Product Description: Striking the Hornets' Nest provides the first extensive analysis of the Northern Bombing Group (NBG), the Navy's most innovative aviation initiative of World War I and one of the world's first dedicated strategic bombing programs...read more

A remarkable book, essential for anyone interested in the development of the modern dirigible, written by the Commander of the Hindenburg who was dragged, mortally burned, from the ship as it crashed in 1937. The book provides remarkable insights into the development of ships such as the Graf Zeppelin, Viktoria Luise, Los Angeles, and, of course, the Hindenburg, the crash of which is the subject of a special final chapter for this edition by Charles E. Rosendahl. Also included are chapters by Lehmann on the military uses of these craft. Reprint edition. 2006: 365 pages, illustrated. Softcover. 2006: 365 pages. (Scholar's Bookshelf)

Product Description: Many of the airmen of the First Word War who challenged both the enemy and death did not survive. These are their stories. In the clinging mud and trench warfare of WWI, it was soon clear that the cavalry ― the elite of the elite ― would be of little use...read more

Product Description: This new publication from eminent military historian Martin Bowman chronicles the stories of airmen downed on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918, representing a contribution on the author's part to the 100th anniversary of the Great War...read more

Product Description: Above the mud and misery of the trenches and the endless slugging matches of the First World War another contest was played out with all the military glamour, chivalric values and deadly outcome of a mediaeval, knightly tournament...read more

Product Description: At the start of the First World War, little thought had been given to how aircraft would play a part in the conflict. The Royal Flying Corps consisted of five squadrons, one equipped with observation balloons and the others with aircraft...read more

Examines the development and significance of airpower during World War I, discussing how the war provided military establishments with proof of the value of aviation

An in-depth series of military history studies, written by leading authorities in the field, combines important insights into each era; detailed analyses of battlefield campaigns, strategies and tactics, technology, weaponry, leadership, and the implications of the era in terms of global history; and numerous photographs, maps, diagrams, and illustrations.

Presents the airplanes of World War I, including the first bombers, fighters, and aircraft carriers, discussing how they were used and the pilots who flew them.

Presents the airplanes of World War I, including the first bombers, fighters, and aircraft carriers, discussing how they were used and the pilots who flew them.

The skies over Europe during World War I saw a uniquely modern contest for tactical and technological supremacy. Each new strategy or invention by the Allies or Central Powers quickly brought a deadly response from the other. Each innovation was tested in the air by combat pilots who were gambling with their lives. At times with a life expectancy of only 21 flying days, the pilots became the most enduring legend of the War.Eric and Jane Lawson present a unique treatment of the air actions of World War I as a single grand campaign, with the balance of power shifting back and forth with each new weapon or tactic.World War I broke out in August 1914, only 11 years after the Wright brothers’ first airplane flight. The warring nations assembled makeshift air forces of civilian aircraft flown by amateur pilots, largely for reconnaissance purposes.By the end of 1915 haphazard observation, hand-dropped bombs, and pilots occasionally shooting at each other with carbines and begun to give way to specialized air squadrons, specially designed aircraft, bomb racks, aerial cameras and mounted machine guns.By war’s end long-range bombing, rudimentary aircraft carriers, rocket - and cannon - armed planes, radios, ground-attach tactics, and other features of modern warfare had made an appearance. Eric and Jane Lawson maintain focus on the human dimension of the conflict. The most important commanders and pilots are examined, as well as groundbreaking coverage of the first African-American combat pilot, the first women to fly military missions, and Fiorello LaGuardia’s days as an Italian bombardier. Billy Mitchell’s image as an advocate of air power is balanced with a detailed account of his role in the St. Mihiel offensive, in which he assembled the war’s largest air armada, made up of American, British, French, and even Italian aircraft.The First Air Campaign features a fast paced narrative supplemented by detailed information on unit organization and aircraft performance and innovated new maps illustrating the first attempts to apply the principles of war to aerial maneuver. Also included are unique war-time photographs, some not seen in 75 years, and specially-prepared charts, available nowhere else, graphically portraying the ever-changing balance of air power throughout the war.

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(view table of contents)