Foto de l'autor

George Alexander Drew

Autor/a de Canada's fighting airmen

2 obres 17 Membres 1 crítiques

Obres de George Alexander Drew

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Encara no hi ha coneixement comú d'aquest autor. Pots ajudar.

Membres

Ressenyes

Drew, who became Premier of Ontario in 1943, published this book in 1930 so Canadians would learn about the Canadian airmen who had done such an amazing job during WW I. The flyers with the greatest numbers of victories who are Bishop, Collishaw, Barker, MacLaren, McLeod, Rogers, McElroy, Claxton & McCall each receive extensive coverage in their own chapters. Quigley, Carter and McKeever receive short shift because Drew points out he had found very little information about them and he hoped that when the official history of the RAF's role in the war was published someone would write their story.

Only Richthofen of Germany and Fouck of France had more aerial victories then Canadian Billy Bishop and unlike him, they did not survive the war. Collishaw was next in total victories followed by Udet & Lowenhardt of Germany, McCudden of England and Guynemeyer of France. After that, Canadians Barker and MacLaren were the next best shooters.

Some lesser known Canadians had incredible numbers such as McKeever who shot down 30 German planes using a two-seater, a notoriously slow and cumbersome plane to fly. How about Claxton who shot down 37 enemy planes in only 3 months at the front. In one day, he shot down six, a feat only two other pilots achieved. His 37 victories in 3 months was better than the total kills of the top aces of all countries except Germany, France,England & Canada. As an example, Eddie Rickenbacker, the American ace only scored 21 in all the time he was in Europe.

There are black & white photos of each pilot plus some photos of them in their planes of with their colleagues. This a very readable book but it also a very positive view of things. There is no criticism of leadership or tactics.
… (més)
 
Marcat
lamour | Jul 24, 2015 |

Estadístiques

Obres
2
Membres
17
Popularitat
#654,391
Valoració
3.0
Ressenyes
1