The Boy Airman: An Absolute Stranger to Fear - Hardcover

Richard Petty

9781473849051: The Boy Airman: An Absolute Stranger to Fear

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1473849055 ISBN 13: 9781473849051

Publisher: Pen & Sword Aviation, 2015

The life of many combatants in The Great War was often short and brutish. But there were choices for some. Taking to the air was an attractive alternative to the slime, stench and gore of the trenches. The prospect of flying in the Royal Navy, the Senior Service, Nelson's Navy, must have been irresistible to any adventurous teenager - the best aeroplanes on the best ships with the best sailors that ever existed - or so he might have been led to believe. The Royal Naval Air Service was sorely tested, and not necessarily by the enemy. The casualties of the sea and its perils, and of accident and mechanical failure, were catastrophic. But this critical battle between young pilots in their infant flying machines and unpredictable events forged the pathway for our modern conceits of war - missiles, drones, giant aircraft carriers, weapons of space. A hundred years ago a young pilot took illicit photographs with his pocket camera and left a personal account of his life at sea with his 'kite'. This book tells his story illustrated by his long-lost 'snaps'.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

"Biographies of common individuals in uncommon circumstances often provide the necessary micro-prospective needed to understand times of conflict. The Boy Airman is partly that...This text is interspersed with personal photos taken with a Kodak pocket camera. The quality of the photographs is quite remarkable, having been produced from Petty's original negatives. Petty had a master photo developer produce the prints seen in the book. They are among the best quality First World War photographs that this reviewer has seen. Hugh Petty's annotations of the scenes enabled his son to provide accurate descriptions of photographs of training and sea duty, and the hazards of each."--Over the Front

"...Some interesting shots confirm the 110hp Clerget was used in most rotary equipped trainers. The modified Avro 504 "K" N.6678 was a unique sight for me to view. I think anyone interested in the subject of WWI aviation or Naval vessels would find this book a jewel in their collection."--WWI in Plastic

About the Author:

Richard Petty is a London medical practitioner. He is the author of Plastic Surgery: Its Origins, an account of the life and works of the father of plastic surgery, Sir Harold Gillies.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.