004 Laugh or Fly: The Air War on the Western Front 1914 – 1918 Signed by authors! UK Sales Only!

A rip-roaring gallop through the lives of the Royal Flying Corps air crew in the Great War. They lived their lives amidst a strange dichotomy as they moved from safety to dire danger, and back again in a matter of hours. This created a dreadful strain that could soon shred anyone’s mental health. When they were flying over the front it was no laughing matter. Death lurked in the skies, zooming out of the sun, or bursting from the clouds. A moment’s loss of concentration, or tactical blunder, could consign them to being shot down and falling thousands of feet until the crunching impact of terra firma brought a terrible relief. But better that than a punctured petrol tank, the first flickers of flame, then the roaring inferno and the agonies of incineration.

There was little or nothing for them to laugh about in the air. But when back on the ground they tried to put aside their fears.