Showing Bloody April: Slaughter in the Skies Over Arras, 1917 (Cassell) by Peter Hart

Paperback. Pub Date: 2007 Pages: 384 in Publisher: Cassell As the Allies embarked upon the Battle of Arras. They can'' t needed accurate aerial reconnaissance photographs But by the this point the Royal Flying Club were flying obsolete planes The new German Albatros scouts massively outclassed them in every respect: speed. armament. ability to withstand punishment and manoeuverability. Many of the RFC's pilots were straight out of flying school - as they took to the air they were sitting targets for the experienced German aces. Over the course of 'Bloody April' the RFC suffered casualties of over a third. The average life expectancy of a new subaltern on the front line dropped to just eleven days. And yet they carried on flying. day after day. in the knowledge that. in the eyes of their commanders at least. their own lives meant nothing compared to the photographs they ought...