Reconnaissance And Bombwe Aces Of World War 1

Reconnaissance and Bomber Aces of World War 1

Jon Guttman, Aircraft of the Aces 123, Published by Osprey, ISBN 978-1-78200-801-9, £13.99

Although we tend to associate WWI flying aces with gaudily decorated single seat scouts dogfighting and preying on seemingly defenceless plodding two-seater aircraft, this volume goes a long way to redressing this assumed imbalance. Although it remains true that most ‘aces’ were fighter pilots, there were ace crews flying two-seat reconnaissance and bomber aircraft that were more than able to defend themselves and gain ‘kills’ in the process.

This book is well written by a leading WWI aviation historian and tracks the accomplishments of some of those men who flew in the air forces of the major combatants. Like the other titles in this series, this volume contains a revealing and sometimes gripping snapshot of their service lives, backed by a strong selection of photographs and inspiring colour plates of some of the aircraft they flew. In other words, perfect source material for the wargamer. Given the huge increase in interest for WWI air combat gaming, largely thanks to the Wings of War/Glory models and game system, this book could ignite the interest in the less popular two-seaters enabling them to play a more prominent (or even dominant) role in future games.

As with all of Osprey’s Aircraft of the Aces series books, this new publication comes very highly recommended.

Tim Beresford

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