The Great War in the air
Subtitle: military aviation from 1909 to 1921
By: John H. Morrow, Jr.
Series: Smithsonian history of aviation history; Smithsonian history of aviation series.
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press
Published: 1993
Place of publication: Washington
Language: eng
Number of pages: 458
Subjects: World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations.
Description: Although World War I was fought and won in the trenches, aviation emerged as the most advanced and innovative technological arm of battle, epitomizing the new total warfare as it meshed the front and the rear, the military and the civilian. The Greai War in the Air is a comprehensive study of the development and significance of airpower during World War I. This history compares military, political, technological, industrial, and cultural aspects of airpower in the greater combatant powers (France, Germany, and England) and the lesser powers (Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the United States). Geared to both general readers and scholars, The Great War in the Air penetrates the heroic veneer of the fighter pilots' exploits, using autobiographical and biographical material to discuss the aviators' lives - the thrills, the risks, the stresses - and their attitudes toward aerial combat.

Starting in 1909 with the beginnings of military aviation and the aviation industry and ending with their catastrophic postwar contraction, the book examines the totality of the air war: its heroism, romantic myths, politics, strategies, and cost in men and materiel. John H. Morrow, Jr., also elaborates on the advancements in aircraft and engine technology and production during airpower's development into a viable and threatening military weapon within a decade of its origins.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 423-442) and index.