The First of the Few; Fighter Pilots of the First World War

Generally speaking, the First World War was not one that lent itself to the romantic. For most of its participants, it was a war experienced in the tedium and mud of trench warfare, or in mighty warships sitting at anchor awaiting orders for the occasional sortie. Yet in the skies above the Western Front, groups of men fought a very different war, one often characterized by individual exploit and elements of chivalry that were lost in the battlefields below. In this book, Denis Winter examines the experiences of the pilots, the challenges they faced, and their efforts to cope with combat in a new medium. Winter's book follows the same pattern as that of Death's Men: Soldiers of the Great War, his earlier work examining the lives of men who fought on the Western Front. Through memoirs, manuals, and contemporary documents, he presents the rhythms of the aviator's experience, following them from their initial recruitment in England to their deployment to France. His focus is predominantly on the men of the Royal Flying Corps; the experiences of French and German aviators are only discussed to contrast them with those of their British counterparts or to illustrate a general point. The comparison is useful in setting out the uniquely British aspects of the aviator's service, such as the often amateurish approach the British took towards training the men to fly. More often, however, Winter lets the men speak for themselves, drawing liberally from firsthand accounts to convey the daily patterns of the air war, from the dawn patrol to the work of mechanics to prepare for the next day's activities. Winter's book makes for a nice complement to more traditional histories of air combat in the First World War. Its flaws are ones of omission, as its narrow focus on the pilots on the Western Front generally ignores the experiences of those who fought and flew in the many other theaters of the war. This is particularly regrettable given Winter's ability as a writer; the book is informative and easy to read, presenting the men's lives with a clarity and insight that would have been appreciated had it been applied to examining the challenges of air combat on other fronts. Nevertheless, Winter succeeds in providing a good study of what life was like for the pilots of the canvas biplanes that soared above the trenches of France and Belgium, one that is highly recommended for anyone seeking to learn more about them.

I read the first of the few. It was an excellent book and I really enjoyed it. My opinion is that if you wish to learn about the fighter aircraft of wolrd war one, this is the book for you. I learned a lot.

Hello, my name is Zach. I read an extrordanary book. It was about the aircraft and fighter pilots of The Great War, more commonly known as World War One. It was called the first of the few. The book was written by Denis Winter and published in 1982. These men all very interesting and brave from Great Britan, the United States, France, Italy, and Belguim fought against equally brave pilots from Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria in planes above the trenches. Planes such as the Britsh Sopwith Camel and Se5a, the French Nieport 24 and Spadxv, the German Fokker Eindicker and Fokker Dr1 were flow by Allied (Uk, France, USA etc.)and Cental Powers(Germany,Austria-Hungary etc.)pilots. The fighter planes were armed with Vickers, Maxum and Lewis machine guns. The Pilots would aim at the pilot or the flammible petrol tank in the enemey plane. There were other but less known planes that were bombers suchas the German Gotha Gv and the Britsh Handley Page. Heavey bombers like these were used to attack railroads and railway stations, factories, ship yards and other industrial sites vital to the war effort. Light Infatry attack bombers, unlike large heavey bombers had a small two to three man crew. These planes often had thick steel plates to protect against anti-aircraft machine gun fire. The crew member in the rear seat was a navigator and was equipted with a Lewis or Maxum machine gun. The German Airforce or Luffwafte made their pilots fly in Two seated aircraft before allowing them in one seated planes. The fighter plane of 1914 to 1918 had a few basic parts. the engine, usally in the front, the cockpit, the fuesulage and the tail. The Britsh had Rolls-Royce engines and the Germans had BMW made engines. Most propellers had two props on them.There were two main types of engines rotary in which the whole engine spins and stationary engines in which only the propeller and drive shaft spun. Most stationary engines were water cooled. The Sopwith Camel had a rotary engine while the SE5a had a water cooled stationary engine. For shooting down a certain number of planes down, pilots could become aces. Aces were experienced, quick witted, and had exellent reflexes. Many of these men were shorter, shy men who kept to themselves. The Britsh top ace was Edward Mannock with about sevety some kills. Remarkably, he was almost blind in one eye! The German top ace is probably the most famous aircraft pilot of all time after the Wright brothers, Manfred von Ritchtofen, better known as the Red Baron. He shot down 80 allied aircraft before he was killed in a dogfight was a Sopwith Camel in 1918. First on the French ace list, also with about 70 kills was Rene' Fonck. Eddie Rickenbacker the top gun from the USA, started flying at the age most officers looked for a desk job. Before the war, he was a race car driver and later the personal chauffeur to General "Black Jack" Pershing, commander of all american forces in Europe

I have just finished reading this book which was such a pleasure to read as it was so well researched and crafted. The writer is able to get into the spirit of the times and present a very real picture of what it was like to fly machines constructed from wood and canvas and fly without them without the the aid of parachutes. He gives a particularly vivid account of the perils of a dawn patrol, flying at 20,000ft without pressurized cabins, in open air cockpits where temperatures were sometimes -50c. In addition a pilot had to be fit in these conditions, perform complex aerobatics like the immlemen roll and have split second reflexes. It was particularly fascinating to read about the skills required to be an air ace. One had to master the art of deflection shooting that is knowing when to fire to hit a moving target. Few pilots mastered this skill. The greatest of aces such as Guneymer and Richthoven achieved kills with a minimum of ammunition usage. Under these conditions the average survival time for a debutant pilot was 17 hours in the air. However, the longer one flew the greater the survival odds: roghly double that of staying alive. One interesting point was the authors comparison of training between the English RFC and the German Luftwaffe. The German training was far longer and more thorough. The result was that the RFC had about 50% greater caualties than the Germans.One must add that the policy of the RFC was to attack the Germans behind enemy lines , whereas the Luftwaffes main aim was that of defence. One final note was the excellant chapter on flight maintenance. The Sopwith Camel for example required a fleet of skilled craftsmen of almost mediaeval ability to calibrate the wing struts and enable the plane to fly on even keel. The introduction of all metal momonplanes must havemade the job of aircraft fitter a much easier task. In summary a book to be highly recommended. I have only one complaint. Many of the air aces of the RFC described as British were in fact Canadian