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Fearless : the extraordinary untold story of New Zealand's great war airmen / Adam Claasen.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: First World War centenary historyPublisher: Auckland, New Zealand : Massey University Press, 2017Copyright date: ©2017Description: 495 pages : illustrations, colour maps, portraits ; 26 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0994140789
  • 9780994140784
Other title:
  • Extraordinary untold story of New Zealand's great war airmen [Portion of title]
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • D607.N45 C53 2017
Contents:
The pioneers, 1908-1912 -- Flying fever, 1912-1914 -- Lucky devils, 1914-1915 -- Above the fray, 1915 -- Dust and dysentry, 1915 -- Airmen for the empire -- Bashed into shape -- Death from above, 1916 -- Fire in the sky, 1916 -- Bloody April, 1917 -- The supreme sacrifice, 1917 -- A bigger endeavour, 1917 -- The 'Greatest show ever seen', 1918 -- Spring offensive, 1918 -- Sea assault, 1918 -- One hundred days, 1918.
Summary: More than 1000 New Zealanders served in the Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Air Force. Several, including Sir Keith Park, later became senior air commanders of the Second World War. Among them were leading air aces, including Keith Caldwell, Ronald Bannerman and the famous tennis player Anthony Wilding. A special type of New Zealander who craved risk and adventure, and who loved speed and engines, they went up in tiny, fragile aircraft to face enormous danger. If they survived their training - and many did not - then they had to survive encountering the German air aces. Historian Adam Claasen tells their fascinating and little-known story, and explains how their courage enabled military aviation to develop.
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Non-Fiction Davis (Central) Library Non-Fiction Non-Fiction 940.44 CLA Available T00632868
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

During the Great War, 1914-1918, New Zealanders were keen participants in the new field of military aviation. Close to 850 men, and a small number of women, from the Empire's southernmost dominion sought positions in the British and Australian air services. Drawing on extensive archival material, historian Dr Adam Claasen explores New Zealand's reluctance to embrace military aviation, the challenges facing the establishment of local flying schools and the journey undertaken by the New Zealanders from their antipodean farms and towns to the battlefields of the Great War. In spite of their modest numbers the New Zealanders' wartime experiences were incredibly varied. Across the conflict, New Zealand aviators could be found flying above the sands of the Middle East and Mesopotamia, the grey waters of the North Sea , the jungles of East Africa, the sprawling metropolis of London and the rolling hills of northern France and Belgium. Flying the open cockpit wood-and-wire biplanes of the Great War, New Zealanders undertook reconnaissance sorties, carried out bombing raids, photographed enemy entrenchments, defended England from German airships, strafed artillery emplacements and engaged enemy fighters. By the time the war ended many had been killed, others highly decorated, some elevated to 'ace' status and a handful occupied positions of considerable command. This book tells their unique and extraordinary untold story.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 480-483) and index.

The pioneers, 1908-1912 -- Flying fever, 1912-1914 -- Lucky devils, 1914-1915 -- Above the fray, 1915 -- Dust and dysentry, 1915 -- Airmen for the empire -- Bashed into shape -- Death from above, 1916 -- Fire in the sky, 1916 -- Bloody April, 1917 -- The supreme sacrifice, 1917 -- A bigger endeavour, 1917 -- The 'Greatest show ever seen', 1918 -- Spring offensive, 1918 -- Sea assault, 1918 -- One hundred days, 1918.

More than 1000 New Zealanders served in the Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Air Force. Several, including Sir Keith Park, later became senior air commanders of the Second World War. Among them were leading air aces, including Keith Caldwell, Ronald Bannerman and the famous tennis player Anthony Wilding. A special type of New Zealander who craved risk and adventure, and who loved speed and engines, they went up in tiny, fragile aircraft to face enormous danger. If they survived their training - and many did not - then they had to survive encountering the German air aces. Historian Adam Claasen tells their fascinating and little-known story, and explains how their courage enabled military aviation to develop.

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