Why am I passionate about this?
My father was a pilot in WW2 and I learned to fly in Africa when I was 17. Subsequently I flew biplanes, some of them like the ones in these books, made of wood, glue, and fabric. Since childhood, I've been fascinated by flying in WW1. It was a time of incredible change. The dawn of aviation, when designers and pilots barely understood what they were doing. Biographies written at the time are typically laconic, “emotionally repressed” might be modern. So these novels help us understand today some of those stresses and joys of these remarkable adventurers who dared to undertake what mankind had never done before; fight in the heavens.
Iain's book list on WW1 flying that takes you into the skies
Why did Iain love this book?
Smith served in WW2 in the RAF and is more famous for his 633 Squadron series set in WW2, which coincidentally is one of the best WW2 flying movies. The flying scenes are as good as they get, the aircraft details and performance are accurate, the plot twisting, and the love relationships are…complicated. But in this book, you will identify with the hero and find yourself rooting for him as he battles Germans in the air and an enemy in his own squadron while on the ground. Gripping and fast-moving.
1 author picked A Killing for the Hawks as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
Spring 1917, the Western Front...
When Norman McConnell, a young and eager American joins 55a Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps in Flanders, he is immediately captivated by the charm of his commanding officer, John Seymour — the handsome, aristocratic and brilliant flyer whose ever-increasing bag of enemy aircraft is fast making him the toast of the RFC.
Then McConnell falls in love with Helen, Seymour’s wife, and finds another, darker side to his hero’s character — a man who glories in killing and who wants women to scream out in pain as he makes love to them...
Now, as…