The Millionaires Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys who Fought the Great War and Invented American Airpower
by By Wortman, Marc
Category: History , Military , United States

The Millionaires' Unit is the story of a gilded generation of young men from the zenith of privilege: a Rockefeller, a Taft, the son of the head of the Union Pacific Railroad, a son of J.P. Morgan's leading partner, and several who counted friends and relatives among presidents and statesmen of the day. Most were students at Yale in 1916, striving for rewards on the athletic fields, in school organizations, and in Skull & Bones. They had it all and, remarkably by modern standards, they were prepared to risk it all to fight a distant war in France.Driven by the belief that their membership in the American elite required certain sacrifices, schooled in heroism and the nature of leadership, they were determined to be first into the conflict, leading the way ahead of America's declaration that it would join the Great War in Europe. At the heart of the group was the Yale flying club, six of whose members are the heroes of this book. They would share rivalries over girlfriends, jealousies over membership in Skull & Bones, and fierce ambition to be the most daring young man over the battlefields of France, where the casualties among flyers were chillingly high.One of the six would go on to become the principal architect of America's first strategic bomber force. Another became the navy's only Air Ace. Others would bring home decorations and tales of the high life in Paris. Some would not return, having made the greatest sacrifice of all. The members of the Millionaires' Unit shared a stirring, romantic adventure - together growing from boys into leaders in the first terrible, modern war, putting their lives on the line because they believed in the cause and in the idea that it was their duty to do so.