The Lafayette Flying Corps
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1920. Two volumes, thick quartos, original navy blue cloth with gilt Lafayette insignia on the front boards; copiously illustrated throughout with some hundreds of photo portrait plates embedded throughout the text, additional double page plates of insignia, aerodromes and so forth, as well as colour plates of aerial combat by Vimnèra.
Vol. I: xx, 514 pp.; Vol. II: colour frontispiece, xii, 362 pp., illustrated. The first volume lacks its frontispiece and the lower spine end of this particular volume is a little frayed, front inner hinge of the second volume split and tender. Otherwise an attractive near fine set. The definitive biographical reference set on the Lafayette Escadrille, authored by two former members with distinguished service records.
The set contains detailed individual biographies of members of the squadron and others serving with French units. Many of the colour plates detail squadron insignia from units staffed by American aviators during the war. This is without doubt one of the best written and researched American books of the First World War, and an indispensable addition to any research collection on the subject.
Surprisingly, this original edition is not noted by Myron Smith in his definitive bibliography of First War aviators, although he does list the 1964 facsimile (number 790). Given that Myron Smith's personal collecting interest was the Lafayette Escadrille, this omission indicates the scarcity of the book in a pre-digital age.
Sadly, the present set that we are offering for sale lacks one of the frontispiece plates, and has been priced accordingly. Given the outstanding - and in many respects unique - value of this book as a biographical register, it is a good opportunity to purchase a set for reference use at a modest price.
Myron Smith writes of James Hall 'received his PhD from Grinnell College in 1910. Seven years later he enlisted with the French Air Service, serving with the Lafayette Escadrille and SPAD 12, 1917-1918. When American air units began arriving in the Western front, he applied to join them and served with both the 103rd and 94th Pursuit Squadrons in 1918 before being shot down and taken prisoner by the Germans. The six-victory ace then escaped, but saw no further action.' Dornbusch 18; Howes 83; Noffsinger 1278. Item #69
Price (AUD): $700.00