The Great War in the Air: Military Aviation from 1909 to 1921

Aimed at the general reader as well as the specialist, Morrow's history of the development and significance of airpower during WW I will be considered definitive. He compares the military, technological and industrial aspects in the air services of the major powers--France, Germany, England, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, the U.S.--and reveals how, by means of superior production (particularly French aero-engine manufacture), the Allies prevailed in the air war. Extensively researched, the study traces the increasingly important role of aviation in the 1914-1918 conflict, first in rendering ground forces more effective through air reconnaissance and artillery observation and later in air-to-air combat, bombing and strafing. Morrow, a history professor at the University of Georgia, carries his narrative past the Armistice to describe the postwar demobilization of the air services and contraction of the aviation industry, highlighting the impact of the war on the future of air power. Photos. (May)