First to Fly

The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille, the American Heroes Who Flew for France in World War I

By: Charles Bracelen Flood

Narrated by: Tom Perkins

If the Wright brothers' 1903 flights in Kitty Hawk marked the birth of aviation, World War I can be called its violent adolescence - a brief but bloody era that completely changed the way planes were designed, fabricated, and flown. The war forged an industry that would redefine transportation and warfare for future generations.

In First to Fly, historian Charles Bracelen Flood tells the story of the men who were at the forefront of that revolution: the daredevil Americans of the Lafayette Escadrille.

As citizens of a neutral nation from 1914 to early 1917, Americans were prohibited from serving in a foreign army, but many brave young souls soon made their way into European battle zones as ambulance drivers, nurses, and, more dangerously, soldiers in the French Foreign Legion. It was partly from the ranks of the latter group that the Lafayette Escadrille was formed in 1916 as the first and only all-American squadron in the French Air Service. Flying rudimentary planes against one-in-three odds of being killed, these fearless young men gathered reconnaissance and shot down enemy aircraft, participated in the Battle of Verdun, and faced off with the Red Baron.

Drawing on rarely seen primary sources, Flood chronicles the startling success of that intrepid band and gives a compelling look at the rise of aviation and a new era of warfare.

©2015 Charles Bracelen Flood (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Top-notch military history." ( Kirkus)

Good stories but not a history of WWI aviation

Good but the book jumps around in time and emphasis on individuals, battles and the war. Basically a series of interesting anecdotes strung together.

All over the place

To be a book about a fighter squadron, there is very little about the fighter squadron.