Royal Air Force & Australian Flying Corps Squadron Losses: 1st April - 30th June 1918 (Royal Air Force & Australian Flying Corps Squadron Losses 1918 - 1939) - Softcover

Chorley, W R

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1911255266 ISBN 13: 9781911255260

Publisher: Mention the War Ltd, 2018

Synopsis

Bill Chorley's 'RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War' has long been the authoritative source of information about the casualties suffered by aircrew in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany in that conflict. Bill has now turned his researching and writing skills to the earlier air war in Europe, that in the last few months of the Great War. The Royal Air Force was formed on 1st April 1918, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. Flying alongside the RAF were the squadrons of the Australian Flying Corps, forming a bond of alliance that persists to this day. Life in the air was nasty, brutish and short for all too many of the aircrew. At the worst times, their life expectancy was no more than a few days. Not only were they flying in aircraft of wood and canvas, rudimentary and often difficult to fly by today's standards, but they were faced with a determined, well-armed adversary who was equally capable in technological and operational terms. Men and machines fell to earth by the hundreds, brought down by enemy fire, mechanical failure or because the skills required to fly them in the prevailing conditions were momentarily too much for the less-experienced pilots who simply never got the chance to master their trade. Bill Chorley's great new work brings to the reader the details of all recorded casualties of these two powerful air forces, and serves as a tribute to those who gave their lives, often in the most awful of circumstances, a century ago. Volume One covers the first three months of the RAF's existence, 1st April to 30th June 1918, whilst Volume Two takes the reader to the end of the First World War on 11th November 1918.

About this title

About the Author:

Bill Chorley was born in June 1936 in Taunton, Somerset. After his education at Ilminster Grammar School, He undertook a three-year apprenticeship in commercial sales, before spending six years in the Royal Air Force. His service, in the late Fifties, was spent in ground communications roles. Leaving the RAF, Bill then pursued a career in the Ministry of Defence until his retirement. Bill started writing squadron histories in the 1970s, with In Brave Company (158 Squadron), followed by To See the Dawn Breaking (76 Squadron). In 1991, Bill started compiling the authoritative series of volumes, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War. The series is still in steady demand by researchers the world over. Royal Air Force and Australian Flying Corps Squadron Losses 1st April -30th June 1918 is the first volume in a series detailing all losses of RAF aircraft in squadron service from the Great War until World War Two. Bill lives in Dorset with his wife and son and, when not engaged in research, is a keen bridge player and photographer, assisted by the expertise of his son.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mention the War Ltd
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1911255266
• ISBN 13: 9781911255260
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 335