While images of dogfights between single seat fighters are etched into the lore of WWI in the air, the truth is that the majority of aircraft that participated in this conflict were two seaters. The original use of the airplane was for reconnaissance, so that planners could see just where the enemy was building up troops or had weapon emplacements.

Initially, everything was eyeballed and shortly later, the second crewman was carrying a camera to take photos. Then crews started carrying pistols or rifles to shoot at the guys on the other side who were doing the same thing. This evolved to machine guns and things just escalated from there. True, not all two seat types were strictly reconnaissance, and these planes were also fit with bomb racks for small bombs, but the primary job was to see what was going on along the other side of the front.

This book concentrates on the British side of things. It covers a variety of types; in fact I dare say all two seat planes that were used by the RFC, RNAS, and later RAF are included within. This includes the various iterations of the BE.2, FE2, Avro 540, FB5, 1 1/2 Strutter, FK8, DH4, DH9, RE8 and the F2B. Each page has two full page profiles with an upper/lower view of one plane in each major type. A small amount of information on each aircraft is provided with each profile. If the art work looks familiar, it is because the author was the main illustrator for Wingnut Wings.

The book is real eye candy for the WWI enthusiast and an interesting look back. It is a book that no WWI fan should be without. I highly recommend it.

May 2021

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