Camel Pilot Supreme: Captain D V Armstrong DFC

By Annette Carson

In aviation’s pioneering days the best and bravest airmen pushed the boundaries of flight in all dimensions and attitudes. When aeroplanes went to war this exploratory art, now known as aerobatics, was called ‘stunting’ in breezy RFC slang. Initially forbidden as foolhardy, its importance for survival soon became paramount in the life and death mêlées of dogfighting.

But pilots still delighted in the joy and exuberance of aerobatting for its own sake, and they recognized a master of that very special skill in young D’Urban Victor Armstrong, whose displays were nothing short of electrifying. Fluid and dramatic, performed with flair at ultra-low level, his exhibitions left spectators shaking their heads in disbelief. Even a century later his feats – some illustrated here – continue to evoke astonishment in piloting circles.

Until this biography little was known about his wartime experiences, and even less about his South African background. His great value to the authorities lay in his superb handling of the Sopwith Camel, which upon its introduction had taken a heavy toll in fatal trainee accidents. While still on active service he was sent around the units providing vivid proof that, properly handled, the stubby little fighter delivered the key to combat success: unrivalled manoeuvrability. His resultant fame eclipsed his other distinguished role in pioneering night flying and night fighting, an equally vital skill he was also detailed to demonstrate around the squadrons.

In these pages you will find yourself in the cockpit of the F.1 Camel and become acquainted with its rotary engine. You will meet many leading names including Billy Bishop, Cecil Lewis, Norman Macmillan, Robert Smith Barry, and the harum-scarum Three Musketeers from War Birds. Armstrong takes his place alongside them as one of the legendary figures of the first great aerial war.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Air World
• Release date: Aug 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781526752680

Annette Carson

Annette Carson is a professional writer and has been an editor and award-winning copywriter. A prominent Ricardian, in 2011 she was invited by Philippa Langley to join the team searching for the king's lost grave, which found and exhumed Richard's remains for honourable reburial.

Reviews for Camel Pilot Supreme

[timbazzett · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Annette Carson's CAMEL PILOT SUPREME CAPTAIN DV ARMSTRONG DFC is an important addition to the history of early aviation and its role in the First World War. However, it did seem to be more of a history book than a biography, as it seems Armstrong himself left very little in the way of notes or letters, forcing Carson to rely primarily on an album of old photographs with a few brief, sketchy captions, that Armstrong's family had kept. So in fact Carson drew heavily from other early aviators' accounts of flying, including many of Armstrong's friends and colleagues.Aviation was still in its infancy during the great war, and Carson presents an apt description in this passage from Arthur Gould Lee's book, NO PARACHUTE - "the aeroplanes of the day not only lacked brakes, but had an open cockpit, no heater, no oxygen, no parachute, no radio link with air or ground, and no compass worth the name. These deficiencies were in keeping with the construction, wooden frames braced by wires and covered with highly inflammable doped fabric."So yes, flying was a pretty iffy and dangerous business in those days, and demanded a daredevil spirit, which the young pilot from South Africa, DV Armstrong, apparently had in spades. And although he wrote almost nothing himself about his stunt-flying and aerobatic escapades, his fellow flyers did remember him as the most daring and accomplished of them all, both while he was serving at the front and while he worked as a trainer of other new pilots on the home front. Carson drew heavily from those accounts, as well as battle histories of the war and how these aviators were utilized.One of her sources was Cecil Lewis's memoir, SAGITTARIUS RISING, a book I read myself not long ago, primarily because a later edition of the book boasted an introduction by Samuel Hynes, an author I have admired for many years. Hynes penned his own memoir of his WWII years, when he was a Marine Corps pilot in the Pacific (FLIGHTS OF PASSAGE), and, years later, he wrote his own history of early aviation and its use during the Great War, THE UNSUBSTANTIAL AIR, a book which I absolutely loved, personalized as it was by the voice of "an old pilot."While CAMEL PILOT SUPREME does boast many photos and drawings of planes and pilots, some of the photographs from Armstrong's own album, it remains, to my mind, a rather impersonal and sketchy portrait of Armstrong the man. The primary and first-hand sources were apparently just too meager. Students and scholars of the Great War and early aviation will find much to admire here, however, as Carson obviously dug deep and widely for secondary sources to tell Armstrong's story. It is a pity there wasn't more written by the subject himself, and perhaps he might have written his own story, like Lee and Lewis did years later. Sadly though, Armstrong's life was cut short when he died in a crash at a French airfield just two days after the Armistice was signed. I found Carson's book to very good as a history book, if a bit dry. As a biography it is not quite as successful. The primary sources were simply too thin. But the Air World imprint of Pen & Sword Books has done a wonderful job in presenting Armstrong's story in a most attractive edition, and I will recommend it highly to war and aviation buffs.- Tim Bazzett, author of the Cold War memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA