The Unsubstantial Air: American Fliers in the First World War

Hynes (Flights of Passage), a Princeton University emeritus professor of literature and a WWII marine pilot, vividly recreates the experience of flying in WWI. Relying mostly on primary accounts written by the conflict’s pilots, Haynes succeeds in painting a portrait of the elite of American society, who flocked to the new aviation technology that promised to make the impersonal experience of modern warfare compatible with older ideals of honor and duty. Haynes takes the reader from flight instruction in French, to parties in Paris, and finally to the cold, open cockpits of the primitive wood and wire aircraft flying over the trenches. The reader quickly becomes aware of the acute danger pilots faced—the narratives Haynes utilizes to tell the story often end abruptly with a terse account of a death due to a training accident, mechanical failure, or combat. It is a must read for anyone interested in aviation history, military history, and the American experience in the Great War. [em]Agent: Chris Calhoun, Chris Calhoun Agency. (Nov.) [/em]