First to Fly: The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille, the American Heroes Who Flew for France in World War I

Written by Charles Bracelen Flood

Narrated by Tom Perkins

If the Wright brothers' 1903 flights in Kitty Hawk marked the birth of aviation, World War I can be called its violent adolescence-a brief but bloody era that completely changed the way planes were designed, fabricated, and flown. The war forged an industry that would redefine transportation and warfare for future generations. In First to Fly, historian Charles Bracelen Flood tells the story of the men who were at the forefront of that revolution: the daredevil Americans of the Lafayette Escadrille.

As citizens of a neutral nation from 1914 to early 1917, Americans were prohibited from serving in a foreign army, but many brave young souls soon made their way into European battle zones as ambulance drivers, nurses, and more dangerously, as soldiers in the French Foreign Legion. It was partly from the ranks of the latter group that the Lafayette Escadrille was formed in 1916 as the first and only all-American squadron in the French Air Service. Flying rudimentary planes, against one-in-three odds of being killed, these fearless young men gathered reconnaissance and shot down enemy aircraft, participated in the Battle of Verdun, and faced off with the Red Baron.

Drawing on rarely seen primary sources, Flood chronicles the startling success of that intrepid band and gives a compelling look at the rise of aviation and a new era of warfare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jun 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781494578961

Charles Bracelen Flood

Charles Bracelen Flood is the author of Lee: The Last Years; Hitler: The Path to Power; and Rise, and Fight Again: Perilous Times Along the Road to Independence, winner of an American Revolution Round Table Award. He lives with his wife on a farm in Richmond, Kentucky.

Reviews for First to Fly

[atozgrl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First to fly : the story of the Lafayette Escadrille, the American heroes who flew for France in World War I by Charles Bracelen Flood tells the stories of Americans who flew for France in World War I before the United States entered the war. When the war began, there were many Americans who wanted to fight to support France, but they could not legally join the French army since the US was officially neutral. However, a number of them did sign up for the French Foreign Legion and saw combat on the front lines. Eventually, some of them were trained as pilots in the new French flying corps. There was a push by several individuals to create one French aviation unit consisting entirely of American pilots, and the Lafayette Escadrille was the result. This book tells the stories of a number of the American pilots who served in the Lafayette Escadrille.Many of the Americans whose stories are told led colorful lives. We learn about their lives at the front and what it was like in the air. We see how fragile the airplanes were at that time, only a decade after the first flight. The Americans had to face German pilots who were much better trained and more experienced. The book also gives us a look at life behind the lines, including the story of Alice Weeks, whose son signed up to fight. She moved to Paris to be closer to him, and her place there became a home away from home for many of the Americans in France.I learned many things in this book, such as how the pilots often flew at high altitude in open cockpits, leading to frozen faces, arms and hands, etc. There was also the toll on the French civilians. One Escadrille pilot told the story about attending a party with young French women, and the Countess hosting the party told him about one of the girls (similar to the other young women there): "She's one of fifty in her family, and there's only four men left. Their husbands, their fathers, their brothers are all dead."The book is really a collection of the stories of some of the Americans who served in the Escadrille. I had hoped to learn more about how the Escadrille was actually formed, but it is more alluded to rather than providing a clear explanation of how it came about. The book also tells us that the first seven men to join the Escadrille were known as the founders. While we hear the stories of quite a few of them, Flood never explicitly lists the founders' names. I also wish the book had an index.First to Fly provides a valuable service in collecting the stories of the Americans who served in the Lafayette Escadrille and bringing the realities of air warfare in World War I back to life. However, I would have preferred if it had a stronger framework explaining just how the Escadrille was brought into being to hang the stories on. Overall, it is a worthwhile book, but I would have given it a higher rating if there was a little more of the historical background included.