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

This book is the Escadrille’s story, an account of what one of its surviving American volunteer pilots later called “the startling success of that intrepid band.” It is not a history of the First World War, nor a comprehensive account of that war’s aerial battles. It is not a linear history that rec......more

this book read like how i find out stuff about history--little fragments of primary sources here, there, & everywhere, adding up (sometimes surprisingly) to wholes over time. i enjoyed it, it was comfortable to read...it also wasn't exactly entirely...cohesive.......more

This is a book about the men or at some of the men that flew with the Lafayette Escadrille. Some of the stories are men who went and joined the French foreign legion others moved to France, and still some were rich and payed the way to fly and to fight years before the U.S. entered the First World W......more

I was initially disappointed with this book. It's a bit of a slow starter, describing how the Lafayette Escadrille, a group of American men flying as members of the French Army was created. Once it got going, it became a fascinating glimpse into the lives of WW1 pilots. It is not an historical recor......more

A Bracing tale of the exploits of the first American pilots to fly for France in the early years of World War I. Occasionally becomes patriotic overly romanticized and almost preachy about the American flyboys, but this is only a momentary distraction for this otherwise excellent narrative based but......more