The United States entered WWI very unprepared for the conflict. It had to build up an army from nearly nothing and equip it with modern weapons. The same could be said for the US Air Service as well. Woefully lacking in modern combat planes, America's pilots had to use those made or designed elsewhere.

Fortunately, there was a cadre of experienced pilots who had been fighting with the Allies in various other forces for a number of years. A training syllabus was established and trainee pilots were provided the needed instruction at training fields in France. To say that the US was beholden on the French for both training and equipment would not be too far fetched. Finally, the first squadron was ready for combat by March of 1918.

Their first combat aircraft were the Nieuport 28, a sleek looking aircraft that had been rejected for French service, but was available in the numbers needed. The Nieuport 28 had a rather nasty habit of shedding the fabric from the upper wing in a dive, a result of poor quality control at the Nieuport factory. However, like many other aircraft over the ages, its success in battle depended as much on the person flying it as it did on the machine itself. Starting off in a quiet sector around Toul to gain experience, the unit was battle tested at Chateau Thierry in July of 1918, acquitting itself well. It is from actions here and again at St. Mihiel and the Argonne that names like Rickenbacker and Luke became house hold names in the US. The unit went on to transition to the superb Spad XIII, where it increased its effectiveness and score against the enemy's outstanding Fokker D.VII.

Author Jon Guttman takes us through the faltering starts and later the more intense battles against some of the best that the German Fliegerkorps had to offer. Chock full of superb period photos of both the men and their machines, this is further enhanced by the quality profiles of artist harry Demspsey, who specializes in WWI fighter aircraft.

This all equates to the best book on the subject that I have read. A riveting account of the early days of US aerial combat and a book that I can most highly recommend to you.

June 2008

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