Surviving German bullets through the skull, airplanes catching fire midair, running through no man’s land to reach a long lost friend, hiding under lorries to take cover from a heavy bombardment; stories such as these and more are condensed into this one book which will have you on the edge of your seat with every page. I was excited to read A Flying Fighter as soon as I held it in my hands and I am confident you will find it just as worthwhile. If you are considering its purchase, I would advise you to please stop considering and start buying as it will add immensely to your bookshelf, imagination, and appreciation for what these lads braved during the Great War. It serves as a remarkable source for academics and enthusiasts alike as it covers, in detail, the training, processes, and life behind so many of the Great War stories we find so interesting.
E. M. Roberts is as talented an author as he is an airman and his exciting consistency is conspicuous throughout the book from his beginnings in the Canadian Army to acting as an aerial observer over Somme. Roberts was one of the original members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force when it initially voyaged across the Atlantic for service on the western front. He details the training both overseas and on the mainland of Canada and covers his assignment in the new armored divisions of the Canadian Army. With remarkable detail, the initial chapters explore his arrival to the western front and his desperate fight to stay alive while speeding through muddy trenches, being on the receiving end of Hun bombardments, and dodging enemy machine gun fire at night while navigating muddy shell craters. Recounting one such story, Roberts says “The machine guns worked with a rapidity of six hundred shots a minute. The fourth man of the working party was halfway across the open field when he pitched head first to the ground and lay still. The next man rushed to where the other had fallen, picked him up, swung him on his back, and then continued his running as fast as he could… We stood there with open mouths, hoping that the man carrying the wounded would not get hit and in our hearts we cursed the Huns who were doing the shooting.” Roberts, E. M. (1918)
Eventually, Roberts secures orders to the Royal Flying Corps as an observer and receives direct orders to a squadron at the front. This is a particularly interesting section of the book and will prove invaluable to aviation and Great War historians due to its remarkable description of the ‘behind the scenes’ things that might not appear so glamorous when compared to the dogfights and trenches of the western front. His orders to the RFC were early enough in the war that training of observers was mostly conducted at squadrons already at the front instead of at schools in England, although the school of aerial photography was established in England in September of 1915. Upon arriving at the squadron, Roberts was introduced to the aircraft with no formal training. He was immediately placed in the front nacelle of a two-seater and sent up over the lines to familiarize himself with the machine, cooperation with his pilot, and the physiological experience of being airborne. His skills as an airman were whetted in this manner and the happenings of these were recorded in fantastic detail.
The later chapters of the book describe his numerous death-defying incidents as an observer and the happenings behind his eventual transfer to pilot training after being shot in the head by a German bullet. More fantastic stories as a pilot follow, mostly as a ferry pilot and flight instructor, and not one of them isn’t applicable to every aviator to step foot in the cockpit today. The stories he shares are incredibly inspiring and thrilling and will undoubtedly impress the readers who are also pilots. Things such as emergency landings, scud running through fog and missing church steeples by seemingly inches, watching student pilots repeatedly crash aircraft (and survive)- generally things that pilots don’t have to experience in today’s airspace. A perfect example of this is detailed by Roberts: “I was going along at low speed when suddenly there loomed up before me, out of the fog, something that caused my heart to stop beating. Right in front of me stood a large and tall factory chimney. I turned to the right to avoid it, but I had hardly done that when I was close to another chimney, which was directly in my path. Once more I turned. But before I had gone very far I was up against another chimney. I turned again; another chimney. I decided to see if I could not get out of the forest of chimneys by going in the other direction, but that too had the same result- more chimneys.” Roberts, E. M. (1918) What a fantastic reminder of what pilots of previous generations had to experience, and that a bad day can exist for a pilot in 2025 but it’s not an engine fire in a Royal Aircraft Factory RE8 while ferrying the aircraft across England above a solid cloud layer.
Pilots, collectors, enthusiasts, historians, readers, imaginers, aspiring authors: This book will appeal to you greatly. It is fantastic food for the imagination and I found it to be a wonderful read that included remarkable history written in such an engaging manner. I even caught myself laughing at some of the stories included in this tremendous book. His writing style is good enough to fool the reader into thinking they are actually there and, as much as the funny recollections were funny, the scary recollections were just as frightening. Buy it, read it, and enjoy it. I sure did!
Source: Roberts, E. M. A Flying Fighter: An American Above the Lines in France. Harper & Brothers, 1918.
