High Flew the Falcons

High Flew the Falcons

The French Aces of World War I

by Herbert Molloy Mason Jr.
Publisher: J.B. Lippincott Co.
1st Edition, ©1965, Item: 91017
Hardcover, 172 pages
Used Price: $4.00 (1 in stock) Condition Policy

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In 1914 a new breed of fighting man came into being, whose individual courage and style were reminiscent of the age of chivalry. This was the aerial duelist; his arena was the air over the Western Front. He fought first with rifle in hand, later with mounted machine guns. He was fearless; only death itself could keep him out of the air.

Consider the one-time playboy, Jean Marie Dominique Navarre, who swooped on his prey like a falcon... or Georges Felix Madon, who was officially credited with 41 kills but noted in his private log that he was sure of 105... or the brilliant and indomitable Georges Guynemer... or Charles Eugene Jules Marie Nungesser, who refused to stop flying even though he was so badly wounded that he had to be lifted into the cockpit and who later rose daily from a hospital bed to continue the fight. Several American fighter pilots also appear among the host of heroes in this book, including the only American Negro to fly in combat during the First World War, Eugene Bullard, from Columbus, Georgia.

The author took most of the material in High Flew the Falcons from original French sources, primarily the vast archives of the Armée de l'Air at Versailles. He also flew over the battlefields in a helicopter and covered the Western Front by car and on foot.

The ace pilot shown on the jacket front is Charles Nungesser.

—from the dust jacket

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