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Fearless: The Extraordinary Untold Story of New Zealand's Great War Airmen
While much has been written about the New Zealand soldiers at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, very little has appeared in print about the bravery and skill of New Zealand’s Great War airmen. The publication of Fearless by Massey University Press corrects that disparity, and marks a significant new contribution to the First World War Centenary History Programme’s landmark official history series.
Flying in open-cockpit wood-and-wire biplanes, it took a special kind of courage to be an airman. And yet more than 800 men – and a small number of women – were up for the challenge. Across the conflict, New Zealand aviators could be found flying above the sands of the Middle East and Mesopotamia, the grey waters of the North Sea, the jungles of East Africa, the sprawling metropolis of London and the rolling hills of northern France and Belgium. The attrition rate was punishing; the heroism astounding.
Dr Adam Claasen draws on extensive archival material from New Zealand, Australia and Britain, including letters, diaries, logbooks and official documents that survived the Great War. He explores New Zealand’s initial reluctance to embrace military aviation, the challenges facing the establishment of local flying schools and the journey undertaken by the New Zealanders from their antipodean farms and towns to the battlefields of Europe.
Claasen gives a pacey, colourful account of our great known and unknown airmen, capturing their adventurous lives, both in the air and on the ground. Men like Keith Caldwell and his death-defying escape from an SE5a fighter plane, deep in enemy-occupied territory; Alan Scott, who led a fighter squadron in France and was known to undertake early-morning missions in his pyjamas; Clive Collet, who bravely carried out the first parachute jumps from a Royal Flying Corps machine; and James Dennistoun, who before the war had summited Mitre Peak in tennis shoes!
Throughout the Great War, New Zealanders undertook reconnaissance sorties, carried out bombing raids, photographed enemy entrenchments, defended England from German airships, strafed artillery emplacements and engaged enemy fighters. By the time the war ended many had been killed, others highly decorated, some elevated to ‘ace’ status and a handful occupied positions of considerable command, including Keith Park, Leonard Isitt and Keith Caldwell. This book tells their unique and extraordinary untold story alongside more than 170 arresting photographs and other images.
Flying in open-cockpit wood-and-wire biplanes, it took a special kind of courage to be an airman. And yet more than 800 men – and a small number of women – were up for the challenge. Across the conflict, New Zealand aviators could be found flying above the sands of the Middle East and Mesopotamia, the grey waters of the North Sea, the jungles of East Africa, the sprawling metropolis of London and the rolling hills of northern France and Belgium. The attrition rate was punishing; the heroism astounding.
Dr Adam Claasen draws on extensive archival material from New Zealand, Australia and Britain, including letters, diaries, logbooks and official documents that survived the Great War. He explores New Zealand’s initial reluctance to embrace military aviation, the challenges facing the establishment of local flying schools and the journey undertaken by the New Zealanders from their antipodean farms and towns to the battlefields of Europe.
Claasen gives a pacey, colourful account of our great known and unknown airmen, capturing their adventurous lives, both in the air and on the ground. Men like Keith Caldwell and his death-defying escape from an SE5a fighter plane, deep in enemy-occupied territory; Alan Scott, who led a fighter squadron in France and was known to undertake early-morning missions in his pyjamas; Clive Collet, who bravely carried out the first parachute jumps from a Royal Flying Corps machine; and James Dennistoun, who before the war had summited Mitre Peak in tennis shoes!
Throughout the Great War, New Zealanders undertook reconnaissance sorties, carried out bombing raids, photographed enemy entrenchments, defended England from German airships, strafed artillery emplacements and engaged enemy fighters. By the time the war ended many had been killed, others highly decorated, some elevated to ‘ace’ status and a handful occupied positions of considerable command, including Keith Park, Leonard Isitt and Keith Caldwell. This book tells their unique and extraordinary untold story alongside more than 170 arresting photographs and other images.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published October 23, 2017
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August 16, 2019
The story of New Zealand’s First World War air effort, from the pre-war infancy of NZ aviation, through to the early development and ascendancy of WWI and II heros such as Keith Park and Keith Caldwell (there were a lot of Keiths in those days).
Lots of riveting stories. A few that caught my attention include:
- Mesopotamia Flight, ‘Dust and Dysentery’ (chapter 5) - the brutal conditions of war in the desert.
- The role of key women such as Ethelwyn Hammond and Harriet Simeon, who finished the war as deputy assistant commander of the WRAF with thousands of women under her command - more personnel than any other Antipodean war leader, man or woman, in WWI.
- the German ‘baby-killer’ Zeppelins and those that hunted them.
- the development and feats of long-range bombers and their crew at this early stage of human flight.
The book is beautifully presented with high-definition photographs and maps of the various theatres of war.
The author of Fearless, Dr Adam Claasen, is a senior lecturer in history at Massey University. He is also a personal acquaintance and brother. I highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy war history that unlocks details hitherto unseen.
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Lots of riveting stories. A few that caught my attention include:
- Mesopotamia Flight, ‘Dust and Dysentery’ (chapter 5) - the brutal conditions of war in the desert.
- The role of key women such as Ethelwyn Hammond and Harriet Simeon, who finished the war as deputy assistant commander of the WRAF with thousands of women under her command - more personnel than any other Antipodean war leader, man or woman, in WWI.
- the German ‘baby-killer’ Zeppelins and those that hunted them.
- the development and feats of long-range bombers and their crew at this early stage of human flight.
The book is beautifully presented with high-definition photographs and maps of the various theatres of war.
The author of Fearless, Dr Adam Claasen, is a senior lecturer in history at Massey University. He is also a personal acquaintance and brother. I highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy war history that unlocks details hitherto unseen.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review