Which is the better book?

[Guest Pete Wood]

I have The Sky Their Battlefield (by Trevor Henshaw) which alledgedly records all the British (including Commonwealth) and USA casualties caused by enemy action.

But I know that their is a similar book, published by Grub Street, called Above The Lines.

Is there a difference between the books and, if so, what is it.

Do I need both books?

Where there is a difference in opinion, which book is usually correct?

[Terry Denham]

TPots

I haven't got the first book but 'Above the Trenches' (400pp) (not 'Above the Lines' which was an earlier work incorporated into 'Trenches') contains the following -

Entry for each man regarded as an 'Ace' (all are Empire men 1915-1920) showing -

- name, rank, squadrons (800+ men included)

- short biography

- list of all victories with date, enemy aircraft & own aircraft

- location & time

- type of action

- various notes

There is a brief history of the air war, explanation of the claims system, photos (200+) and statistics and maps of airfields on the Western Front

There is a second supplement volume (62pp) as a companion which gives addenda and corrections.

'Above the Trenches' by Christopher Shores, Norman Franks & Russell Guest

ISBN 0-948817-19-4 1990 (Reprinted 1996)

Published by Grub Street £35

'Above the Trenches Supplement' ISBN 1-898697-39-6 1996 £8.99

[Dolphin]

TP

I'm a bit slow responding but, as I hope you know, there's a Rugby World Cup on at the moment , and it tends to draw one's interest (and its been impossible to log on to the Forum anyway).

'Above the Lines' is the Grub Street volume that deals with the German fighter pilots who were credited with 5 or more victories. As Terry indicates, the British and Empire scout pilots are covered in 'Above the Trenches', with the French and US in 'Over the Front' while the British observers and bomber pilots, as well as the Austro-Hungarians, Belgians, Italians and Russians are dealt with in 'Above the War Fronts'.

Yes, that does leave the solitary Greek ace as the only one not covered in the series.

The coverage of the above books is quite different to 'The Sky Their Battlefield' which endeavours to list all the British and Empire air casualties caused by enemy action on every front.

I hope this helps.

Dolphin

[CROONAERT]

There is a second supplement volume (62pp) as a companion which gives addenda and corrections.

'Above the Trenches' by Christopher Shores, Norman Franks & Russell Guest

ISBN 0-948817-19-4 1990 (Reprinted 1996)

Published by Grub Street £35

'Above the Trenches Supplement' ISBN 1-898697-39-6 1996 £8.99

Just a point .You don't need the supplement if you have the later edition of "Above the Trenches".

Another couple of books that are invaluable companions to "Above the Lines" and "Over the Front" are "The Jasta War Chronology" by Franks ,Baily and Duiven and "The French Air Service Chronology" by Bailey and Cony.

Both these list claims and casualties (French and German) in day by day format.

There is one more book in the series that hasn't been mentioned - "Above Flanders Fields" which dealt in more detail with the Belgian air service.

Dave.

[MikeW]

Both ATT and TSTB are indispensible - but neither are reliable enough to base further research upon without referring back to the source documents.

This is not meant in any way as a criticism of the authors, two very large books of what is basically transcribed data from multiple sources are bound to have errors and are impossible to proof read successfully.

I just mark-up my copies when I find an inconsistency. It doesn't detract from my appreciation of what I consider to be valuable works.

Mike