The second volume of the history of air war–the Somme, Gallipoli and more.

Readers of this the second volume of ‘The War in the Air’–the account of the activities of the British air force during the First World War–will note that the author is different to that of the first volume, since Sir Walter Raleigh died following a journey to the Middle East, and the task of completing the work was taken up by H. A. Jones (1893-1945). While volume one was more expansive in its introductory subject matter, this volume concentrates specifically on the prosecution of the air war in 1915-16 from the Allied perspective. Churchill’s abortive initiative to open a second front by attacking Ottoman Turkey through the Dardanelles, was a significant campaign and is covered here in detail, providing much interest since this theatre, divided between operations over land and sea in the Eastern Mediterranean, presented its own problems. On the Western Front the Allies attacked with ‘the Big Push’ which was the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and the role of aircraft of the RFC in this monumental battle is fully described and naturally fills a substantial part of this volume. Finally, the work of the Royal Naval Air Service is described as it attempted to prevent the incursions of enemy ships, which were intent on disrupting the passage of men and materiel to and from the continent, in the North Sea and English Channel. The German submarine threat was omnipresent as a barrier to the unimpeded traffic of supplies of all kinds and it was clear that aircraft would play an essential part in U-Boat discovery and destruction.

Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.