Above Flanders Fields

a Complete Record of the Belgian Fighter Pilots and their Units During the Great War, 1914 - 1918

Well my initial reaction was a 'complete record' in one volume, I don't think so, but I have now warmed to the claim somewhat and will try to explain why. Firstly there should be a third line to the title, something on the lines of 'For the reader who forgets the Belgians also served' because I am ashamed to say that this book is full of 'I didn't know that's.

As is the case so often with this type of book the line drawings merely serve to remind us of the aircraft types, and the unpublished photographs are nearly all portraits sans aircraft, but all is not lost. We can all name a few Belgian Pilots, Coppens, Demeulemeester and, er, Olieslagers (I was helped by the pub-lishers handout) but of course there were many others and this book lists them all. Extensive bibliographical and score details, complete lists of confirmed and uncomfirmed victories, honours and awards, casualty lists and line drawings of the escadrilles' insignias all help colour our records of the Belgian fighter pilot.

That a lot of effort has gone into this book is evidenced by the surprising depth to which Walter Pieters has dug to unearth facts on all these pilots, and I cannot recall any other English text hook that offers this information. The book opens with a much needed background synopsis of the Belgian airforce, the Aviation Militaire Belge, tracing its beginnings in what was a neutral country and the creation of the fighter units. The book offers a comprehensive one stop look at what was a comparatively small airforce, but an important part of the overall picture of the combatants of WW1. Yes, I changed my mind as this is a complete history of the Belgian fighter pilots, and yes it can be presented in one volume, so long as you happen to know someone as informed as Walter Pieters, a Belgian himself.