Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 940
EAN num: 9781902304922
ISBN number: 1902304926
Label: Grub Street
Manufacturer: Grub Street
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 192
Printing Date: 2002-08
Publishing house: Grub Street
Sale Popularity Level: 1618986
Studio: Grub Street
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No sooner had the war in the air become more serious, more deadly, in early 1915, than both Allied and German airmen were trying to find a successful way of fighting each other in order for each side to stop the other making reconnaissance and artillery observation sorties over the opposition's side of the lines. Various ingenious schemes, which had limited success, were suddenly overshadowed by the arrival at the front in the summer of 1915 of the Fokker Eindecker, which had a synchronized machine gun firing through the whirling blades of the propeller.
Spread amongst German two-seater reconnaissance units in ones and twos, those disposed to flying these very first single-seater fighting aeroplanes, if they were successful, soon became famous and the very first aces of this new form of aerial warfare. Names such as Boelcke, Immelmann, Wintgens, Parschau, Mulzer, Höhndorf, Frankl and von Althaus quickly became the very first aces, the very first heroes to the German public and the very first winners of the coveted Pour le Mérite the famed Blue max.
These and other pilots of the single-seat monoplane fighters caused havoc amongst British and French airmen over the Western Front for just over a year, something history has called the 'Fokker Scourge'. Although comparatively small in numbers, these early fighter pilots were deadly when attacking lightly armed, almost defense-less British and French aeroplanes; they were truly 'sharks among minnows'.
Norman Franks has covered this period in detail, explaining how these early German fighter pilots achieved their kills, who they shot down and where, as well as covering their lives; for in most cases their lives were short. None of the early Fokker aces survived the war, bar one, and he died soon afterwards still serving his country. All were heroes and several of them died once they came up against 'sharks' of equal standing from the Allied side.
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Rated by buyers -
This book is not what I expected. The author just gives us a litany of "kills," without much of a unifying narrative to put some perspective on what is happening. With headings like "Mulzer's Eighth," and Guttermuth's First Victory," author just rambles on and on. The best parts of the book are the introduction and Chapter 11. I expected more from the author of "Under the Guns of the Red Baron." Something along the lines of "A Bloody Shambles" by Shores would better serve the period called The Fokker Scourge.
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