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A review by komet2020
Air of Battle by William M. Fry
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
AIR OF BATTLE is the author's account of his experiences as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) during World War I. (It was originally published in 1974, when Fry was nearly 80 years old. He would die in August 1992, age 95.)
Upon the outbreak of war in August 1914, William Fry was not quite 18 and working in a bank (for meager wages) in London. Eagerly he volunteered for service in the Army and after a spell of training, his unit (the London Rifle Brigade) was shipped to France, arriving there in November 1914. Within a short time, Fry's unit was involved in what later became known as the First Battle of Ypres, which stemmed the German drive to the English Channel and led to the trench warfare that would largely characterize ground combat on the Western Front for the remainder of the war. Fry would be one of the soldiers to experience first-hand the Christmas Truce of 1914 in which a number of British and German soldiers facing each other across the lines, would meet across no-man's-land on Christmas Day, sing carols, and suspend hostilities for 2 days. (The British high command frowned on this type of fraternization, which would not happen again in the war.)
By the spring of 1915, in response to a query made by a Member of Parliament about the number of underage soldiers (under 18 years of age) in France, Fry was one of 2 members of his unit who were sent back to the UK. Thereupon he applied on the sly for an officer's commission with the Somerset Light Infantry, was accepted, and spent the remainder of the year in training. That is, until December 1915, when Fry decided that it might be a good idea to join the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot or observer. He admits not to being enthusiastic about having to again face the mud and gore of the trenches. He had expressly requested to be trained as an observer. But somehow that request was ignored and Fry was put into a pilot training program. At that stage of the war, the RFC did not have a standardized flight training program. Training was a rather haphazard program in which flight instructors (most of them war-weary pilots who had seen extensive action in France) would take up a pilot trainee for a few flights in a two-seater aeroplane, maybe imparting to said trainee some sage advice as to how to fly the aeroplane. There were also, as Fry related, training courses in navigation, Morse Code, and a cursory introduction to the theory of flight and aircraft engines. From reading this section of the book, I gained a deep appreciation of the sheer guts any pilot trainee had to have in simply struggling to learn to fly. Some instructors were simply content to teach their charges enough flying simply to get the plane off the ground and land it safely. The prevailing expectation at that stage of the war was that the pilot trainee who survived his flight training would perfect his skills with a front-line unit in France. I was deeply impressed with the primitive nature of the training program for pilots, which typified the prevailing attitude among the RFC leadership to "teach them to fly and get them over to France ASAP."
Fry was assigned to a squadron in France in early summer 1916, flying the B.E.2c aeroplane nicknamed the "Quirk." It was a prewar aircraft that was easy to fly, but hardly suited for wartime operations. It had an unusual seating arrangement with the observer seated in the front seat (instead of the pilot) with the pilot sitting in the rear seat. Fry flew several bombing and reconnaissance missions above the lines and for some distance inside enemy territory. These were rather risky undertakings because it wasn't unusual for the B.E.2c to develop engine trouble at a very inopportune moment, which could lead to the crew being made to make a forced landing in either friendly or enemy territory. Plus, there was also the hazard of anti-aircraft fire and German fighters. In describing this stage of his wartime service, Fry comes across as a very self-effacing, modest person. In toto, he would serve at the Front with 3 squadrons (one of them a scout or fighter squadron) from June 1916 to February 1917. He considered himself one of the "lucky ones" because on average an RFC pilot at that time survived barely a week on active service in France. The air war was becoming more and more dangerous as tactics were developed and modified in response to the changing tempo of combat, and both sides were coming out with faster, more advanced, and better armed aircraft.
Fry's wartime experience is rather interesting because he went on to fly a variety of fighter planes in combat, which was not usual for an RFC (later Royal Air Force) fighter pilot in the war. He would also serve as a flight instructor in the UK and return to France in the latter part of 1917 with one of the few RFC fighter squadrons flying the SPAD, a robust and highly touted French-designed fighter plane that saw considerable action with French fighter units. He also shares with the reader much of what life at the Front was like, meeting some of the famous British, Canadian, and French fighter aces of the war.
By early 1918, Fry would be reassigned to another RFC unit, flying yet another fighter plane, the Sopwith Dolphin which was designed to be a solidly built aeroplane, suited for high attitude combat. That is, at heights above 15,000 ft. (Most aviators in World War I flew at high attitudes --- sometimes as high as 21,000 ft --- without oxygen, bundled up in heavy, bulky clothing. Some of them would smear their faces with whale oil in an effort to ward off the effects of extreme cold at those heights. Furthermore, Fry flew without a parachute, because parachutes were not issued to Allied pilots during the war. The higher command maintained that issuing pilots parachutes would disincentivize them from fighting to the utmost at the Front. Hence, no parachutes were allowed.)
Fry's war would end following a crash in late May 1918 after flying a mission over the lines. By then, he had been credited with shooting down 11 German planes in aerial combat.
For anyone wanting to get a real, tangible sense of what life at the Front (as well as among training and home based squadrons in the UK) was like for a combat aviator, AIR OF BATTLE is fantastic. Much of what Fry shares with the reader is informed by the logbook he kept during the war. There are also lots of photographs from Fry's wartime service that give added weight to what is a wonderful book.
Upon the outbreak of war in August 1914, William Fry was not quite 18 and working in a bank (for meager wages) in London. Eagerly he volunteered for service in the Army and after a spell of training, his unit (the London Rifle Brigade) was shipped to France, arriving there in November 1914. Within a short time, Fry's unit was involved in what later became known as the First Battle of Ypres, which stemmed the German drive to the English Channel and led to the trench warfare that would largely characterize ground combat on the Western Front for the remainder of the war. Fry would be one of the soldiers to experience first-hand the Christmas Truce of 1914 in which a number of British and German soldiers facing each other across the lines, would meet across no-man's-land on Christmas Day, sing carols, and suspend hostilities for 2 days. (The British high command frowned on this type of fraternization, which would not happen again in the war.)
By the spring of 1915, in response to a query made by a Member of Parliament about the number of underage soldiers (under 18 years of age) in France, Fry was one of 2 members of his unit who were sent back to the UK. Thereupon he applied on the sly for an officer's commission with the Somerset Light Infantry, was accepted, and spent the remainder of the year in training. That is, until December 1915, when Fry decided that it might be a good idea to join the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot or observer. He admits not to being enthusiastic about having to again face the mud and gore of the trenches. He had expressly requested to be trained as an observer. But somehow that request was ignored and Fry was put into a pilot training program. At that stage of the war, the RFC did not have a standardized flight training program. Training was a rather haphazard program in which flight instructors (most of them war-weary pilots who had seen extensive action in France) would take up a pilot trainee for a few flights in a two-seater aeroplane, maybe imparting to said trainee some sage advice as to how to fly the aeroplane. There were also, as Fry related, training courses in navigation, Morse Code, and a cursory introduction to the theory of flight and aircraft engines. From reading this section of the book, I gained a deep appreciation of the sheer guts any pilot trainee had to have in simply struggling to learn to fly. Some instructors were simply content to teach their charges enough flying simply to get the plane off the ground and land it safely. The prevailing expectation at that stage of the war was that the pilot trainee who survived his flight training would perfect his skills with a front-line unit in France. I was deeply impressed with the primitive nature of the training program for pilots, which typified the prevailing attitude among the RFC leadership to "teach them to fly and get them over to France ASAP."
Fry was assigned to a squadron in France in early summer 1916, flying the B.E.2c aeroplane nicknamed the "Quirk." It was a prewar aircraft that was easy to fly, but hardly suited for wartime operations. It had an unusual seating arrangement with the observer seated in the front seat (instead of the pilot) with the pilot sitting in the rear seat. Fry flew several bombing and reconnaissance missions above the lines and for some distance inside enemy territory. These were rather risky undertakings because it wasn't unusual for the B.E.2c to develop engine trouble at a very inopportune moment, which could lead to the crew being made to make a forced landing in either friendly or enemy territory. Plus, there was also the hazard of anti-aircraft fire and German fighters. In describing this stage of his wartime service, Fry comes across as a very self-effacing, modest person. In toto, he would serve at the Front with 3 squadrons (one of them a scout or fighter squadron) from June 1916 to February 1917. He considered himself one of the "lucky ones" because on average an RFC pilot at that time survived barely a week on active service in France. The air war was becoming more and more dangerous as tactics were developed and modified in response to the changing tempo of combat, and both sides were coming out with faster, more advanced, and better armed aircraft.
Fry's wartime experience is rather interesting because he went on to fly a variety of fighter planes in combat, which was not usual for an RFC (later Royal Air Force) fighter pilot in the war. He would also serve as a flight instructor in the UK and return to France in the latter part of 1917 with one of the few RFC fighter squadrons flying the SPAD, a robust and highly touted French-designed fighter plane that saw considerable action with French fighter units. He also shares with the reader much of what life at the Front was like, meeting some of the famous British, Canadian, and French fighter aces of the war.
By early 1918, Fry would be reassigned to another RFC unit, flying yet another fighter plane, the Sopwith Dolphin which was designed to be a solidly built aeroplane, suited for high attitude combat. That is, at heights above 15,000 ft. (Most aviators in World War I flew at high attitudes --- sometimes as high as 21,000 ft --- without oxygen, bundled up in heavy, bulky clothing. Some of them would smear their faces with whale oil in an effort to ward off the effects of extreme cold at those heights. Furthermore, Fry flew without a parachute, because parachutes were not issued to Allied pilots during the war. The higher command maintained that issuing pilots parachutes would disincentivize them from fighting to the utmost at the Front. Hence, no parachutes were allowed.)
Fry's war would end following a crash in late May 1918 after flying a mission over the lines. By then, he had been credited with shooting down 11 German planes in aerial combat.
For anyone wanting to get a real, tangible sense of what life at the Front (as well as among training and home based squadrons in the UK) was like for a combat aviator, AIR OF BATTLE is fantastic. Much of what Fry shares with the reader is informed by the logbook he kept during the war. There are also lots of photographs from Fry's wartime service that give added weight to what is a wonderful book.