Reviews

摘要

As the centenary of the armistice approaches, the chance to reflect on the Royal Flying Corps' first year of operations in France, from 1914-15, is a very worthwhile one. This was, after all, a time of great advances in aerial warfare and the use of the aeroplane during hostilities, and the RFC was at the forefront of these. As Revell outlines, this was especially the case with regard to the reconnaissance and artillery-spotting roles, but offensive and defensive capabilities were also being enhanced. The author does well to set these in context against the enemy's simultaneous developments both of materiel and tactics, and the wider strategic situation. However, this is above all the story of the men involved, and with copious use of archive documents and personal accounts it makes for a very good read. Naturally there are descriptions of such events as the 26 April 1915 attack on Coutrai by the BE2b of Lt William Rhodes-Moorhouse that resulted in the first (albeit posthumous) Victoria Cross award for aerial action, the tireless efforts of Lt Lanoe Hawker that also saw him being presented with a VC, and the early combats with Fokker E.Ills. But many lesser-known happening are also recounted, such as "a bizarre fight" on 30 April 1915 between a No 6 Squadron Martinsyde and an Albatros in which the enemy pilot attempted "to hit the propeller of the Martinsyde with a metal ball on the end of a long copper cable". Not all the period's innovations were successful...