With a Bristol Fighter Squadron: Memoir of a Bristol F2 Observer Ace, 1918

‘Such extraordinary combat… vivid’ WINSTON CHURCHILL First republication of this extremely rare memoir by an observer fighter ace in over a century Includes all the original photographs and illustrations A highly detailed first-hand account covering January – July 1918 and Walter Noble’s enemy kills With a Bristol Fighter Squadron is the detailed memoir by Royal Flying Corps observer ace, Walter Noble. Walter joined 20 Squadron, one of the RFC’s top-scoring fighter units in January 1918. The squadron was equipped with the Bristol F2, a two-seater fighter and reconnaissance biplane. It was armed with a forward-firing Vickers machine-gun and the observer operated a Lewis gun. Highly manoeuvrable and powered by a Rolls-Royce Falcon V12, the Bristol Fighter was more than a match for Germany’s single-seater scouts. Paired with pilot David Weston, Walter made his first enemy kill, an Albatros DV, on 25 January. Eleven more would fall to his Lewis gun, many detailed in Walter’s first-hand account packed full of dogfights and technical facts around aerial warfare over the Western Front during 1918. Amazingly Walter records using in 1918 so many of the key tactics of a fighter pilot not yet codified in manuals for decades to come. These included: using height above an opponent; attacking out of the sun; turning to face your attacker; firing only at very close range; avoiding being the ‘straggler’ of the formation. About the Author Walter Noble was born in Creeting St Peter, Suffolk in 1884. He joined the British Army straight from school and served in the South African war and during the Natal Rebellion before leaving the service to become a tea planter in India. At the outbreak of the First World War he returned to England to enlist. Initially he served with the 9th Battalion of the Essex Regiment but transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in August 1918 for being ‘most successful in destroying enemy machines’. Walter survived the war but thereafter disappears from the public record, it is likely he went abroad once more. His memoir of seven months as a Bristol Fighter observer was first published in 1920 and has since become extremely rare and sought after by aficionados of the aerial war of 1914-18.
ASIN: B0D2782QRG
VSKU: BVV.B0D2782QRG.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Noble, Walter
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.