The boy airman : an absolute stranger to fear / Richard Petty.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Petty, Richard, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1914-1918--Aerial operations, British.

World War, 1914-1918.

Great Britain. Royal Naval Air Service--Biography.

Great Britain.

Petty, Hugh Mortimer, 1898-1975.

Petty, Hugh Mortimer.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (209 pages) : illustrations, photographs

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

South Yorkshire, [England] : Pen & Sword Aviation, 2015.

Summary:

"The life of many combatants in The Great War was often short and brutish. But there were choices for some. Taking to the air was an attractive alternative to the slime, stench and gore of the trenches. The prospect of flying in the Royal Navy, the Senior Service, Nelson's Navy, must have been irresistible to any adventurous teenager--the best aeroplanes on the best ships with the best sailors that ever existed--or so he might have been led to believe. The Royal Naval Air Service was sorely tested, and not necessarily by the enemy. The casualties of the sea and its perils, and of accident and mechanical failure, were catastrophic. But this critical battle between young pilots in their infant flying machines and unpredictable events forged the pathway for our modern conceits of war--missiles, drones, giant aircraft carriers, weapons of space. A hundred years ago a young pilot took illicit photographs with his pocket camera and left a personal account of his life at sea with his 'kite.' This book tells his story illustrated by his long-lost snaps"--Publisher description.

Contents:

Intro

Acknowledgements

Foreword

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

List of Illustrations.

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed February 17, 2016).

ISBN:

9781473849068

1473849063

9781473849082

147384908X