James J. Hudson’s Hostile Skies: A Combat History of the American Air Service in World War I is an outstanding book. It covers all aspects of American aeronautics during the war from the nearly non-existent air force when war was declared through all the training, bumps, and chaos as the Americans established themselves.
The book is more than just a series of descriptions of various American aces; it goes into the history of how the service was built from the ground up. Not only are combat aircraft covered but there are sections on the Balloon Corps that contributed to the war effort.
Each chapter is well documented with extensive notes to point the reader in the right direction for further research. I don’t think mine is ever going back on the shelf, I’m going to have to keep it at my desk for easy reference.
In the back there are a number of tables. One shows, by squadron, the number of squadron victories and victories by individual pilots. The second shows the records of the American Air Service Aces during the war, from Eddie Rickenbacker with 22 planes and 4 balloons destroyed to Jerry C. Vasconcelles & Rodney D. Williams who each had 4 planes and 1 balloon. The last table is of the officers who served as chiefs of the Air Service of the various army corps in the AEF.
The writing itself is good. It doesn’t read like a boring old high school history text. Mr. Hudson had experience during World War II as a pilot. He flew 191 missions in P-39, P-38, and P-47 aircraft and that experience shows in his writing.
With the wide range of data on the topic, the enjoyable writing style, and extensive footnotes, this book is a must-have for anyone interested in aviation during the Great War. It’s also priced reasonably.
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