With the recently commemorated outbreak of the Great War, there seems to have been some publishing interest of late here in France on the war in air. I’ve already commented on the strange
Histoire & Collections book which manages to combine lovely images with asinine errors. What I’d like to do now is to turn to some other publications which offer a French perspective on the contribution of their airmen and support services.
Having attended in September the Légend'Air event at Saint-Junien in the Limousin (an annual event which, remarkably, always has free admission), I purchased three French language volumes from a series called collectively
Les Cahiers des As oubliés de 14-18. Others will translate this better than I, but something like notes on the forgotten 14-18 aces gives a flavour.
Three French language publications by
nigeljjackson, on Flickr
Individually, the three purchased volumes are as follows and I think the titles are pretty self-explanatory:
L'aviation aux manoeuvres d'avant-guerre. 1910-1913 by Claude Thollon- Pommerol (volume 3)
1914: l'aviation entre en guerre by Claude Thollon- Pommerol (volume 4)
Célestin Pégoud Roi de l'air. Premier As by Pascal Bouchain, Huguette Pierremont and Claude Thollon- Pommerol (volume 5)
Claude Thollon- Pommerol was selling the booklets at St Junien. Volumes 3 and 5 run to 70-80 pages; volume 4, about 120 pages. Each consists of a mix of photographs and text, primarily the latter. Clearly the work of dedicated air historians with good access to important archives, these are very worthwhile booklets. Volume 4, for example, takes you through operations on a day by day basis. The extent of photographic content varies from volume to volume but there is enough to be of interest. Overall photo reproduction is reasonably good, but I just wish they were on glossy paper.
I've not been able to find these booklets available at Amazon.fr, but if you are interested in acquiring copies it looks like Claude can be contacted at
[email protected] When I met him at St Junien, Claude gave me a leaflet giving the addresses for two very interesting internet sites. The first is
www.asoublies1418.fr This address will link you to a developing website which looks fascinating and I think is meant to be really up and running by November. It's definitely worth a look already.
The second address is
http://www.mymajorcompany.com/le-ciel-en-guerre-1914-1918This will take you to a site inviting subscription to support a more ambitious work which is 75% complete, called
Le ciel de France en guerre 1914-1918. It looks to be an excellent publication. (Le ciel is the sky in French). I have yet to subscribe but will certainly do so.
Best wishes
Nigel
