|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
Review
"'Beautifully written with a poet's eye as well as a pilot's eye.' Southern Evening Echo; 'The only book about flying that isn't flannel.' Anonymous Fighter Pilot, 1941; 'Not only one of the best war books...but as a transcription of reality, faithful and sustained in its author's purpose of re-creating the past life he knew, it is unique.' Henry Williamson, author of Tarka the Otter, written in 1935"
Product Description
There is no bitter snarl nor self-pity in this classic novel about the air war of 1914-1918, based very largely on the author's experiences. Combat, loneliness, fatigue, fear, comradeship, women, excitement--all are built into a vigorous and authentic structure by one of the most valiant pilots of the then Royal Flying Corps.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Illustrated Copy of Winged Victory,
By Janet Hudson Wesson (New London, NH United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Winged Victory (Paperback)
This is indeed a fascinating and accurate account of the lives of those intrepid men in their flying machines.My father was a pilot in 46 Squadron along with V M Yeates. His copy of Winged Victory, which I now own, is illustrated with photographs taken at the time. I treasure it, and, as another reader advises, it never leaves our home.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Vivid Portrayal of WW1 Air Combat,
By I.W.MacDonald (British Columbia, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Winged Victory (Paperback)
Winged Victory is an excellent novel, first published in 1934, and written by former RAF pilot V.M. Yeats.Although the book was written as a novel it closely parallels the life, adventures and misadventures of the author Yeats, as a young Lieutenant in the RFC/RAF during 1918. The modern paperback book uses clear easy to read type and is well edited. There are no photographs or drawings. Some modern readers may initially be "put off" by the older style of writing and the use of unfamiliar words or phrases. The names of WW1 aircraft are also used frequently and may be unfamiliar to many readers. It may be worthwhile to have some WW 1 aircraft reference material handy when reading. Overall, the writing is excellent and weaves a strong and compelling story. The many characters are richly detailed and the descriptions of flying and air combat are breathtaking. Yeats paints a vivid and gripping picture of life and death in the clouds, during the early days of combat flying. The reader may get some sense of what flying a single seat biplane in combat, with an unreliable engine, was like. This is one of the better military novels that I have read, because it details human experiences in time of war, with honesty, feeling and thought. Clearly Mr. Yeats was not only writing from experience, but also from the heart.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
No Romance of the Air Pioneer.,
By
This review is from: Winged Victory (Paperback)
Biplanes were (and still are) very cute. There is a mystique about them that transcends even steam trains. There is a mystique about the noble Knights of the Air of the Great War with which we love to associate ourselves and wish we could share in that Great Adventure. There are people who would give anything to be there.But being there, we would do anything to get out. You stayed because your comrades needed you, because your country called you, because they would shoot you if you ran away. But there was no mystique, no great adventure. Just constant fear, constant danger, thousands upon thousands of bullets fired at you till the risk of death or maiming became probability and then virtual certainty. Tearing your flesh, burning your living flesh, in agony. And to survive was to see friends die, waves of friends passing through while death missed you by inches, knowing how stupid it was to hope to escape till the end of your six months at the front. This is not a book about the grand and chivalrous knights of the air, jousting in single combat over the fields of France. It is a book about Fear, and the torture of Fear. It is a book about a War without purpose or reason prolonged by corruption and the genocidal stupidity of a generation of Generals and politicians, from which the only bright light was the courage of men. This is not a comfortable book at all. It was written by a man who was dying as he wrote it, with nothing to lose and a young family he knew that he would never see grow up, as he tried to leave behind something for them in a world already escalating towards another paroxysm of madness. I have been changed by reading this book. It is one of the best books I have read. I am very very glad I was not there in 1918. There is no glory in death.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Americas > United States > 20th Century > World War I
- Books > History > Military > Aviation
- Books > History > Military > World War I
- Books > History > United States > 20th Century > World War I
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
