Introduction
1 Source: Henshaw, Trevor: The Sky their Battlefield
2 For these statistics see Pisano et al., Legend, Memory and the Great War, p.75
3 Johns W. E. Popular Flying, June 1936
4 Johns W. E., ‘The White Fokker’, The Camels are Coming. The paragraph quoted here differs very slightly (but interestingly) from the original version that appeared in the April 1932 number of Popular Flying under Johns’s pen-name, William Earle.
5 Ellis P. B. & Williams P., By Jove, Biggles!, p.178
6 Hyde, Andrew P., The First Blitz, p.16
7 Clark, Alan, Aces High, p.14
Chapter 1
8 Dangerfield, George, The Strange Death of Liberal England, pp.249–50
9 ibid, p.226
10 Turnill, Reginald & Reed, Arthur, Farnborough: The Story of RAE, p.41
11 Grinnell-Milne, D. W., Wind in the Wires, quoted in Bruce, J. M., British Aeroplanes 1914–1918, p.378
12 Stoney, Barbara, Twentieth Century Maverick, p.57
13 ibid, p.230
14 Clark, Alan, Aces High, pp.113–14
15 Murphy, Justin D., Weapons and Warfare, Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918, pp.90–1
16 Hanson, Neil, First Blitz, p.232
17 Stoney, Twentieth Century Maverick, p.109
18 Murphy, Weapons and Warfare, p.91
19 Malcolm Cooper gives 22,000 aircraft and 300,000 personnel for 1918, but by then the RAF was expanding rapidly and the date of the statistics is significant. See Cooper, Malcolm, The Birth of Independent Air Power, p.xv
Chapter 2
20 Strange, Louis A., Recollections of an Airman, pp.21–2 (with some editorial shortening)
21 Shute, Nevil, Slide Rule, pp.35–6
22 Turnill & Reed, Farnborough, p.31
23 Fokker, Anthony & Gould, Bruce, Flying Dutchman, p.49
24 See Berriman, A. E., ‘Parke’s Dive’, Flight, 31st August 1912, pp.787–789
25 Hadley, Dunstan, Only Seconds to Live, p.67
26 Lewis, Cecil, Sagittarius Rising, p.41
27 See Barnett, Correlli, The Collapse of British Power, p.86
28 Johnstone, E. G., in Naval Eight: A History of No. 8 Squadron RNAS, pp.115–16
29 See www.3squadron.org.au/subpages/RE8.htm
30 Statistics from Henshaw, Trevor: The Sky their Battlefield, p.576
31 Quoted in Kilduff, Peter, Black Fokker Leader, p.72
32 Yeates, V. M., Winged Victory, p.25
33 Bruce, British Aeroplanes 1914–1918, p.574
34 See John Thompson of Northern Aeroplane Workshops www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2008/05/09/sopwith_camel_batley_feature.shtml
Chapter 3
35 Quoted in Hughes-Hallett, L., The Pike, p.380
36 Published in the September 1909 issue of the periodical The Nineteenth Century and After
37 Veale, S. E., Guide to Flying, p.3
38 Quoted in Turnill & Reed, Farnborough, p.40
39 Neumann, Georg Paul, The German Air Force in the Great War, p.54
40 See Kulikov, Victor, Russian Aces of World War I, p.8
41 Strange, Recollections of an Airman, p.218
42 See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fieseler_Fi_156.
43 Strange, op. cit., pp.112–14 (lightly edited)
44 Woodman, Harry, Early Aircraft Armament, p.171
45 Lee, Arthur Gould, No Parachute, p.123
46 Quoted in Reynolds, Quentin, They Fought for the Sky, p.18
Chapter 4
47 Compston, R. J. O., in Naval Eight, pp.95–6
48 Lewis, Sagittarius Rising, pp.140-1
49 See Barnett, Correlli, The Collapse of British Power, p.112
50 Lee, No Parachute, p.84
51 Lewis, op. cit., p.96
52 Lewis, ibid, p.114
53 Neumann, The German Air Force in the Great War, p.195
54 Lee, Gould, Arthur, Open Cockpit, p.168
55 ibid, p.169
56 Johns, W. E., The Modern Boy, 5th December 1931
57 Wortley, Rothesay Stuart, diary entry for 25th January 1915, Letters from a Flying Officer, p.46
58 Neumann, The German Air Force, p.243
59 Cameron, Ian, Wings of the Morning, p.150
60 ‘Night-Hawk M.C’ [W. J. Harvey], Rovers of the Night Sky, pp.17–18
61 Jones, H., The War in the Air, Vol. III p.42; quoted in Kilduff, Peter, Billy Bishop VC, p.51
62 Ellis P. B. & Williams P., By Jove, Biggles!, pp.70–1
63 ibid. (quoting Johns, W. E., in Popular Flying, May 1932)
64 Ellis & Williams, op. cit., p.69 (quoting Johns in Popular Flying, May 1935)
65 Lee, Open Cockpit, p.38
66 Draper, Major C., in Naval Eight, p.62. The dead pilot’s name was C. R. Walworth, the date of his death 18th February 1918.
Chapter 5
67 Quoted in Pisano et al., Legend, Memory and the Great War in the Air, p.79
68 Hanson, First Blitz, p.58
69 Quoted in Nahum, Andrew, The Rotary Aero Engine, p.22
70 Fokker & Gould, Flying Dutchman, p.62
71 Yeates, Winged Victory, p.84
72 Lee, Open Cockpit, pp.23–4
73 Ellis & Williams, By Jove, Biggles!, p.34
74 War Office, Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire in the Great War
75 Clark, Aces High, p.77
76 Rippon, T. S. & Manuel, E. G., ‘Report on the Essential Characteristics of Successful and Unsuccessful Aviators’, The Lancet, 28th September 1918.
77 Wortley, Letters from a Flying Officer, p.165
78 Ellis & Williams, By Jove, Biggles!, p.34
79 Lee, Arthur Gould, No Parachute, p.23
80 Grider, John MacGavock, War Birds, pp.51 et seq.
81 Bruce, British Aeroplanes, p.191
82 Ellis & Williams, By Jove, Biggles!, p.40
83 Quoted in Barker, Ralph, The Royal Flying Corps in World War I, p.27
84 Quoted in Penrose, Harald, British Aviation. The Great War & Armistice, p.213
85 Maclennan, Roderick Ward, The Ideals and Training of a Flying Officer, p.12
86 ibid, p.77
87 ibid, p.93
88 Yeates, Winged Victory, p.273
89 De Havilland, Geoffrey, Sky Fever, p.65
90 Strange, Recollections of an Airman, p.158
Chapter 6
91 Lee, Open Cockpit, pp.57–8
92 Stark, Rudolf, Wings of War, p.78
93 Mattioli, Guido, Mussolini aviatore e la sua opera per l’aviazione, p.22
94 Sassoon, Siegfried, ‘The Child at the Window’, Collected Poems
95 Wortley, Letters from a Flying Officer, p.83
96 Oberleutnant Dyckhoff, in Neumann, German Air Force, p.423
97 Lewis, Sagittarius Rising, p.137
98 Nordhoff, Charles & Hall, James, Falcons of France, p.85
99 Yeates, Winged Victory, p.330
100 Anderson, H. G. et al., The Medical and Surgical Aspects of Aviation, p.24
101 Johns, W. E., ‘The Last Show’ in The Camels Are Coming, p.191
102 Rippon, T. S. & Manuel, E. G., ‘Report on the Essential Characteristics of Successful and Unsuccessful Aviators’, The Lancet, 28th September 1918.
103 Strange, Recollections of an Airman, p.169
104 Bishop, William A., Winged Warfare, p.146
105 ibid, p.150
106 Reynolds, Quentin, They Fought for the Sky, p.176
107 Bishop, Winged Warfare, p.38
108 Lewis, Sagittarius Rising, pp.231–2
109 Stark, Wings of War, pp.54–5
110 Quoted in Naval Eight, p.32
111 Strange, Recollections of an Airman, p.86
112 Westerman, Percy F., Winning his Wings, pp.90–1
113 Lee, No Parachute, p.197
114 Nordhoff & Hall, Falcons of France, p.215
115 Stark, Wings of War, pp.108–9
116 Wortley, Letters from a Flying Officer, p.118
117 Johns, W. E., Popular Flying, May 1932
118 Lee, No Parachute, p.208
Chapter 7
119 Compston, R. J. O., in Naval Eight, p.83
120 Wortley, Letters from a Flying Officer, p.153
121 See www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18309913
122 Franks, Norman, Sharks among Minnows, p.41
123 Bishop, Winged Warfare, p.116
124 Kilduff, Billy Bishop VC, p.71
125 Reynolds, They Fought for the Sky, p.81
126 Mackenzie, C. R., in Naval Eight, p.197
127 quoted in Kilduff, op. cit., p.133
128 Hanson, First Blitz, p.58
129 Morris, A., Bloody April, p.15
130 Franks, Sharks among Minnows, p.113
131 Kilduff, Black Fokker Leader, p.8
132 Quoted in McAllister, Hayden, ed., Flying Stories
133 Kilduff, Black Fokker Leader, p.21
134 Halliday, Hugh, Valour Reconsidered: Inquiries into the Victoria Cross, p.145
135 Bishop, Winged Warfare, pp.221–2
136 Alex Revell, www.billybishop.net/bishopP.html
137 Kilduff, Billy Bishop VC
Chapter 8
138 Lee, Open Cockpit, p.59
139 Neumann, The German Air Force in the Great War, p.125
140 Alder, J. Elrick, ‘Some Notes on the Medical Aspect of Aviation’, in Hamel, Gustav & Turner, Charles C., Flying, p.336
141 Quoted in Seibert, E. G., ‘The Effects of High Altitudes upon the Efficiency of Aviators’, The Military Surgeon, vol. 42, p.145
142 Birley, J. L., ‘War Flying at High Altitudes’, The Lancet, 5th June 1920.
143 ibid.
144 The Chronicles of 55 Squadron, pp.29–30
145 British Medical Journal, 27th April 1918, p.487
146 Neumann, The German Air Force in the Great War, pp.141–2
147 ibid. pp.163–4
148 The March 1917 issue of Flying advertised Sidcot suits for eight guineas from Robinson & Cleaver Ltd in Regent Street with the slogan ‘Keeps you warm at 20,000 feet up’.
149 Wyllie, H., Imperial War Museum, 84/5/1, entry of 30th March 1916
150 Anderson et al., The Medical and Surgical Aspects of Aviation, pp.199–200
151 Wortley, Letters from a Flying Officer, p.189
152 Gibson, T. M., ‘The genesis of medical selection tests for aircrew in the United Kingdom’, RAF Historical Society Journal, No. 43, p.11
153 Silbey, David, The British Working Class and Enthusiasm for War, 1914–1916, p.44
154 Beckett, I, ‘The Territorial Force’, in Beckett, Ian & Simpson, Keith, eds, A Nation in Arms, as quoted in DeGroot, Gerard J., Blighty (Longman, 1996), p.43
155 Rippon & Manuel, ‘Report on the Essential Characteristics of Successful and Unsuccessful Aviators’, The Lancet, 28th September 1918
156 Gilchrist, Norman S., ‘An Analysis of Causes of Breakdown in Flying’, British Medical Journal, 12th October 1918, pp.401–3
157 Stamm, L. E., ‘Medical Aspects of Aviation’, The Aeronautical Journal, Vol. XXIII, Jan. 1919
158 McWalter, J. C., letter to British Medical Journal, 7th November 1917
159 Coe, H. C., ‘The Flying Temperament’, editorial in The Military Surgeon, Vol. XLIII (1918).
160 Stamm, ‘Medical Aspects’
161 Rippon & Manuel, ‘Report on the Essential Characteristics’
162 Birley, J. L., ‘The Principles of Medical Science as Applied to Military Aviation’, The Lancet, 29th May 1920
163 Lewis, Sagittarius Rising, p.149
164 See Previc, F. H. & Ercoline, W. R., Spatial Disorientation in Aviation
165 Lee, Open Cockpit, p.130.
166 Draper, Major C., in Naval Eight, p.56
167 Bishop, W., Winged Peace, p.38
168 Anderson et al., The Medical and Surgical Aspects of Aviation, p.110
169 See Green, N. D. C., ‘The Fight Against G’, RAF Historical Society Journal, no. 43, pp.67–8
170 Lee, Open Cockpit, p.142.
171 Stamm, ‘Medical Aspects’
172 See ‘Injuries and Diseases of Aviation’, British Medical Journal, 11th March 1916, p.389
Chapter 9
173 Lee, No Parachute, pp.293–4
174 ibid, p.312
175 Penrose, British Aviation, p.271
176 ibid., p.57
177 ibid., p.308
178 Hamel, Gustav & Turner, Charles C., Flying, p.310
179 Barker, Ralph, The Royal Flying Corps in World War I (Robinson, 2002), p.313
180 ‘Vedrine’ (posting 24), www.theaerodrome.com/forum/other-wwi-aviation/54948-parachutes-3.html
181 Hartney, Harold Evans, Up and At ’Em, quoted in the above forum, posting no. 19
182 Anderson et al., The Medical and Surgical Aspects of Aviation, p.176
183 Reynolds, They Fought for the Sky, p.171
184 Haupt-Heydemarck, Georg Wilhelm, War Flying in Macedonia, p.131
185 Lee, No Parachute, p.95
186 Johns, W. E., ‘The Last Show’, The Camels are Coming
187 Dyson, Freeman, Disturbing the Universe, p.27
188 Quoted in Wortley, Letters from a Flying Officer, p.35
189 London Review of Books, 8th November 2012
Chapter 10
190 Mackay, Richard, The Royal Naval Submarine Service 1901–18
191 Quoted in The Times’ History of the War, Vol. vii, ch. cviii, p.1
192 Hanson, First Blitz, p.22
193 Blatchford, Robert, General von Sneak, p.53
194 The Times’ History of the War, Vol. vii, p.19
195 Wortley, Letters from a Flying Officer, p.115
196 Hanson, First Blitz, p.122
197 Quoted in Hanson, First Blitz, pp.134–5
198 Quoted in Hanson, First Blitz, p.59
199 Burge, Major C. Gordon, ed., The Annals of 100 Squadron, p.20
200 Quoted in Gibbs, N. H., History of the Second World War, Vol. 1, pp.553–4
201 Hine, Air Chief Marshal Sir Patrick, RAF Historical Society Journal, No. 57 (2014), p.151
Chapter 11
202 Lawrence, T. E., Seven Pillars of Wisdom, p.101
203 Johns, W. E., Popular Flying, October 1935, quoted in Ellis & Williams, p.29
204 Johns, W. E., Popular Flying, October 1938, quoted in ibid, p.32
205 Haupt-Heydemarck, War Flying in Macedonia, pp.53–4
206 See Kulikov, Russian Aces of World War I, p.46
207 Haupt-Heydemarck, War Flying in Macedonia, p.57
208 Quoted in ibid., p.170
209 La Gazetta del Popolo, 12th December 1914 (reprinted in Giulio Douhet, Le Profizie di Cassandra, p.244)
210 Neumann, The German Air Force in the Great War, pp.260–1
211 ibid., p.261
212 ibid., p.263
213 This author is particularly indebted to Ellis & Williams’s biography of W. E. Johns for the details of this episode.
214 Cecil Lewis, Sagittarius Rising, p.113