Flying for the Air Service: The Hughes Brothers in World War I [Hardcover]

David K. Vaughan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1998

Flying for the Air Service provides a realistic picture of the typical flying experiences of the pilots who flew for the fledgling American Air Service during World War I. The narrative describes two brothers from Boston, George and Gerard Hughes, as they progress from apprentice pilots to flight instructors and combat pilots. After completing their pilot training program together, both were assigned as instructors. Then George was sent to France with the 12th Aero Squadrom, where he flew two-place observation aircraft over the front lines. Gerard, meanwhile, remained in America, instructing students in Texas. Eventually Gerard joined his brother's squadron in France as the war ended. Through the detailed letters and narrative comments of these two pilots, we can see clearly the hazards and challenges that were faced by those who flew in the early years of American aviation. 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David K. Vaughan is a pilot and an educator. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1962 through 1982, where he flew a variety of cargo and training aircraft. After earning a Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington, he served in the English Departments of the Air Force Academy and the University of Maine. Currently he is an assistant dean at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio. He has written four other flight-related books, including a study of the writings of Anne Morrow Lindbergh and an autobiographical account of his experiences as a cargo pilot flying in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Introduction: In addition to providing insight into the typical experiences of American Air Service pilots at home and abroad in World War I, the written accounts of the two Hughes brothers explain the details of the flying activities of Air Service pilots at home and abroad.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 222 pages
• Publisher: Popular Press 1 (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879727616
• ISBN-13: 978-0879727611
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,104,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1962 and completed a twenty-year career in the Air Force. Flew cargo and training aircraft in Strategic Air Command and Tactical Air Command, including a 15-month tour flying C-130s in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Received MA from the University of Michigan and PhD from the University of Washington. Has taught classes in composition, technical communication, and literature at the Air Force Academy, the University of Maine, the Air Force Institute of Technology, and Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Published a number of books in the area of aviation literature and history, including Anne Morrow Lindbergh: A Study of Her Writings (Twayne, 1988); An American Pilot in the Skies of France: The Diaries and Letters of Percival Gates, 1917-1919 (Wright State University Press, 1992); Runway Visions: An American C-130 Pilot's Memoir of Combat Airlift Operations in Southeast Asia, 1967-1968 (McFarland, 1998); and Flying for the Air Service: The Hughes Brothers in World War I (Popular Press/University of Wisconsin Press, 1998). He was co-author, with Cecil Foster, of Foster's Air Force memoir, MiG Alley to Mu Ghia Pass: Memoirs of a Korean War Ace (McFarland, 2001). Most recent book is Words to Measure a War: Nine American Poets of World War II (McFarland, 2009). His next book, Letters from a War Bird: The World War I Correspondence of Elliott White Springs, will be published by the University of South Carolina Press in 2012. Plans to write at least three novels, though he has yet to complete one.