This wasn’t quite what I was expecting from the cover. I thought it was about a modern fighter pilot uncovering his family legacy. While the author did serve in the Air Force it wasn’t as a pilot, and the subtitled “search” is covered in the first 9 pages. This turned out to be a meticulously researched story of the formation of the first American fighter squadrons in 1917/18. And that’s where it’s problems arise, I’m not sure what this book was meant to be. As a record of those events it’s crammed full of information, but it falls short as a narrative story. It could have done with a stronger editorial hand to give it focus and a through line. ( )

The intrepid fighter pilots of World War I live again in this thrilling true account of the men who risked their lives for our country and who became America's first heroes of the skies.

Published to coincide with the one-hundredth anniversary of the Wright Brothers' historic first flight and the birth of aviation, Echoes of Eaglesis a rousing chronicle of American air combat during the first world war.

In 1917, Charles H. Woolley, the author's father, enlisted in and trained as a pilot with the newly created U.S. Air Service. He and his fellow pilots of the 94th, 95th, and 49th Aero Squadrons flew at 20,000 feet in open-cockpit French biplanes, with no oxygen, no parachutes, and no radios. Death was their constant companion. This extraordinary book takes readers into the cockpits of these fragile fighter aircraft and into the souls of the men who fought for their country in a new environment-the air. The grit of muddy airfields is balanced by the women and champagne of Paris.

From tales of dog-fighting with German aces to strafing enemy trenches, Echoes of Eaglesdescribes the risks and the dangers of flight, feats of incredible heroism and acts of stunning cowardice, and the camaraderie among men dedicated to a common goal. Based on diaries and letters and never-before-published interviews with the heroes themselves, and featuring amazing photographs, this unforgettable account of America's first fighter pilots is also a son's stirring tribute to his father.

10% personal memoir, 40% biography, and 50% history, what lifts this book above the level of a popular account of a man getting to grips with the legacy of his father is how the author was able to get access to a great deal of primary material that an outsider would probably not have seen. This thus gives you a lively portrait of the first generation of American fighter pilots and what they had to overcome to get American fighter units into action. ( )