Life for most of the pilots of the Royal Flying Corps was appallingly short. If they graduated alive from the training that killed more than half of them, only a few would survive the fierce battles they fought over the ravaged landscape of no man’s land. The daily spectacle of having to watch friends and colleagues lose their lives took a devastating toll, and they poured their emotions into their diaries and letters home.

Drawing on these remarkable testimonies, Ian Mackersey has brilliantly reconstructed the First Great Air War through the lives of the courageous airman.

RRP; £8.99

This edition published by Phoenix an imprint of Orion Books Ltd in 2013.

This edition is paperback and contains 376 pages with black and white photographs.