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Laugh or Fly: The Air War on the Western Front 1914 – 1918
A rip-roaring gallop through the lives of the Royal Flying Corps air crew in the Great War. They lived their lives amidst a strange dichotomy as they moved from safety to dire danger, and back again in a matter of hours. This created a dreadful strain that could soon shred anyone’s mental health. On the ground they were cloistered in simple but adequate accommodation several miles behind the lines. Farmhouses, barns and huts were used, but they were all far better than the squalor faced by the infantry scurrying in their muddy trenches. Flying personnel were blessed with beds and blankets. They could set up a decent mess and socialise to their heart’s content. A smorgasbord of entertainments, with perhaps an old out of tune piano, access to drink and occasional vigorous games of mess rugby. There were visits to local towns which offered tantalizing glimpses – and sometimes more - of the female of the species. A glimpse was probably never enough for most of these very young men. What more could a chap want?
But when they were flying over the front it was no laughing matter. Death lurked in the skies, zooming in its ‘winged chariots’ out of the sun, or bursting from the clouds. A moment’s loss of concentration, or tactical blunder, could consign them to being shot down and falling thousands of feet until the crunching impact of terra firma brought a terrible relief. But better that than a punctured petrol tank, the first flickers of flame, then the roaring inferno and the agonies of incineration.
There was little or nothing for them to laugh about in the air. But when back on the ground they tried to put aside their fears.
But when they were flying over the front it was no laughing matter. Death lurked in the skies, zooming in its ‘winged chariots’ out of the sun, or bursting from the clouds. A moment’s loss of concentration, or tactical blunder, could consign them to being shot down and falling thousands of feet until the crunching impact of terra firma brought a terrible relief. But better that than a punctured petrol tank, the first flickers of flame, then the roaring inferno and the agonies of incineration.
There was little or nothing for them to laugh about in the air. But when back on the ground they tried to put aside their fears.
266 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 30, 2024
3 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Peter Hart
42 books195 followersPeter Hart is a British military historian.
He has been an oral historian at Sound Archive of Imperial War Museum in London since 1981.
He has written mainly on British participation in the First World War. His books include; The Somme, Jutland 1916, Bloody April on the air war in 1917, Passchendaele, Aces Falling (on the air war in 1918), 1918 A Very British Victory and Gallipoli.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
He has been an oral historian at Sound Archive of Imperial War Museum in London since 1981.
He has written mainly on British participation in the First World War. His books include; The Somme, Jutland 1916, Bloody April on the air war in 1917, Passchendaele, Aces Falling (on the air war in 1918), 1918 A Very British Victory and Gallipoli.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 26, 2024
very informative and detailed and using accounts of actual WW1 pilots about air warfare
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