Little more than 10 years after the first powered flight, aircraft were pressed into service in World War I. Nearly forgotten in the war's massive overall death toll, some 50,000 aircrew would die in the combatant nations' fledgling air forces.The romance of aviation had a remarkable grip on the public imagination, propaganda focusing on gallant air 'aces' who become national heroes. The reality was horribly different. MARKED FOR DEATH debunks popular myth to explore the brutal truths of wartime aviation: of flimsy planes and unprotected pilots; of burning 19-year-olds falling screaming to their deaths; of pilots blinded by the entrails of their observers.James Hamilton-Paterson also reveals how four years of war produced profound changes both in the aircraft themselves and in military attitudes and strategy. By 1918 it was widely accepted that domination of the air above the battlefield was crucial to military success, a realization that would change the nature of warfare for ever.
A compelling and fascinating account of aerial combat in World War I, revealing the terrible risks run by the men who fought and died in the world's first air war.
Little more than ten years after the first powered flight, aircraft were pressed into service in World War I. Yet the romantic image of gallant 'aces' belies the horrible reality of air warfare: of flimsy aircraft, of unprotected pilots with no parachutes; of burning 19-year-olds falling screaming to their deaths; of pilots freezing and disorientated as they flew across enemy lines.
In this unforgettable book, bestselling author James Hamilton-Paterson reveals the brutal truths of wartime aviation and shows how those four years of fighting in the air would change the nature of warfare forever.
'For its mix of clear-eyed history, myth-busting and gobsmacking derring-do it's hard to beat James Hamilton Patterson's Marked for Death' Nick Curtis, Book of the Year in the Evening Standard
