(1888PressRelease)
March 12, 2008 - Mr. Stewart, the author of WAR WINGS is a retired USAF Lt. Colonel, aviation film consultant, and TV producer. Colonel Stewart spent the better part of twenty years researching and reviewing thousands of reels of rare WW I footage and cataloging them in this very complete volume.
In this, his latest reference book, “War Wings,” he identifies and describes the 71 titles with aviation content. His book documents and describes each scene in detail for over 2,550 action-packed scenes, taken from those 71 titles that he has found in the archives. Scenes of pilots in training, airplanes being manufactured, Dog Fighting in the skies over France, and the post-Armistice testing of the enemy’s new airplanes. This and much more was all captured on black and white film back in the years of 1917-1919.
Colonel Stewart has set his book up with very well-written appendices, index and even added a few official letters from that era. “War Wings” is an exceptional reference of all the aviation footage in the National Archives. It is interestingly written, well made and the cover art is very fitting. I think Colonel Stewart did a good job in chronicling all the file films and scenes. I gave the book an A rating and I suggest it to anyone who will be researching the aviation aspects of WW I.
Review by William Phenn for Reader Views
War Wings: Films of the First Air War (ISBN 9780979324345; pms press; 2008) is available from the publisher (www.pmspress.com) and Amazon.com.
