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Smithsonian

Hat in the Ring: Hat in the Ring

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Title
Title: Hat in the Ring: Hat in the Ring
Author: Bert Frandsen
ISBN: 9781588341501
Publisher: Smithsonian
Published: 2004
Binding: Hardcover
Language: English
Edition: First Edition
Number of Pages: 320
Condition Note: Excellent, unmarked copy with little wear and tight binding. We ship in recyclable American-made mailers. 100% money-back guarantee on all orders.
Publisher Description: When the US Congress declared war in April of 1917, the Europeans had deployed their third generation of fighters, equipped with machine guns and capable of speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, while the American Air Service consisted of only a handful of aviators in unarmed trainers. In this in-depth study of America's first air warriors, Frandsen shows how in just two years the 1st Pursuit Group organized, absorbed French and British technology and experience, and became a well-led, respected, and lethal force over the trenches of the Western Front. including Eddie Rickenbacker, Billy Mitchell, Frank Luke, Benjamin Foulouis, Bert Atkinson, and James Meissner, provide new and controversial perspective into one of America's least-understood wars and into the origins of the most powerful air force in history. Toxic personalities, competing French-British tactics and aircraft, and an experienced, aggressive enemy forced the Americans into a tactical crucible with deadly results, including 73 casualties in the Meuse-Argonne campaign alone.