America's First Air War Review

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(More customer reviews)Americans fliers served under their own and other countries' colors during World War I, establishing a notable combat record. Terry Treadwell summarizes the exploits of the pilots/aircrews that served in the U.S. Air Service, U.S. Naval and Marine Air Services along with such foreign units as the Lafayette Escadrille in this 2000 release from England's Airlife Publishing.
Treadwell's book, which runs to 167 pages of text, is more wide-ranging than the AMERICA'S FIRST AIR WAR title implies. The first 29 pages is devoted to America's early military efforts beginning with Civil War observation balloons followed by a chapter describing WW I's outbreak. Succeeding chapters describe American fliers in action from May 1916 to December 1917, the arrival and subsequent combat history of U.S. squadrons in Europe from January to September 1918, the war record of the U.S. Naval Service and the final months of the war. All in all, some 131 pages. Appendices including a long section reproducing American POW escape narratives take up the remaining 36 pages.
Though Treadwell does a fairly good job of relating the 'American fliers at war' story in those 131 pages, I thought he could have told that story better if he had trimmed some material. The chapter that recounts the outbreak of war, for example, goes into endless detail of various ship sinkings that bear little on the main story. Likewise, the 15 American POW narratives are such a small part of the overall story, you wonder why 38 pages needed to be devoted to them. Trim the ephemeral, emphasize the important elements.
One of the book's definite pluses is the selection of 200+ evocative photographs depicting fliers, aircraft, crash sites, etc.
In short, Treadwell's book is a good, well-illustrated overview of the American aviation effort in World War I. While I feel he could have made better use of his material, others may find AMERICA'S FIRST AIR WAR just fine, thank you very much! As for me: Recommended with some reservations.

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This fascinating pictorial study explains the main reasons why the US entered WWI and the violations by Germany that exacerbated the situation. Lavishly illustrated chapters cover the development of the US Air Service and the US Naval Air Service and their first use of aircraft in a combat situation. This pictorial essay highlights the personalities that emerged from the war. Contains original escape reports from USAS pilots and observers providing detailed insight into the conditions under which they were imprisoned.

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