Aces And Kings (1935) By L. W. Sutherland
 
Co-written with L. W. (Leslie William) Sutherland about Sutherland’s experiences with No. 1 Australian Flying Corps squadron in the Middle East. Norman lets Sutherland’s vernacular shine through, keeping the engaging subject matter immediate.
 
HUNDREDS of books have been written about the war and war episodes, and many more are sure to be written and published. They have been good, bad, and indifferent. No matter how often a theme has been exploited in this way there is always a welcome awaiting any new story that is at once informing, entertaining, and worth the while of the people of. discriminating taste. One may quite honestly class ‘Aces and Kings’ as a book qualified on its merits to come within the last-mentioned category. It has been written in collaboration by L. W. Sutherland, M.C., D.C.M., and Norman Ellison, whose work as a writer on aviation, and .aviators, has become so widely known through his association with Smith’s Newspapers.
 
Mr Sutherland was a pilot in the 67th Squadron (Australian) R.F.C.in Palestine during the war. In this crisply and graphically written book (a copy of which has been received from the publishers, Angus and Robertson Ltd., Sydney), the joint authors tell of the squadron’s most interesting personnel, Its’ fighting methods, the ‘scraps’ the pilots had with the enemy in the air, and it goes on to relate the destruction of two Turkish corps in retreat.
 
The book is admirably illustrated with photographs, and there is a foreword by Mr F. M. Cutlack, author of the Official History of Australia in the War, Vol. VIII: The Australian Flying Corps, who congratulates the authors on a work ‘which illuminates the whole story in retrospect.’ It is no small achievement to be able to tell of the naked horror of warfare in all its beastliness and yet brighten the narrative with entertaining sidelights of comedy and romance. One notes with pleasure that the writers saw the intimately human side of the strife regardless of race or class, and that they could so freely admire and respect the gallantry and the manly qualities of the enemy, whether German; Turk, or Austrian.
 
Although there are many merry yarns in this book, and many amusing personal anecdotes, the grim, stark, ghastly realities of war are not overlooked. There is the terrible story of the attack by aircraft on the retreating Turkish army, for example— a story of sheer butchery which must have been more than sufficient to satiate the most vindictive and fanatical blood lust ever conceived by the mind of man. In this chapter, called Nine Miles of Dead, the writers vividly describe a veritable inferno of horror which was probably as revolting (in the later stages) for the victors as for the vanquished. The attackers from the air were themselves mentally sick and disgusted before they were through with their job. The book Is written mostly in the strong, nervous, short-sentence, style; which made Mark Twain’s prose a living and enduring force in literature. The whole narrative is graphic and holds the interest of the reader, whether they be mere layman, or aviation expert.
 
Rare First Edition
 
Hard Cover
275 pages
In Good Condition