WAR IN THE AIR

 

 

 

Stephen Coonts

389 pages

ISBN:  0-7434-6452-4

Simon & Shuster/Pocket Books 1996

Appx.  $7.99 U.S.

 

Review by Michael Gawell

 

 

So here it is really hot on a July evening, and I am writing a book review.  Memo to self…get air conditioning.

 

Stephen Coonts is most noted for his Jake Grafton series of books, Flight of the Intruder, etc.  This book is not of that series, but a true account of aerial battle as it was conducted in the 20^th century.  The book itself while may not be breaking new ground is still an thrilling read, and it grabbed me from the start. 

 

The book consists of a series of chapters that are actually from other books.  Each is in the opinion of the author to be the best of it’s genre, and in it’s time period.  The series starts with a series of stories from books by some of the heroes of the First World War, and this is the true gem of this book.  Some of these books may be out of print, or generally difficult to find by the average person, and since they were written in their own time, it makes the words, and truths that were penned all the more valuable.   Here we have Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, America’s greatest ace from the First World War tells us of a time of flying for the camera to send back images from the front.  We have Arch Whitehouse telling us about fighting Zeppelins.

 

During the World War Two section, we have some of the most famous aces of the period tell us in their own words what it was like on a particular occasion to fight, and as in the case of Adolph Galland from his book The First and the Last  what it is like to get shot down.   There is no real editorial comment aside from some passing remarks from Stephen Coonts, and why he thought it was an important work.  He lets the work, and the passages speak for themselves.

 

These are stories not just of the fighter pilot, but of the bomber pilot, and not of just fighting, but of escape and evasion.  Take the passage of Hans Rudel, the most successful dive bomber pilot in the history of aerial warfare.  His is a story of what it is like to evade the Russians after a failed rescue attempt of a fellow stuka crew.

 

The book itself ends with the telling of the tale of the last ace of the 20^th century, Steven Ritchie, whom from this book I understand to be living just down the road from US-Aircraft.com HQ.

 

Each tells something of what it takes to be a pilot in combat, and the thoughts, the chances, the missteps, and circumstances that can either make or break a pilot on a given day.  It is not about the glory, but it speaks well of the men, and the exhilaration, as well as the exhaustion each goes through as they serve in a combat theater. 

 

If you want stories of what really goes through the mind of a pilot, and want to know what it was like to fly and fight, and not nesc. on the winning side, but for any nation, then this is a good place to start.  I heartily recommend this book to one and all.

 

If you would like to review a book on combat arms, aerial warfare, naval warfare, or any other subject dealing with the call to arms, please send your review to library@us-aircraft.com or mgawell@us-aircraft.com.  All submissions will be posted, and only edited for grammatical error.