[WWI] (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Acosta, Kenneth J CTR MDA/DTC]

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED 
Caveats: NONE

Hi Matt-
Sorry to enter the fray so late, but I thought I'd share a couple that I
hadn't seen mentioned yet.

- Wooden Crates and Gallant Pilots by Stuart Elliott - Great account of
the pilots' training path and flying/living conditions on the front.
- Flying Minnows by Roger Vee (pen name of Vivian Voss) - Brisfits in
combat.  Very interesting autobiography.

Both highly recommended.

As for Canvas Falcons, it was one of the first books I read when I
started getting real interested in WWI aviation 6 or 7 years ago.  Even
in my neophyte stage, I couldn't miss all the inaccuracies.  I thought,
"If these obvious points are wrong, what else in this book is wrong?"  I
didn't trust it as a historical reference, so I couldn't enjoy it.  Too
much other great stuff out there.
FWIW-
Ken A.


Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2006 12:23:30 -0400
From: "Matt Kessler" <mkessler1 at cinci.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [WWI] What's your favorite OT memoir?
To: "'World War I Modeling Mailing List'" <wwi at wwi-models.org>
Message-ID: <000701c6d03e$759708a0$dbfc4347 at mtkessler>
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Wow!  Thanks for all the replies!  Looks like I've got a slew of good
books to go hunting for!  Thanks much!

I am surprised to see Longstreet's Canvas Falcons show up though.  I've
got that book, and it always felt sort of "pulpy".  That being said,
I've tried several times to find something he says that is a flat-out
creation, and I can't.  Well, other than the Red Baron being downed in
an Albatros.

To Ernest Thomas:
Amazingly enough, I've got Graves' book on the shelf here, and I've read
Trumbo.  Trumbo's work was very, very good.  Definitely not a book for
someone looking for something uplifting, but it does cast a certain
perspective on the absurdity of war.

To Michael Kendix:
I'll have to look up Sassoon's book.  I was relatively unfamiliar with
him until I saw the movie "Behind the Lines" (which also had an
alternate title which I can't remember), which I am guessing was a
fictionalized account of Sassoon's time in the shell-shock ward during
his protest against the war.
If you haven't seen it, I thought it was a very powerful film, with some
very vivid, if disturbing, images.  Anyway, it got me looking and led me
to some of Sassoon's poems.

Thanks again,
Matt


Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED 
Caveats: NONE