First Volume in a New Series Published

JackH · 27 November 2017, 10:36 AM

Today Aeronaut Books published the first volume in a new series. The Great War's Finest is a new series about the operational history of the German Air Service and Volume 1 covers 1914 on the Western Front; a total of 6 books in the series is expected.

Author Matt Bowden has covered the creation, organization, and operational history of the Fliegertruppe over the Western Front in 1914 in unprecedented detail and describes the relationship between German air and ground forces during the war's dramatic first months. Lavishly illustrated, Volume 1 includes 35 color maps, 165 photos and postcards, 72 of which are in color, and several color profiles of 1914 German reconnaissance airplanes in its 378 pages. Extensive order of battle information and other important data are summarized in the appendices.

With so much attention focused on fighter aviation, the fact that reconnaissance was aviation's most important role in WWI is often overlooked. This landmark series addresses that deficiency for German aviation.

All the best,
Jack Herris

Pedro Ramis · 27 November 2017, 11:05 AM

Congratulations to you and Matt Bowden...as you said, this is an area that suffers huge gaps.
This one will certainly be the next one I'll purchase in early December (this very week-end). Great job

jsontag · 27 November 2017, 11:08 AM

Jack, this is gonna be awesome. Thank you for doing this. Is it available on Amazon yet? Can't wait for the Jasta 23 book to.

MBowden23 · 28 November 2017, 05:10 AM

It appears to now be available here in the USA

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Wars-Fi...ds=matt+bowden

JackH · 28 November 2017, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsontag

Jack, this is gonna be awesome. Thank you for doing this. Is it available on Amazon yet? Can't wait for the Jasta 23 book to.

Glad you are excited about this. It is now available from Amazon in the US.

All the best,
Jack

await · 29 November 2017, 11:04 AM

I've ordered my copy. I'll be very interested in reading in greater detail about German reconnaissance in the early days of the conflict when it was still a war of movement and of the changes that ensued with the transition to static warfare.

await · 10 December 2017, 10:50 PM

I now have this book in hand and have given it a quick overview. It is really very well written and provides a nicely detailed account of the first months of the war on the Western Front and the role of German aviation.

It's also beautifully illustrated, the images covering both the ground war and the air war, as well as certain leading figures. It appears that Matt Bowden is an avid collector of postcards, as these appear in good number, both in black and white and color. They vividly convey the spirit of the time.

There are also a large number of color maps showing both the disposition of ground forces and the locations of the various Feldflieger-Abteilungen. I've collected quite a few maps and war atlases in English, French, and German - published both during the war and in subsequent decades - so this is a feature I can readily appreciate.

A few color aircraft profiles are included - a pair of Aviatiks, an Albatros B.I, and a Pfalz "Parasol."

I have often thought that someone should write a book of some length concerning the German air service as a whole (not just Jagdstaffeln) during WWI in English with greater focus on its operational history. Up to now we've had only John H. Morrow, Jr.'s German Air Power in World War I and Alex Imrie's short (and very useful) pictorial history of the army air service, as well as his slim pictorial book on the naval air service. There's also Cuneo's first volume of Winged Mars, covering German aviation up to 1914 (which I don't have).

This is but the first volume in what is to be a series of books on the subject. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

Pedro Ramis · 2 January 2018, 09:04 AM

If I can make a wish, I'll ask if it would be possible to give us a table of contents with the sub-chapters included. That will help a lot finding quickly the relevant part when re-reading.

Pedro

Barrett · 10 January 2018, 02:23 PM

Long ago I found an obscure source identifying some/all of the Taube (?) crew(s) responsible for the strategic intel at Tannenberg. Will be interested to see the coverage in this volume or series.

In any case, looks like a must pump for GW aerophiles.

MBowden23 · 10 January 2018, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrett

Long ago I found an obscure source identifying some/all of the Taube (?) crew(s) responsible for the strategic intel at Tannenberg. Will be interested to see the coverage in this volume or series.

In any case, looks like a must pump for GW aerophiles.

will certainly be included in my Eastern Front volume