American fliers arriving in Europe from September 1917 brought with them no aircraft. Instead, US units had to obtain machines mainly from the British and French. From early 1918 American pilots were issued with SPAD fighters and they never looked back. As this volume details, the first American trained pilot to become an ace was Lt Douglas Campbell, who shot down five German aircraft by the end of May 1918. He was a member of the celebrated 94th 'Hat in the Ring' Aero Squadron, which created the bulk of American aces in World War I.
Author Biography
Norman Franks is one of the world's leading authorities on World War 1 fighter aviation, having published some of the seminal works on the subject. He is currently working on a long list of volumes on Great War aces for Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces series. Berkshire-based Harry Dempsey is a talented profile artist who specialises in fighter aircraft of World War 1. He has illustrated all of Osprey?s World War 1 Aircraft of the Aces titles to date.
