Aces High: War in the Air Over the Western Front, 1914-18

This account follows the combat squadrons on the Western Front during World War I. Alan Clark shows how the idealistic young men who joined the air army in the early months of the war evolved into the embittered but courageous aces of 1916 and 1917 - little-known men who became celebrities such as Manfred von Richtofen, Albert Ball and Charles Nungesser. These aces performed acts of incredible bravery and skill, but almost all lost their lives or their sanity. Describing the frailty of the aeroplanes, the incendiary bullets of the enemy and the banning of parachutes which were deemed likely to lower morale, Clark criticises the short-sightedness of the high commands who failed to recognise the significance of the aerial contribution to the war and sent men to their deaths in inadequate and ill-designed planes.