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Dawn Patrol
December 1916. The Allies have finally achieved aerial domination over the enemy. But the pendulum is swinging back in the Germans' favour, with the emergence of a devastating new fighter, the Albatros, and the growing obsolescence of the slower Sopwith Pup and the outgunned Nieuport 17. Three raw pilots have arrived at the Western Anderson, to join the Royal Flying Corps; Fournol, to join l'Aviation Militaire; and Schonborn, to join Die Deutschen Luftstreitkräfte. They are very different men in their background and character. But the impact of air combat and the fate of other pilots is about to change all of them. While in their private, romantic lives, they about to experience both happiness and misery. But they all have the war in common. How men and machines adjust to the pressures of swiftly changing demands is absorbingly recounted against a historically accurate backcloth of the contemporary events in the campaign on the culminating in the badly planned Battle of Arras, in which tanks went into action for the first time. This novel bears all the popular Richard Townsend Bickers hallmarks of technical accuracy, factual authenticity, acute characterisation, profound knowledge of air fighting, humour and good prose. Dawn Patrol was previously published as Dawn Readiness and is the first book in The Victory Trilogy saga. Praise for Richard Townshend Bickers ‘A thrilling page turner,’ - Tom Kasey, bestselling author of The Trade Off Richard Townshend Bickers volunteered for the RAF on the outbreak of the second world war and served, with a Permanent Commission, for eighteen years. He wrote a range of military fiction and non-fiction books, including Torpedo Attack, My Enemy Came Nigh and Summer of No Surrender
- GenresHistorical Fiction
176 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 31, 2015
84 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Richard Townshend Bickers
85 books14 followersRichard Leslie Townshend Bickers has written more books about the RAF and its predecessor, the RFC, than any other author past or present - some under a pseudonym. Being multilingual, he does his own research in foreign archives and by interviews and correspondence. His short stories and newspaper articles were first published and broadcast while he was a serving RAF officer. By the time he left the RAF his first four novels had appeared. His biography of his friend "Ginger" Lacey, the top-scoring pilot in the Battle of Britain, was published to acclaim in 1962.Bickers volunteered for the RAF on the outbreak of war and served, with a Permanent Commission, for eighteen years. In England he operated with Fighter and Coastal Commands; in North Africa and Italy with Desert Air Force and Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force. After the war he did a tour in Hong Kong and Malaya.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 10, 2023
3 Pilots from 3 Air Forces
Dawn Patrol follows the actions of three different First World War pilots, an Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Prussian, as they battle for air supremacy over the trenches of France.
The English pilot is the most troubled of the three, not merely because he’s naturally less of a daredevil but because he and his fellow Britons are flying inferior planes— Sopwith Pups, which were slower and less maneuverable the the Albatross biplanes flown by the Germans.
The Prussian pilot is Prussian through and through— trained from youth in the militaristic and unforgiving model for which Prussia was renowned. A very skilled pilot, he soon achieves and surpasses “ace” status, and his single mindedness leads him to victory after victory.
Flying a plane as good or better than the Albatross, the French pilot is a very different character. Before the war he’d been a wealthy playboy race car driver, and he brought that daredevil atitude with him to flying biplanes in combat. A member of a French squadron of pilots as fearless as himself, he settles in to enjoying both his duties and his off duty hours.
As a look at the lives of World War I flyers during a difficult period of the war, this first-in-a-trilogy is recommended.
Dawn Patrol follows the actions of three different First World War pilots, an Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Prussian, as they battle for air supremacy over the trenches of France.
The English pilot is the most troubled of the three, not merely because he’s naturally less of a daredevil but because he and his fellow Britons are flying inferior planes— Sopwith Pups, which were slower and less maneuverable the the Albatross biplanes flown by the Germans.
The Prussian pilot is Prussian through and through— trained from youth in the militaristic and unforgiving model for which Prussia was renowned. A very skilled pilot, he soon achieves and surpasses “ace” status, and his single mindedness leads him to victory after victory.
Flying a plane as good or better than the Albatross, the French pilot is a very different character. Before the war he’d been a wealthy playboy race car driver, and he brought that daredevil atitude with him to flying biplanes in combat. A member of a French squadron of pilots as fearless as himself, he settles in to enjoying both his duties and his off duty hours.
As a look at the lives of World War I flyers during a difficult period of the war, this first-in-a-trilogy is recommended.
April 21, 2021
A nicely presented description of stereotypic French English and German piolets. some good action in the air but the ending left me flat.
November 6, 2021
Good description of daily lives of WWI pilots but a bit hard to follow at times when he switches from British to French to German pilot's lives.
May 18, 2015
The literary conceit for Dawn Patrol is relatively ambitious. By offering a three-sided perspective using the point of view from respective German, French, and British pilots, Bickers Bickers attempts to capture the nationalistic fervor and painful lethality of aerial warfare during World War I. Not only does this approach give different perspectives on the same campaign, but it allows Bickers to describe aerial combat from perspectives of different airplanes (Sopwith Pups, Nieuport 17s, and two types of German planes, Fokker Eindeckers and Albatrosses. Each pilot, from his respective nation, is forced to consider the strengths and weaknesses of his plane versus the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent’s plane.
A PC game publisher once published a game of World War I aerial combat as Knights of the Sky, suggesting that the encounters between these pilots was similar to a medieval joust—each pilot “jockeying” (pardon the pun) for position. Dawn Patrol does a fabulous job of presenting that one-on-one confrontation and some of the types of tactical approaches covered by famous U.S. ace, Eddie Rickenbacker.
Dawn Patrol is also the first volume of a trilogy, The Victory Trilogy, and all are available in new printings from Endeavor Press. I’m glad of this because, after a relatively sterile beginning, Dawn Patrol was stimulating enough to get me creating new scenarios for Richtofen’s War (the actual game scenarios are more toward the second volume of the trilogy, so I had to substitute some planes for others to try to recreate some of the more dramatic “furballs” from this novel) and Fight in the Skies (interestingly, my second edition of this game was retitled Dawn Patrol just like this novel and, again, it is more geared toward Richtofen’s era, so I had to substitute some later planes to recreate these scenarios).
As one can readily notice, I enjoyed Dawn Patrol, but I need to inform you that Endeavor allowed some bothersome typographical errors to remain in their copy of the text. Since the publisher was gracious enough to provide this eBook version to me, I returned the favor by sending an annotated copy of the manuscript back to them with some of the problems marked. There is a name switch in the initial German chapter and a few erroneous spellings in latter chapters. However, I must say that everything in this novel resonates with other material I’ve read about WWI in the air—especially American Ace Eddie Rickenbacker’s autobiography. The lack of parachutes (by design lest pilots give up too easily), the amazing collapsing undercarriages that didn’t stand up too well to the rough landing fields, and the mind-numbing, gut-clutching attrition of wingmen and fellow pilots is realistically portrayed.
For those who are intrigued by this bloody exercise in early aerial warfare, Dawn Patrol offers just the right balance of interesting characters (they aren’t deep in motivation, but they do have a certain logic and color to them) and tactical considerations. The novel’s characters also have the right balance between courage and cowardice, ambition and altruism, as well as patriotism and personal pride. Anderson of the R.F.C. is uncertain and insecure, Schonborn of the Luftstreitkrafte (after being briefly confused with his commander, Halder at the beginning of Chapter 2) is resentful of his fellow pilots who are part of the aristocracy, and Luc Fournol, the Formula I driver turned French pilot, is something of a daredevil. The mix of the three pilots makes the novel ever so much more interesting than seeing everything from one side or another. And, of course, this makes you ever so much more invested in the characters.
Even the missions in which these pilots engage have an interesting balance. Missions range from patrols through balloon-busting to escort. Some missions are above friendly trenches while others are dangerously behind enemy lines. After the description of one successful mission, I laughed aloud as Fournol said, “Mon dieu! He looked so indignant. He must have taken my barrel roll as a terrible affront to Teutonic good order and orthodoxy. I could have died laughing: instead he died because he had no sense of humour.” (p. 136)
Dawn Patrol not only features exciting canvas-ripping, engine-smoking, oil-leaking, and fiery-crashing, aerial action, but it also offers some intriguing scenes of romantic (some illicit, some otherwise) interludes and an almost sibling rivalry within the squadrons themselves. As one would have suspected in “real life,” the interaction at the barracks and officer’s clubs set the stage for what happens in the air. I look forward to reading yet more.
A PC game publisher once published a game of World War I aerial combat as Knights of the Sky, suggesting that the encounters between these pilots was similar to a medieval joust—each pilot “jockeying” (pardon the pun) for position. Dawn Patrol does a fabulous job of presenting that one-on-one confrontation and some of the types of tactical approaches covered by famous U.S. ace, Eddie Rickenbacker.
Dawn Patrol is also the first volume of a trilogy, The Victory Trilogy, and all are available in new printings from Endeavor Press. I’m glad of this because, after a relatively sterile beginning, Dawn Patrol was stimulating enough to get me creating new scenarios for Richtofen’s War (the actual game scenarios are more toward the second volume of the trilogy, so I had to substitute some planes for others to try to recreate some of the more dramatic “furballs” from this novel) and Fight in the Skies (interestingly, my second edition of this game was retitled Dawn Patrol just like this novel and, again, it is more geared toward Richtofen’s era, so I had to substitute some later planes to recreate these scenarios).
As one can readily notice, I enjoyed Dawn Patrol, but I need to inform you that Endeavor allowed some bothersome typographical errors to remain in their copy of the text. Since the publisher was gracious enough to provide this eBook version to me, I returned the favor by sending an annotated copy of the manuscript back to them with some of the problems marked. There is a name switch in the initial German chapter and a few erroneous spellings in latter chapters. However, I must say that everything in this novel resonates with other material I’ve read about WWI in the air—especially American Ace Eddie Rickenbacker’s autobiography. The lack of parachutes (by design lest pilots give up too easily), the amazing collapsing undercarriages that didn’t stand up too well to the rough landing fields, and the mind-numbing, gut-clutching attrition of wingmen and fellow pilots is realistically portrayed.
For those who are intrigued by this bloody exercise in early aerial warfare, Dawn Patrol offers just the right balance of interesting characters (they aren’t deep in motivation, but they do have a certain logic and color to them) and tactical considerations. The novel’s characters also have the right balance between courage and cowardice, ambition and altruism, as well as patriotism and personal pride. Anderson of the R.F.C. is uncertain and insecure, Schonborn of the Luftstreitkrafte (after being briefly confused with his commander, Halder at the beginning of Chapter 2) is resentful of his fellow pilots who are part of the aristocracy, and Luc Fournol, the Formula I driver turned French pilot, is something of a daredevil. The mix of the three pilots makes the novel ever so much more interesting than seeing everything from one side or another. And, of course, this makes you ever so much more invested in the characters.
Even the missions in which these pilots engage have an interesting balance. Missions range from patrols through balloon-busting to escort. Some missions are above friendly trenches while others are dangerously behind enemy lines. After the description of one successful mission, I laughed aloud as Fournol said, “Mon dieu! He looked so indignant. He must have taken my barrel roll as a terrible affront to Teutonic good order and orthodoxy. I could have died laughing: instead he died because he had no sense of humour.” (p. 136)
Dawn Patrol not only features exciting canvas-ripping, engine-smoking, oil-leaking, and fiery-crashing, aerial action, but it also offers some intriguing scenes of romantic (some illicit, some otherwise) interludes and an almost sibling rivalry within the squadrons themselves. As one would have suspected in “real life,” the interaction at the barracks and officer’s clubs set the stage for what happens in the air. I look forward to reading yet more.
July 26, 2025
This is the first book in a trilogy of World War I (“WWI”) aerial combat stories. It starts in 1916 with the war well underway. It features 3 individual pilots, one with the British Air Corp, a Frenchman with France’s Air Force and a German with their Air Corp. The plot traces what life is like for each soldier as he experiences air combat in WWI. Alternate chapters bring the reader up to date with each pilot’s life and experiences. Although, there are times when intra chapter mixing of stories are provided. At times, the German pilot is facing off against the allied pilots in this book. But the author doesn’t make that clear until the next chapter’s update. Even then it is sort of inferred that these pilots were fighting against each other. The 3 main characters do not know each other nor do they have a knowledge of the other pilots such of knowing of an opposing pilot by reputation. The story is relatively short, so getting to know the three individual characters and their personalities is difficult. The supporting cast members are very much typecast. There is little to no background info on them. The author trends toward comparing and contrasting the 3 pilots. What are their similarities in facing combat and how do they handle those stressful situations. In addition, the author deals with the changing technologies during the war that caused one side or the other at least a temporary advantage over their opposition. The dialogue is seldom beyond simple and straight forward talk. Nothing deeply revealing about the pilots or their comrades. The pilots are primarily upper-class people in their own lives and they treat the lower class aids and troopers with disinterest and sometimes outright distain. Their relationships with the opposite sex are formal within their peer group of women, but much friendlier and companionable with women in a lower class.
May 23, 2016
A big disappointment. The writing was formulaic with nothing to distinguish it from the scores of other WWI aviation books I read. I got to the last page and the story just stopped. I realized before I started that it was the first of a series, but the usual parts of a series at least try to wrap the story up a bit with a hint of what's to come. This just came to a complete halt. I don't intend to continue the series unless the remaining two books are very inexpensive.
March 17, 2016
Interesting
This story or stories brings the WWI air war into the light. The characters chosen exemplify the men (boys ) who carried out this dangerous war with balsa wood planes, no heated cabins, and a lack of few perks except the adulation of the public and the adrenalin rush of battle.
This story or stories brings the WWI air war into the light. The characters chosen exemplify the men (boys ) who carried out this dangerous war with balsa wood planes, no heated cabins, and a lack of few perks except the adulation of the public and the adrenalin rush of battle.
July 8, 2016
Two and half stars. The author has a very clean writing style, and took an interesting tack in this book. He focused on three different sides to the conflict; French, English and German. Unfortunately the character development was little more than fluff and the story itself read like the screenplay of a made for TV version of "Fly Boys".
April 4, 2016
I found this book to be very interesting and entertaining. Three pilots, one German, one French and one English flying in WW1. I was so intrigued I bought the next two books in the series which says it all for a cheapskate like me.
May 7, 2016
Enjoyed the book
Good read if you like ww1 aviation. Enjoyed the differing prospectives of the three pilots. It is worth the read.
Good read if you like ww1 aviation. Enjoyed the differing prospectives of the three pilots. It is worth the read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews