On a Wing and a Prayer: The Untold Story of the Pioneering Aviation Heroes of Wwi, in Their Own Words

by Joshua Levine

Few are aware of the risks that the pioneering airmen of World War I took. This oral history conveys the perils of those early days, the thrills of learning to fly, and the horrors of war in the air at a time when pilots carried little defensive armament and no parachutes. The men who joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1914 were the original heroes of flying, treading into unknown territory and paving the way for later aerial combat. They became icons for the soldiers in the trenches, and a stark contrast to the hundreds on the ground fighting faceless hundreds as men fought aircraft to aircraft and man to man—for the first time the air became a battlefield of its own. In 1914 aircraft were a questionable technology, used for only basic reconnaissance. But by 1918, hastened by the terrible war, aircraft were understood to be the future of modern warfare. The war changed flying forever. The Wright brothers' achievements of a mere 10 years earlier and Blériot's crossing of the Channel just a few years before the war seemed a distant memory as aircraft became killing machines—the war becoming the ancestor of the fearsome air wars of later years. The stories are presented to the reader in a frank and open way, revealing the feelings of the men who defended the trenches from above and witnessed the war from a completely different perspective. These first-hand accounts tell the almost totally unknown tale of men who rewrote the rules of military engagement and changed the course of modern history as a result.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Aviation, World War I, War, Aircraft, Military History

374 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2008

About the author

Joshua Levine was born in the Bahamas. He has a law degree and practiced as a criminal barrister for several years in London. He gave up law and became an actor, appearing in amateur theatre productions. He also worked as an assistant producer, working on a documentary about Handel's Water Music. He wrote a stage play entitled, Crash, and went on to write programs for BBC Radio 4. He is the author of Forgotten Voices, Beauty and Atricity, On a Wing and a Prayer, Operation Fortitude, The Secret History of the Blitz, and Dunkirk.

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suppose these subjects are not for every person, but he sure hits every button on my list of interests. There were times as I was reading with the book on my stomach that the book started moving up & down from my chuckles. Several of the personal accounts are meant to bring a chuckle. Several of the accounts are so sad one has to set the book aside momentarily. Such daring, innocent, courageous young people. My library only carried Dunkirk, so I had to search for used paperbacks. It was worth the effort.

[Colin Kitchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great first hand accounts of the men who flew in WWI. It’s about the men that flew and their great courage in planes so flimsy and cumbersome. It shows how important the role of aircraft were in this war. The book reminds me of Dennis winters book in the late 70,s called the first of the few.