Audiobook10 hours
Fighting the Flying Circus
Written by Eddie V. Rickenbacker
Narrated by John Pruden
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
Captain Eddie V. Rickenbacker, originally from Ohio, was best known as one of the commanders of the 94th "Hat-in-the-Ring" Squadron, a crack unit of pilots that included many former members of the famed Lafayette Escadrille. The 94th ended the war in France with the highest number of air victories of any American squadron. Captain Rickenbacker later belonged to an association of pilots and Great War air veterans who, in the years immediately following the Second World War, invited many of the new "young" aces from the Pacific and European theaters for informal lectures. These men never lost their keen interest in aviation.
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Reviews for Fighting the Flying Circus
Rating: 3.7564102051282053 out of 5 stars
4/5
39 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rickenbacker's first-hand account of World War I aerial combat is riveting from start to finish. I picked this up on a whim when Amazon offered the e-book for 99 cents, and I read it quickly. The story begins in the Spring of 1918 when the first American squadrons arrive in France and ends with the Armistice in November. The detailed accounts of missions and battles--Rickenbacker's and those of his mates--are well told and fascinating. In contrast to those who, in Wilfred Owen's phrase, died as cattle on the ground, the pilot survived by his own skill, and by a whole lot of luck. But the life expectancy--a mere 11 days by one calculation--was even shorter. Rickenbacker learns from his mistakes along the way, makes some narrow escapes more by luck than design, but continually improves his flying and leadership skills, eventually becoming squadron leader. In addition to the adventure, I learned a lot about how WW I aerial combat worked. I didn't realize, for instance, that pilots frequently turned off their engines while in flight or while landing. Lots of memorable characters also emerge from the book, including the daredevil Frank Luke, whose incredible string of victories over a brief career is still probably unmatched.The ebook suffers from not having any type of introduction. Rickenbacker's narrative is totally focused on those few months in the war. There is only a passing mention of what he did before it, and the book ends with the Armistice, so you'll have to look elsewhere to see what happens to him afterwards. But for the sheer power of the well-written narrative alone, this gets five stars.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A classic WWI memoir. Rickenbacker manages to be serious and somber but yet preserve a positive overall feel to his story. The dark hopeless notes of some of the veterans who spent time in the trenches is absent here.
He tells his story, learning to fly combat missions, making mistakes, living thru them, and growing in skill and ability. He tells some of the overall story of his squadron and a mentions some of the other American squadrons around them. He doesn't work very heard to place their efforts in the wider context of the war. He just tells his story.