Jon Guttman "The Grime Reapers -French Escadrille 94"

[Bruno Sch]

“Grime Reapres – French Escadrille 94 in World War I”
Jon Guttman
Aeronaut Books ISBN 978-1-935881-40-7
104 photos, 7 in color and 16 color profiles

There is a number of authors who write books about the flying units in the 1st World War, but only a handful of these authors had the fortune to meet the men who flew the aircrafts of these unites.
However, this made the different!

Jon is one of the aviation historians who had the fortune to meet these old pilots and interviewing the former members of the French aviation service.

I know from my own experience how it is to sit beside an old pilot, looking in his face and hear his memories, told with so much emotion and even using the hands and feet. In this moment, you step into another world...

I always enjoyed Jon’s excellent articles of the French Escadrilles in the old Cross & Cockade and in Over the Front in which he was able to transform the memories and feelings of the old flyers into his writing.

Now Aeronaut Books published his book on the French Escadrille 94 “The grime reapers” and he did an excellent job!

Based on his personal interviews with Escadrille members like André Matenot de Cordoux and Pierre Chan, as well as the memories of descendants of former pilot and well-selected written material, the history of Escadrille 94 comes alive.

The book represent a complete story of the units enriched with the personal memories of former pilots. The book includes excellent color profiles and many interesting facts.

I hope that this will be the beginning of a series about the French Escadrilles of the 1st World War.
I recommend this book for all aviation historians as a must.

Bruno Schmäling

[max schnell]

I enjoyed it also. Not many books on the French during WW1. This helps fill the gap.

[CjBobrow]

Originally Posted by max schnell

I enjoyed it also. Not many books on the French during WW1. This helps fill the gap.

Posted in the Book Review Section...

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=65992

[Germanophile-1]

This book was also reviewed in the Summer 2016 issue of Over the Front:

Grim Reapers - French Escadrille 94 in World War I by Jon Guttman, Aeronaut Books, Indio, CA, 2016, 94 pp., 8½” x 11”, soft cover, black & white and color photographs, aircraft profile and detail views, documents copies, appendices and end notes; ISBN 978-1-935881-40-7; $29.99; publisher’s website: www.aeronautbooks.com

It is fair to say that this history of Escadrille 94, the latest work by League member Jon Guttman, has been some 40 years in the works. As evidence, a 1978 photo shows him in France, visiting Escadrille 94 member André Martenot de Cordoux, who provided many first-hand facts and observations about the unit. An eight-victory ace, Martenot de Cordoux flew with the escadrille during nearly its entire wartime service. The Frenchman’s story paralleled the unit’s activities -- and Jon gathered that history in a conversational style that invites readers’ attention.

The basic story draws on research notes provided to Jon Guttman by a noted 1914-1918 aviation history Francophile, the late F.W. (Bill) Bailey. The author developed family and other contacts to a variety of Escadrille 94 members, who provided him with further personal information and photos to augment his extensive research.

As noted in the foreword, Escadrille 94 “was neither the highest nor lowest scoring of France’s World War I fighter squadrons, but it made a significant contribution to [the] Allied victory and boasted several aces in its ranks, as well as several American volunteers … [via] the Lafayette Flying Corps …” Indeed, the unit’s exceptional “ordinariness” makes its history so interesting. As so aptly put by André Martenot de Cordoux: “[Escadrille] 94 gave a very honorable account of itself by the time of the Armistice …”

That honorable account is well served by Jon Guttman’s extensive research (including gathering over 100 pertinent photos and comprehensive appendices, as well as writing informative sidebars about French and German adversaries) and obtaining 16 detailed color profiles by Bob Pearson. The superb color cover by Steve Anderson depicts the 20th victory of Escadrille 94’s highest-scoring ace, Sous-lieutenant Pierre Marinovich.

French unit histories in English are hard to find -- although a recent example is Jon’s lengthy article in the Spring 2016 issue of Over the Front. And few are done on as grand a scale as the stand-alone publication of Grim Reapers - French Escadrille 94 in World War I. It is recommended highly.

-- P.K.