanes and use in combat of this era and only 13 years after the Wright Brothers took flight from Kill Devil Hills at Kitty Hawk, NC and 3) the aviation history of WWI.
The book is on the long side though it is very detailed and the narrator was a great choice with clean, crisp enunciation.
Memorable for me was the story about a German pilot dropping a note at one of the French fields about one of the French pilots killed in action and where he was buried. There was a gentlemanly way and respect during this war that seems to have been lost and given way to terrorism.
I also liked the other books from many of the pilots during this time and I have added most of them to my reading list.
Unfortunately, flying an airplane in this era was inherently risky, much more than today, and many pilots perished as a result of mechanical failures or crashes rather than in combat.
I highly recommend this book.
May 30, 2015
I've read and watched more than I can remember about WWII but almost nothing about WWI until I read this book. The writer was a marine pilot during WWI and has a very engaging writing style. I had to keep reading whenever I had a spare minute or two. I was not aware how military flying came about during WWI and learned a lot of fascinating facts. Flying combat tactics were literally being developed while the airplane itself was rapidly evolving such that a definitive memoir about such tactics written in 1916 was already outdated by 1917. This book was so good that it makes me want to read more about the development of air combat in WWI. Anyone interested in the world wars should read this book as well as anyone with an interest in the early days of air combat.
December 26, 2014
Hynes, a pilot himself and a very good writer, writes a book about the US airmen of a World War I. This is not a typical war book about strategy and battles. Instead it is a book about the airmen and the, at the time, new innovation of using airplanes in war. The airmen are generally college students who want to enter the big war and prove themselves to be men. The wonder of flying comes across in Hynes's writing. Lyrical and memorable.
March 19, 2017
Interesting topic for war buffs but the style was a bit slow. Rather than follow specific pilots, he chose to narrate the book chronologically, which made it feel like the worst kind of textbook. That said, his love for the topic and the novelty of the information were both helpful to get through it. Would only recommend for the die hard war book fans.
July 9, 2023
Pretty cool book about American pilots in ww1. The author is a ww2 pilot so it is interesting when sometimes he compares the experiences of his war vs the experiences of those covered in the book. I have been on a World War One kick lately and this book absolutely satisfied my needs, and opened my eyes to an aspect of the war I did not know much about.
January 21, 2015
The author's sources (letters, diaries, memoirs, etc. from the pilots themselves) provide wonderful insight into the minds of our WWI aviators. Hynes mixes these sources with his excellent chronological narrative of the war years.
August 9, 2021
A quiet look at a loud event. This glimpse into WW1 pilots is fascinating, but possibly it could use more in-air time?
March 17, 2023
The Unsubstantial Air initially suffers from a lack of a cohesion; seemingly hopping at random between what feels like hundreds of the unique stories that bring American Airmen to great adventure in Europe. These stories are tough to follow, even while Hynes attempts to find a common background to present them. The latter half of this book saves the reader by taking those individual stories and creating a true sense of what war was for those young fliers. Hynes, a combat pilot himself, learns through the first hand accounts that while the planes and places change, the culture of military aviation has remained almost unchanged since its birth in WWI. Aviators at war carry the burden of an impossibly stressful job. On one hand a gentleman's game of honor and dedication to craft, aerial combat at the time was often followed by a lonely death at 15,000 feet, disintegration by fire, a fall with no parachute, or slaughter by machine gun in the mud between trenches. The aerial combat of WWI seemed to magnify the perils of the infantry solder; perhaps more individual glory, but a much farther fall to the death, and at numbers that fostered an attitude of fatalism among aircrew. Desperate to escape this dark reality, aviators, already wild by nature, built a habit of spending their days off duty at rambunctious parties in Paris or London; seemingly so detached from the front yet in reality as little as 30 minutes of travel away.
As Hynes investigates, pilots of the first war were drawn to the front for a variety of reasons, but often above all, a fascination for the miracle of flight. However, the allure to taking the skies is in war accompanied by a heavy weight; what begins as the boyish adventure to end all wars will eventually become a realization that humanity will always be plagued with horror. Pilots witness unfathomable darkness on either sides of the trenches below, and probably wondered how any of it ever made sense; particularly to the Americans so unfamiliar with the European game.
What begins as a tangled history of adventures turns into a solemn reflection of an incredible sacrifice a unique band of warriors made. Combat aviation is fortunate to have no shortage of heroes to live up to; individuals that rightfully became legends on and off the aerial battlefield and who will never be forgotten.
As Hynes investigates, pilots of the first war were drawn to the front for a variety of reasons, but often above all, a fascination for the miracle of flight. However, the allure to taking the skies is in war accompanied by a heavy weight; what begins as the boyish adventure to end all wars will eventually become a realization that humanity will always be plagued with horror. Pilots witness unfathomable darkness on either sides of the trenches below, and probably wondered how any of it ever made sense; particularly to the Americans so unfamiliar with the European game.
What begins as a tangled history of adventures turns into a solemn reflection of an incredible sacrifice a unique band of warriors made. Combat aviation is fortunate to have no shortage of heroes to live up to; individuals that rightfully became legends on and off the aerial battlefield and who will never be forgotten.
March 8, 2022
A powerful and personal look at the journeys and lives of American pilots who flew in the First World War. Drawing almost entirely on primary sources like pilots' letters, memoirs, squadron histories, and so on (eschewing secondary sources), Hynes has a deep and up-close look at how American flyboys saw, lived, and reacted to the terrible conflict that they were part of. The trainings, the front, the accidents, the combat, and most of all the suffering, pain, and joy that the pilots experienced. Hynes himself flew in the Second World War, and his sympathy and sense of camaraderie with the pilots of the generation before his shine through.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants a look at the First World War directly through the eyes of American pilots.
I will admit that I could never quite keep all of the different pilots straight, but I found that you did not really need to get the overall message and point that Hynes was seeking to make.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants a look at the First World War directly through the eyes of American pilots.
I will admit that I could never quite keep all of the different pilots straight, but I found that you did not really need to get the overall message and point that Hynes was seeking to make.
January 6, 2025
“The Unsubstantial Air” by Samuel Hynes is an excellent popular history text outlining the First World War experience of American Army pilots on the Western Front. These pilots as Hynes details them are young, idealistic, educated and romantic; Hynes does an extensive job of examining these pilot’s motivations for joining the Air Service. The action in the book doesn’t ramp up until the end of the book as the lion’s share of American pilots didn’t see warfare until 1917 and 18 with most of the fighting being done in the Kaiserschlacht (Spring Offensive) and the subsequent counter attack the Saint Miheil offensive. Hynes a Second World War pilot sometimes injects his own views of this previous generation, as well admitting to his own worship of this previous generation and the trailblazers of fighter warfare.
May 7, 2018
This book was different from your average history book, and I really enjoyed it. It’s about American airmen in WWI. The author was a WWII pilot, so he was looking back at his roots, in a way. The book felt like his guide through numerous personal accounts (letters, diaries, memoirs), and he didn’t hide his personal attachment to these men who were pioneers in aviation and aerial combat. I really enjoyed his writing style. I listened to the audiobook, so I won’t quote from it, but it’s one I wouldn’t mind picking up again sometime. (That’s not too much of a surprise--I kind of have a thing for WWI pilots, and books with painted biplanes on the cover.)
July 31, 2019
Hynes turns what could be a dry recitation of dates and places into something like prose, weaving together the stories of the young men who volunteered to fly for France and America in World War I. It is not hero worship; rather, Hynes bring the very human side of the pilots into sharp relief - for most of them, it is a great game, a chance to prove your bravery, another sport to conquer like playing football or rowing crew. There is no doubt these are extraordinarily brave men who risked their lives, and knew dozens who never came back, but Hynes shows us they are really just boys who love flying and are eager to take on the next challenge, whatever that may be.
February 18, 2017
As a naval aviator, I enjoyed this book. I identify with their love of flying and yearning to be part of something bigger than themselves. This book is not so much a history of the Great War as it is a memoir of American flyers in it. I also enjoyed the author's constant reference to the tone of the flyers' own letters and memoirs. He noted their romance with flying but also the dreadful reality of the risk inherent to flying (much greater then than now yet never gone) and the dreadful meat grinder of combat.
June 6, 2019
Beautifully written story of the Americans who flew in the first world war. Hynes immersed himself in letters and diaries and this personal , deeply introspective approach gives the reader a chance to really feel the thrill and terror these young men felt. Hynes is not only a flier himself, but a writer of lyric power who makes these young men come alive and makes the whole muddle of war a little more comprehensible.
January 27, 2024
This a book about young pilots in the young age of aviation. Where they came from and their impressions of flying and combat. It is not about the performance of planes, how the air war was incorporated into strategy and effected the out come of the war. This is not meant as a criticism; just a note about what the book is (which it does well) and is not (which it chooses not to do)
November 14, 2019
So worth it for the primary source material. I knew about the posh upbringings of young RAF pilots in the second WW, but not about the same phenomenon in the US for the first WW. Beats the present day rich people bailing out with imaginary bone spurs and "I had better things to do" remarks.
July 26, 2018
This was an okay book. It didn't grab me like other books Mr. Hynes has written. I'm not disappointed, though.
November 20, 2021
Very good history on how the air war for the American Air Service in World War 1 developed and grew.
September 12, 2023
Wonderfully literate, well documented, unpadded, “big picture” and personalized story of U.S. WW I flyers leading up to and concluding at 11/11 armistice. A pleasure to read and from which to learn.
May 27, 2016
This is the story of the young Americans who flew in World War one and is written by a former US pilot of World War Two. I think the author’s background contributed to the insight of bringing out the experiences of the young Americans who ventured into military aviation. At that time, aviation was a new area of military combat. The book spent considerable time capturing the romanticism of various young Americans who wanted to be combat pilots. As those familiar with World War One know, the United States didn’t enter the war until the last year. Even before the US entrance into the war there were already a steady stream of Americans venturing overseas to seek the experience of war or helping out the Allies with the war. Many went over to France seeking adventure as ambulance drivers, members of the Foreign Legion, etc. However some Americans wanted more and some of these wanted to be military pilots for the French and British. Much of the bulk of the book focuses on these Americans. Actually much of the book focuses on trying to be a pilot, the training and only towards the second half of the book do we read of combat and missions in the front.
I think the author’s own experiences led him to be aware of young men and their visions of romanticism of war, and how in an atrocious war such as World War One it was the pilots that was the nearest equivalent of individual knights of previous wars. The infantry at that time consisted of massive amount of men doing the same thing. But with pilots there is the vision among many of one on one duels between pilots, and the public recognition and popularity of military aces. In the beginning some of the Americans pilots formed self-identities that pilots should be from the best of the American stock—men who were athletes from elite Ivy League schools with a college education and a can do spirit. It’s a dashing and romantic image. Of course as the book goes on to tell the readers, not all pilots were fighter for some were observers or did the work of coordinating ground attacks, etc. Even then, with those who are in squadrons and wings dedicated to combat they often travel in groups and often disengage from their enemies if the situation wasn’t favorable. And like with any war, when it comes time to actual combat the gruesome and brutality inflicted by man upon his fellow man is an ugly affair. I squirmed at the thought of men falling down in their planes to their death and having to make difficult choice of whether to jump out of a burning plane to avoid being burned to death or dying from the fall (remember there were no parachutes yet). It’s a gruesome thought. Apparently this was discussed among pilots themselves and recorded privately in journals of what one would do. There’s a story in the book of a certain pilot who have always insisted on staying with a plane on fire but when the situation occurred with his plane opted to bail out and free fall to his death.
The author capture the danger of not just only combat but flying itself during World War was a dangerous affair with the technology of planes being prone to accidents much more frequently than we typically hear of today. It is incredible that there are people who want to pursue being a pilot. The book even talk about the fatalism that creeped into some of the pilots’ outlook.
I think the biggest thing that I got away with the book is that young men and their romanticism with war is the same now as it was back then. Sure, the technology is different. The uniforms and styles may not be the same. But young men wishing to experience adventure and thinking war would provide it often get more than they bargain for. What a portrait this book paints for us.
I think the author’s own experiences led him to be aware of young men and their visions of romanticism of war, and how in an atrocious war such as World War One it was the pilots that was the nearest equivalent of individual knights of previous wars. The infantry at that time consisted of massive amount of men doing the same thing. But with pilots there is the vision among many of one on one duels between pilots, and the public recognition and popularity of military aces. In the beginning some of the Americans pilots formed self-identities that pilots should be from the best of the American stock—men who were athletes from elite Ivy League schools with a college education and a can do spirit. It’s a dashing and romantic image. Of course as the book goes on to tell the readers, not all pilots were fighter for some were observers or did the work of coordinating ground attacks, etc. Even then, with those who are in squadrons and wings dedicated to combat they often travel in groups and often disengage from their enemies if the situation wasn’t favorable. And like with any war, when it comes time to actual combat the gruesome and brutality inflicted by man upon his fellow man is an ugly affair. I squirmed at the thought of men falling down in their planes to their death and having to make difficult choice of whether to jump out of a burning plane to avoid being burned to death or dying from the fall (remember there were no parachutes yet). It’s a gruesome thought. Apparently this was discussed among pilots themselves and recorded privately in journals of what one would do. There’s a story in the book of a certain pilot who have always insisted on staying with a plane on fire but when the situation occurred with his plane opted to bail out and free fall to his death.
The author capture the danger of not just only combat but flying itself during World War was a dangerous affair with the technology of planes being prone to accidents much more frequently than we typically hear of today. It is incredible that there are people who want to pursue being a pilot. The book even talk about the fatalism that creeped into some of the pilots’ outlook.
I think the biggest thing that I got away with the book is that young men and their romanticism with war is the same now as it was back then. Sure, the technology is different. The uniforms and styles may not be the same. But young men wishing to experience adventure and thinking war would provide it often get more than they bargain for. What a portrait this book paints for us.
March 7, 2015
This is an unusual perspective on WWI - a history of the American participation in the air war. America did not enter the war until 1917, and did not enter the front line fighting until 1918. Yet there was an allure that the author captures extremely well - the attraction of young men to the mythology of war, especially distant war. American volunteers joined various allied forces - Canadian, British, French - and many sought to join the war in the air - the glory of individual combat, chivalric flying knights, and the heady promise of great adventure and great causes.
Early flyers joined French, British and Canadian air services. Young Americans formed flying clubs, besieged their respective colleges for support, and in 1917, left schools, homes and towns for the great adventure in the air. Then the reality - there was no American air service, no training program, no fields, no support structure, no airplanes... the young men spent months building it all in the inevitably disordered chaos and extemporized national efforts to create a substantive military machine, and to create something entirely new -- a military air service.
The author makes good use of extensive letters, diaries, remembrances to expand and personalize official histories and squadron war records. The death rate intrudes - many in training, many in combat, many from related causes and the nature of 1917-1918 medicine and practices. It is moving, affecting and fills the reader with a variety of emotions - sadness, admiration, respect, wonder... the sacrifice, the toll it takes on them, and the nature of World War I aviation, air combat and life between patrols are not new... it is characteristic of young warriors in all wars. But it is interesting and compelling, and it is unique in that this is a history focused on such a singularly abbreviated and specialized aspect of the Great War -- the American air forces. In addition to the individual perspectives and histories, the author also relates the growth and development of air power over the course of the war. The subject matter alone is a fresh angle on World War I that has received attention. Hynes, a combat pilot in his own early years, has written an absorbing and fascinating account of a brief but momentous historical evolution.
Early flyers joined French, British and Canadian air services. Young Americans formed flying clubs, besieged their respective colleges for support, and in 1917, left schools, homes and towns for the great adventure in the air. Then the reality - there was no American air service, no training program, no fields, no support structure, no airplanes... the young men spent months building it all in the inevitably disordered chaos and extemporized national efforts to create a substantive military machine, and to create something entirely new -- a military air service.
The author makes good use of extensive letters, diaries, remembrances to expand and personalize official histories and squadron war records. The death rate intrudes - many in training, many in combat, many from related causes and the nature of 1917-1918 medicine and practices. It is moving, affecting and fills the reader with a variety of emotions - sadness, admiration, respect, wonder... the sacrifice, the toll it takes on them, and the nature of World War I aviation, air combat and life between patrols are not new... it is characteristic of young warriors in all wars. But it is interesting and compelling, and it is unique in that this is a history focused on such a singularly abbreviated and specialized aspect of the Great War -- the American air forces. In addition to the individual perspectives and histories, the author also relates the growth and development of air power over the course of the war. The subject matter alone is a fresh angle on World War I that has received attention. Hynes, a combat pilot in his own early years, has written an absorbing and fascinating account of a brief but momentous historical evolution.
February 25, 2015
Samuel Hynes basically mines the letters, personal journals, published memorials and unit histories of and relating to the American airmen in World War One to give us an account of what it was like to be an American airman in those early days.
Due to the subject matter, with the anniversary celebrations and the resultant new found interest in the "War To End All Wars", it is easy to give the book a high mark or maybe a nod of reverence. However, while I did enjoy the book I do not think that this is a major work by any stretch of the imagination. I did not like it as much as I had hoped to as when I read the cover notes and the published reviews.
We get a little of the history of the Ivy League, well-to-do students push for air power prior to America's involvement in WW1, which is covered in more detail in other recent books. Interestingly, Hynes uses this aspect of the history of air-power in America to put forth the theory that this college (and blue blood money) movement was the basis of the evolution of the "lone-wolf" or "special breed apart" status of combat pilots which was so prevalent in World Wars One and Two, filling books, movies, music and magazines with the genre.
From there, we move through an overall review of what it was like to go from learning to fly in wingless machines to becoming an operational combat pilot. The insight one gets from the personal letters and journals is just how the young men approached their fears in the air and dealt with the stress of combat and the short life of an airman at the front. We also get a sense of the innocent and yet dramatic patriotism that seemed to infect the majority of these men.
While I did enjoy reading the personal accounts with their hopes, aspirations and naivete pouring through, I did not agree with or for that matter fully understand the author's need to repeat or rephrase the words written in those personal narratives.
All in all, an interesting read, but in my opinion, more of a Grayline Tour of life at an aerodrome in the First World War. There are more detailed accounts written elsewhere.
Due to the subject matter, with the anniversary celebrations and the resultant new found interest in the "War To End All Wars", it is easy to give the book a high mark or maybe a nod of reverence. However, while I did enjoy the book I do not think that this is a major work by any stretch of the imagination. I did not like it as much as I had hoped to as when I read the cover notes and the published reviews.
We get a little of the history of the Ivy League, well-to-do students push for air power prior to America's involvement in WW1, which is covered in more detail in other recent books. Interestingly, Hynes uses this aspect of the history of air-power in America to put forth the theory that this college (and blue blood money) movement was the basis of the evolution of the "lone-wolf" or "special breed apart" status of combat pilots which was so prevalent in World Wars One and Two, filling books, movies, music and magazines with the genre.
From there, we move through an overall review of what it was like to go from learning to fly in wingless machines to becoming an operational combat pilot. The insight one gets from the personal letters and journals is just how the young men approached their fears in the air and dealt with the stress of combat and the short life of an airman at the front. We also get a sense of the innocent and yet dramatic patriotism that seemed to infect the majority of these men.
While I did enjoy reading the personal accounts with their hopes, aspirations and naivete pouring through, I did not agree with or for that matter fully understand the author's need to repeat or rephrase the words written in those personal narratives.
All in all, an interesting read, but in my opinion, more of a Grayline Tour of life at an aerodrome in the First World War. There are more detailed accounts written elsewhere.
June 24, 2015
In a world animated by large-scale warfare, young American men enamored with the glamour of the air enlisted in droves to serve as pilots in the First World War. “The Unsubstantial Air: American Fliers in the First World War” by Samuel Hynes spotlights the romance of the Great War and the iconic pilots who waged it.
This experience-based account of World War I rests on an organized collection of pilots’ letters from Europe and is augmented by Hynes’s military and historical knowledge. This portrait is further detailed by Hynes’s experience as a Marine pilot in World War II.
Painting with the strokes of first-hand experience, Hynes captures the idealistic glow surrounding the Great War in the minds of these young recruits, many of whom came from wealthy families and prestigious universities. Europe captivated the imaginations of sophisticated, thrill-seeking men with the allure of beautiful cities, fraternity, patriotism, and the glamour of bellicose glory. Hynes writes, “At [age 22], manhood is not a condition but a goal, and war is a training ground, a test. And death? Death is a romantic dream.”
Pilots enlisted and made the journey from the States to the exciting European arena. “The Unsubstantial Air” explores the alluring glamour of the War while also laying bare the ubiquity of death among the troops, the struggles and very real tragedies of war. Immediate impressions of battle, informed by Hynes’ personal recollections, add depth to the account of a pivotal moment in global history.
Reviewer: Megan Roberts is a student of English Literature making a new home in Nashville, Tennessee.
Killer Nashville's Review of The Unsubstantial Air: American Fliers in the First World War
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This experience-based account of World War I rests on an organized collection of pilots’ letters from Europe and is augmented by Hynes’s military and historical knowledge. This portrait is further detailed by Hynes’s experience as a Marine pilot in World War II.
Painting with the strokes of first-hand experience, Hynes captures the idealistic glow surrounding the Great War in the minds of these young recruits, many of whom came from wealthy families and prestigious universities. Europe captivated the imaginations of sophisticated, thrill-seeking men with the allure of beautiful cities, fraternity, patriotism, and the glamour of bellicose glory. Hynes writes, “At [age 22], manhood is not a condition but a goal, and war is a training ground, a test. And death? Death is a romantic dream.”
Pilots enlisted and made the journey from the States to the exciting European arena. “The Unsubstantial Air” explores the alluring glamour of the War while also laying bare the ubiquity of death among the troops, the struggles and very real tragedies of war. Immediate impressions of battle, informed by Hynes’ personal recollections, add depth to the account of a pivotal moment in global history.
Reviewer: Megan Roberts is a student of English Literature making a new home in Nashville, Tennessee.
Killer Nashville's Review of The Unsubstantial Air: American Fliers in the First World War
Killer Nashville's Past Book Reviews
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