Aircraft of World War I 1914-1918: The Essential Aircraft Identification Guide (Essential Identification Guide) (Essential ID Guides)

Nicely produced, great images. There is a focus on German aircraft, but nonetheless there is a good range of other types too. Overall, I liked its approach and the consistency of image standards (though the American ‘airplane’ is a little jarring).

A good book with excellent quality images.

The book: what you notice first are the colour side views of 174 aircraft types (and a few observation balloons and zeppelins), plus quite a few of the same type in different schemes. Each image is accompanied by a small box (think top trump cards!) with specifications. They're arranged partly in chronological order, partly to go with the chapter they illustrate - and these chapters deal with early days, start of combat, bombing, maritime aviation, plus separate treatments of the Eastern front, the Middle East, and the Italian front. These are full of interesting notes on tactics and strategy, comparisons between the various aircraft types, weaponry, technology, statistics. Occasionally there are plates with multiple very small 'plane profiles to show the various markings within a squadron or Jasta, down to wheelcover colours.My opnion: the best overview I have come across. There are a few shortcomings, but they don't detract (well, not much) from the fact that this is the best book on the subject I have seen. Not all types are illustrated (I would have loved a picture of the Giant bomber, or of R-planes); you only get a side view, so for modellers it is of limited use - though you do get multiple schemes for some of the more famous types. To have so much coverage (174 types, I repeat!) of the rapidly evolving aircraft of these five years is great. But for individual types (and those all-important top views) I still will go back to my Aircraft Profiles, dating back to the 60s and 70s. As an overview, for a reasonable price, and most importantly, available version, this book is still excellent value for money.

Great book. Just what I wanted. Didn't know there were so many World war 1 aircraft

Great book for students of WW1 Air warfare. Would have liked some alternative views of the aircraft, eg overhead plan views.

fine product

This book features a great overview of the aircraft of World War 1. Each chapter covers varous aspects of the airwar. For instance one chapter features strategic bombing and another the early days of the war. There are many illustrations of various aircraft and many are painted. Just like the ones on the cover. This is is a overview book and cannot cover every aircraft used during the war. But it is logically done and written in a clear manner that reflects known facts. It's a easy read and it can appeal to everyone from the younger to oldest reader because the info is presented well. This is not a personal account book like arch whitehouses great book 'no parachute' , it's in a different vien. The colorado springs library system bought this one as they were impressed with it too.

A lot is achieved here in a modest size book of 187 pages, and it is certainly very attective visually. The colour profiles are very good and many little known types are illustrated (Spad A2, Lohner L, etc). Of course there have to be compromises: plan elevations would be nice to see but would have almost doubled the size of the book, and the text is short and somewhat simplistic, but the author does tackle the Middle East and the Italian front, together with the aircraft used on them, quite well, whilst the Russian Front at least gets a mention. Unfortunately there are numerous errors in the specifications, often from pounds being mistaken for kilos though others are inexplicable.Mr Herris is an expert on and enthusiast for the German airforce and this becomes very obvious. Like many others he is smitten by the 'romance' of the German Jastas. There is far more here about the German airforce than any other. Its true he gives some credit to the RFC in the text but his admiration for the Germans- Boelcke, Richthofen and the rest- is only too clear.As far a illustrations are concerned, the first fifty profiles include 25 German, 17 French and 5 British designs and the impression is given that we British were scarely present on the Western Front at all. The German strategic offesive againt Britain is 'glamourised' with seven colourful illustrations of Gothas and 'giants': there are no illustrations here of French or British equivalents: you have go on another 110 pages to find two pictures of Handley Page bombers. Totting up the profiles there are 7 Fokker DVII's, 8 Spad V11/X111's and 2 British SE Va's. I'm not one to complain (!) but....I'd also like to make a plea for the Russians: as Mickhail Maslov's excellent book 'Russian Aeroplanes, 1914-1918' reveals, the Russians designed more than 300 aircraft: its true not too many were built in quantity, but there are only two shown in this book. (I have written a review of Mr Maslov's book). Authors (like reviewers!) show their preferences and prejudices through the emphasis given in the narrative and in this case also through the choice of illustrations.The statistics are curiously lacking in balance also. There are lists giving totals for German A and B types- but, oddly, not for the far more important C types that followed: Mr Herris does give this in one of his other books, so if space was an issue why omit C types here and yet include the A types? There is some similar data covering the French airforce but none at all for the British. The lack of such detail may reflect lack of available data, but I rather doubt that. Given that the remarkably agressive British effort on the Western Front really became the key feature of the whole air war at least some statistical information describing it would have been welcome -there is actually rather more about the Austro Hungarians. By 1918 the Royal Airforce was the largest in the world. It's tue the British concentrated on making relatively few designs in very large numbers, but much better coverage could still have been given here.I do not deny that this is a fascinating and ambitious book from which most people will learn quite a lot- I certainly did. Moreover I dare say that few readers will even notice the criticisms i have made, and I expect negative reactions to this review- but as a patriotic Englishman I find it hard to tolerate bias towards anyone except my own countrymen- especially when it comes from an American author!

Not just a picture book. This book provides a history lesson of the advancement of WW1 aircraft as the war progresses. Highly recommended. Book arrived with a few slightly dented corners, but this is due to Amazon's poor packaging (placed in a too-large box with zero padding).

Wer auf Flugzeuge des 1.Weltkriegs steht, dem sei dieses Buch empfohlen. Es beinhaltet fast alle am Luftkrieg beteiligten Maschinen mit Kurz-Portraits. Wer einen sehr guten Überblick dieser Maschinen sucht wird mit diesem Buch gut bedient.

Un bel libro per i tifosi della prima guerra.

“Aircraft of World War I: 1914-1918 (The Essential Aircraft Identification Guide)”, by Jack Herris and illustrated by Bob Pearson is an outstanding reference book that covers all of the relevant aircraft (both airplanes and airships) of World War I. Although first and foremost an illustrated guide to these aircraft, the author organizes the aircraft into general time frames and specific mission types, and provides an excellent narrative to accompany the aircraft. Chapter titles include “Opening Moves”, “Air Combat Turns Deadly”, Strategic Bombing”, “Maritime Aviation”, “The Italian Front”, among others. And let me be frank in that the accompanying narrative is strong and complete enough that it could serve as a stand-alone work on the air war even without the illustrationsThe illustrations are in profile view for each aircraft and have a short description and general specifications, such as armament, speed, weight, and range. These color illustrations give the paint scheme used by the combatants, unit insignia, and other touches that will aid modelers. In addition to the first-rate illustrations, there are many relevant black and white period photographs and numerous tables full of information like production numbers for various types of aircraft and available aircraft assigned at the front. Although this book isn’t meant to be a combat primer or history, the text contains plenty of examples of this.The book isn’t quite perfect. Because the authors often give multiple illustrations of the same aircraft (showing different paint schemes and equipment variations), the descriptive text can be repetitive. Also, there are (rare) errors in the aircraft specifications. (These are usually very easy to spot, when a particular aircraft can go over 100 miles per hour faster than similar aircraft. These are obviously typos, not errors by the author, and do not detract from the enjoyment of the book.)Overall, this is an outstanding work that covers virtually every relevant aircraft of World War I, while also comparing them against their contemporaries and placing them into proper historical context. Five stars.

Sehr Umfassend, schöne Zeichnungen.