Audiobook10 hours
Fighting the Flying Circus
Written by Eddie V. Rickenbacker
Narrated by John Pruden
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Captain Eddie V. Rickenbacker, originally from Ohio, was best known as one of the commanders of the 94th "Hat-in-the-Ring" Squadron, a crack unit of pilots that included many former members of the famed Lafayette Escadrille. The 94th ended the war in France with the highest number of air victories of any American squadron. Captain Rickenbacker later belonged to an association of pilots and Great War air veterans who, in the years immediately following the Second World War, invited many of the new "young" aces from the Pacific and European theaters for informal lectures. These men never lost their keen interest in aviation.
Related to Fighting the Flying Circus
Related audiobooks
The York Patrol: The Real Story of Alvin York and the Unsung Heroes Who Made Him World War I's Most Famous Soldier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spitfire Wingman From Tennessee: My Love Affair With Flight Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lightning Sky Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Thursday: The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unsubstantial Air: American Fliers in the First World War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spitfire Pilot Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Man Who Flew The Memphis Belle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War Amongst the Clouds: My Flying Experiences in World War I and the Follow-On Years 1920-1983 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWWII Airmen: Amazing Accounts of Airmen Recorded During the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fighting the Flying Circus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sergeant York: His Own Life Story and War Diary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Combat Crew: The Story of 25 Combat Missions Over Europe From the Daily Journal of a B-17 Gunner Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stalin's Had It Now! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The German Aces Speak: World War II Through the Eyes of Four of the Luftwaffe's Most Important Commanders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Paratrooper Generals: Matthew Ridgway, Maxwell Taylor, and the American Airborne from D-Day through Normandy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnemy Coast Ahead: The Illustrated Memoir of Dambuster Guy Gibson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Operation Vengeance: The Astonishing Aerial Ambush That Changed World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Flight: Charles Lindbergh's Daring and Immortal 1927 Transatlantic Crossing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5To Kingdom Come: An Epic Saga of Survival in the Air War Over Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Measureless Peril: America in the Fight for the Atlantic, the Longest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hurricane Squadron Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Undefeated: America's Heroic Fight for Bataan and Corregidor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Foot Soldier for Patton: The Story of a "Red Diamond" Infantryman with the US Third Army Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Citizen Soldiers: The U S Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ace of Aces: The Incredible Story of Pat Pattle-The Greatest Fighter Pilot of WWII Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Damn Lucky: One Man's Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Biography & Memoir For You
Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twisted Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Divine Rivals: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Local Woman Missing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hang the Moon: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Later Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ivy League Counterfeiter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If He Had Been with Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pet Sematary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Fighting the Flying Circus
Rating: 3.723684157894737 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
38 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rickenbacker's first-hand account of World War I aerial combat is riveting from start to finish. I picked this up on a whim when Amazon offered the e-book for 99 cents, and I read it quickly. The story begins in the Spring of 1918 when the first American squadrons arrive in France and ends with the Armistice in November. The detailed accounts of missions and battles--Rickenbacker's and those of his mates--are well told and fascinating. In contrast to those who, in Wilfred Owen's phrase, died as cattle on the ground, the pilot survived by his own skill, and by a whole lot of luck. But the life expectancy--a mere 11 days by one calculation--was even shorter. Rickenbacker learns from his mistakes along the way, makes some narrow escapes more by luck than design, but continually improves his flying and leadership skills, eventually becoming squadron leader. In addition to the adventure, I learned a lot about how WW I aerial combat worked. I didn't realize, for instance, that pilots frequently turned off their engines while in flight or while landing. Lots of memorable characters also emerge from the book, including the daredevil Frank Luke, whose incredible string of victories over a brief career is still probably unmatched.The ebook suffers from not having any type of introduction. Rickenbacker's narrative is totally focused on those few months in the war. There is only a passing mention of what he did before it, and the book ends with the Armistice, so you'll have to look elsewhere to see what happens to him afterwards. But for the sheer power of the well-written narrative alone, this gets five stars.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A classic WWI memoir. Rickenbacker manages to be serious and somber but yet preserve a positive overall feel to his story. The dark hopeless notes of some of the veterans who spent time in the trenches is absent here.
He tells his story, learning to fly combat missions, making mistakes, living thru them, and growing in skill and ability. He tells some of the overall story of his squadron and a mentions some of the other American squadrons around them. He doesn't work very heard to place their efforts in the wider context of the war. He just tells his story.