Introduction to WWI Air

Gaming in Miniature

Bibliography

By Bill Rutherford

Books

Any or all of these books will enhance your interest in the WW I air war. Not all of them are available, and not all of them are altogether affordable. This bibliography is by no means complete! It is, however, what I read to write this article.

Color Profiles of World War I Combat Planes: Apolstolo and Begnozzi; Crescent Books; NYC, NY; 1974. This was probably my first introduction to WW I colors. It's packed with color profiles and plan views of 25 WW I combatants. If you can find it, it's very useful to give one an idea of just how the colors fell onto the aircraft, but be careful. A number of the colors therein (notably the Gotha G series and SPAD XIII) have become suspect in the years since its publication. Best used as a guide, with a 2nd reference backing it up... I saw a copy in a used bookstore last year for $25.00, which probably isn't a bad price.

William Avery 'Billy' Bishop: Baker, David; Outline Press; London, UK; 1990. Manfred von Richthofen: Baker, David; ; Outline Press; London, UK; 1990.This pair of books provide good introductions to their subject pilots. Each contains numerous black and white photos and the latter contains interior color artwork, all of questionable usefulness. They do, however, trace, in very clear terms, each pilot's career, and include several 'after action' reports for each, giving details of the 'kill', along with the pilot's narrative. They make good reading and provide inspiration for scenario design. I think they cost about $10.00 when I got them.

Knights of the Air: Bowen, Ezra; Time Life Books; Alexandria, VA; 1980. OK - This one's a coffee-table book, but it's filled with good quality black and white photos (only a few of which are obvious filler), lots of color pictures of unit markings, interesting text, and several pages of very nice color aircraft drawings, well-illustrating some of the colors I will describe next issue. It's a good coffee-table book! Somewhere around $20.00 from the publishers.

Sopwith Camel - King of Combat: Bowyer, Chaz; Aston Pub. Ltd.; Borne End, Bucks., UK; 1988. This does for the Camel what Imrie's book does, below, for the Dr.I: short, concise history, a large number of photos (with some interesting markings), and numerous anecdotes about service and combat with the aircraft. If you 'do' Camels, the £ 14.99 price tag won't turn you away. Otherwise, borrow your Camel friend's copy.

Fokker Eindecker in Action: Brannon, Edgar; Squadron/Signal Pubs. Inc., Carrollton, TX; 1996.
Albatros Fighters in Action: Squadron/Signal Pubs. Inc.; 1981.; S.E.5a in Action; Squadron/Signal Pubs. Inc.; 1985.
SPAD Fighters in Action; Squadron/Signal Pubs. Inc.; 1989. BE2 in Action: Cooksley, Peter; Squadron/Signal Pubs. Inc.; 1992.
Sopwith Fighters in Action: Squadron/Signal Pubs. Inc.; 1991. Fokker Dr.I in Action: Nowarra, Heinz; Squadron/Signal Pubs. Inc.; 1989.

This series of books run some 50 pages apiece, each page containing several black and white photographs or scale detail drawings. The centerfold normally contains color side-views of ten or so aircraft. All illustrations, photographs, and side-views, are extensively and informatively captioned. Each volume, as well, details the history of the aircraft in question. At only $7.95 each, they're a bargain, considering the amount of information they contain. Recommended!

Classics of the Air: Cacutt, Len, Ed; Exeter Books, NYC, NY; 1988. Another coffee-table book; time span actually goes to 1935. Extensive photos are variable in quality, but the book's packed with good quality color aircraft drawings, again to allow you to add character to your planes. I picked this up in a discount bin for under $10.00. Probably available at used book stores for about the same.

The Imperial Russian Air Service: Darcey et al; Flying Machines Press; Mtn. View, CA; 1995.This book is the main (only?) reference that deals extensively with the Russian air service. If you plan to game the air war on the east front, this book is almost required. Filled with photos, Darcey and company go into every facet of the first Russian air force, describing its operations, its equipment, all of its aces (including French pilots flying for Russia), extremely detailed notes on Russian aircraft colors and markings, and 94 color plates detailing most of the Russian aircraft types (as well as several uniforms and a pair of patriotic paintings). There's enough information here to choke the average gamer. Not cheap.

Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I: Editors; Military Press; NYC, NY; 1990. Neither the most accurate, nor the most comprehensive, this encyclopedia of WW I aircraft is nevertheless a good catalog of the air forces and aircraft of WW I. Worthwhile if you can get for under $25 or so.

Warplanes of World War I: Fitzsimons, Bernard, Ed.; Phoebus, London, UK; 1973. If you can find this one - used book stores still have copies rattling about - get it. The text is a bit dry and the photos (lots of them) are of variable quality, but the book contains many useful color drawings of the scouts and two-seaters of the times. Put this one next to your Time Life book for atmosphere.

Aircraft Versus Aircraft: Franks, Norman; Crescent Books, NYC, NY; 1986.Chapters one - four (pp. 6 - 48)are very useful to the gamer. In addition to a number of photos (ranging from very good to very worthless), Franks includes thumbnail bios of several lesser-known aces, and, most importantly, includes a nice Tactics 101 tutorial on air combat and how to attack an enemy plane. The rest of the 192 page book deals with boring things like interwar, WW II, Korean War, and Viet Nam era air combat. I picked this up at a markdown bin for about $9.00. Above the Lines: Franks et al; Grub Street; London, UK; 1993; Above the Trenches; Grub Street; London, UK; 1990. Over the Front: Franks & Bailey; Grub Street; London, UK; 1992. These books detail, respectively, the units of the German, British, and American and French air services in WW I. They also contain capsule biographies, with all existing 'kill' information, for every ace flying under each nation's colors. There are several photos in each book, but they consist mainly of portrait and casual pictures of various aces. This trilogy should provide an unending stream of scenario ideas for anybody with access to them. Priced at $49.95, $55.00, and $49.95, respectively, not many of your fellow gamers are likely to have access to them outside the local public library.

Fokker Fighters of World War I: Gray and Stair; Vintage Aviation Pubs. Ltd.; Oxford, UK; 1975. In only 22 pages plus covers, Fokker manages to include a very nice (obviously selected by modelers) set of photos, and 1/72nd scale plan-views for all of the aircraft covered, namely, the E.III, Dr.I, D.I through D.VIIs, and the D.VIII. As important, it contains on pg. 19, a very clear illustrated description, again in 1/72nd scale, of both the four and five color German lozenge-pattern fabrics. This book cost me about $5.00; some specialist hobby shops may still have copies floating around (I got mine, I think, in 1992). Well worth it!

German Aircraft of the First World War: Gray & Thetford; Nautical and Aviation Pub. Co. of America; 1987.This is one of the well-known Putnam series and is an encyclopedia of German WW I aircraft. Each entry is headed by a black and white photo of the subject, followed by a narrative description, some of which run to several pages. Good reference if you're new to the period, but a bit pricey at between $30.00 and $40.00

Austro-Hungarian Army Aircraft of World War One: Grosz et al; Flying Machine Press, Mtn. View, CA; 1993.This book does for Austria-Hungary what its companion volume does for Russia. Written as a complement to O'Connor's Austro-Hungarian aces book (he wrote the colors and markings section of this book), Grosz and friends exhaustively detail who produced the aircraft, what they made, what the aircraft looked like, and how they were used. They back this up with a bunch of very useful photos, over a hundred three-view drawings, and color plates detailing 56 different aircraft. Again, not cheap, but if this is your air force, this is the book for you.

Federal Standard 595a: General Services Administration, Specifications Activity, Bldg 197, Washington Navy Yard, Washington DC 20407.This is, at least in the US, the most complete and affordable color standard available to the modeler or gamer. At $5.50 per copy, the 500 or so 1/2 by 1 inch chips, with supporting text and standard numbering system (those five-digit numbers you see on so many paints these days...) are well worth the price. I included GSA's ordering address, above, for those wanting their own copy.

The Fokker Triplane: Imrie, Alex; Arms & Armor Press; London, UK; 1992. This is a good, no-nonsense, description and operational history. Especially nice are the numerous black and white photos that illustrate the varied personal and unit markings carried by the Dr.I, and well illustrate its unique streaked camouflage. It cost me £ 16.99 direct from the publisher, however - not inexpensive!

The First Air War: Kennett, Lee; MacMillan Inc.; NYC, NY; 1991. A good narrative history of the war. There are some interior photos, but they're largely pointless. I read this to get 'in the mood' for this article. A good first course before flying out onto the tabletop.

Richthofen - Beyond the Legend of the Red Baron: Kilduff, Peter; Arms & Armor Press; London, UK; 1993. Written after the end of the Cold War (i.e., with full access to East German documents), this is probably the most accurate biography of the Red Knight yet written. There're some photos within, but the main draw of this book is its painstaking inventory of von Richthofen's career, both in the air and on the ground. Lots of scenario ideas here! Recommended at £ 16.99 from the publisher.

IPMS Color Cross-Reference: David Klaus; 1988. This color guide, intended for mainly for modelers, is an invaluable tool, providing, as it does, a short course on real and scale colors, camouflage, research sources, and most importantly, color cross-references, with notes, for military colors for every nation and period for which Klaus could find information. The WW I section is (by the author's own lament) incomplete, but did contain useful information. The appendices contain a number of color chart cross-references - to Meuthen, RAL, et al. The book contains no ordering information - I got mine, I think, from an advert in the IPMS Journal - the bimonthly journal of the IPMS/USA. Look in any US modeling magazine for subscription information.

Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War: Lamberton, W. M.; Aero Pub. Inc.; Fallbrook, CA; 1964. Yet another Harleyford reprint. This volume includes 1/72nd three-view plans for 84 different fighters from WW I. The accompanying descriptions and photographs (five per aircraft) are, from the gamer's point of view, the meat of the book - they try to show the aircraft from all angles and, because all of the photos of a given aircraft aren't of the same aircraft, a wide variety of markings show up. Again, if you see it and can afford it, get it...

The First Air Campaign: Lawson & Lawson; Combined Books; Conshohoken, PA; 1966.Yet another good overview. This one includes numerous sidebars detailing equipment, short biographies, how to spot for artillery, etc. Worthwhile.

The Great War in the Air: Morrow, John; Smithsonian Inst. Press, Washington DC; 1993. Another good overview to read before gaming! Each chapter deals with a specific year in the war, and is, in turn, broken down by nationality. Typical Smithsonian quality.

Bombers 1914 - 1919, and Fighters 1914 - 1919: Munson, Ken; ; MacMillan Co., NYC, NY; 1972. This little pair of books contain 60 and 80 color plates, respectively, along with extensive notes for each plate. The plates, as one may guess, illustrate a wide variety of aircraft and, despite their age, are reasonably accurate. Appendices include such things as discussions of just what color PC10 was, notes on lozenge patterns, and other related topics. If you find either of these for less than $15.00 - $20.00, you may want to pick them up.

The Fokker Dr.I and D.VII in World War I: Nowarra, Heinz; Schiffer Military History, West Chester, PA; 1991. Similar in size but a bit rougher in format than Nowarra's In Action book, this volume is mainly a photo album - but what photos! Almost every photo details some oddity of personal or unit markings... This one, I think, cost $7.98.

Von Richthofen and the Flying Circus: Nowarra & Brown; Aero Pub. Inc.; Fallbrook, CA; 1964. Another Harleyford reprint, this book is a very readable account of Jagdgeschwader I "von Richthofen". Though its main focus is the unit's history, the appendices include such things as flight crew rosters for JG1, fuselage profiles for all of von Richthofen's kills, and descriptions and 1/72nd scale three-view plans of all of the unit's aircraft types. The history itself is a good read, filled with campaign ideas. Is it necessary? Not really, but if you can find a copy at a reasonable price, it's worth getting.

Air Aces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1914 - 1918: O'Connor, Martin; Champlin Fighter Museum Press; Mesa, AZ; 1986. O'Connor does for the AH Empire what the Grub Street books do for the western front. Biographies appear for all aces, with details of their careers, including what they flew and when, and what they shot down. In addition, 48 well-done color plates describe their aircraft. Expensive at about $60.00, Air Aces... is a must-have if you 'do' Austro-Hungarians.

Air Aces of the 1914 - 1918 War: Robertson, Bruce, Ed.; Aero Pub. Inc.; Fallbrook, CA; 1964. This is a reprint of the 1959 Harleyford book of the same title. Air Aces... covers all the nationalities this article does. Numerous photos - mostly of smiling (or frowning) air crew, but with the occasional useful aircraft photo. Not all the aces are covered - just the more famous ones from each nation; the Grub Street books are more detailed, etc., but this volume does provide additional information on the Belgians and Italians that I've not seen elsewhere. Worthwhile, if only for that. Get it if you can, but don't pay too much...

Men & Machines of the Australian Flying Corps 1914 - 1919; Schaedel, Charles; Kookaburra Technical Pubs. Pty. Ltd.; Victoria, Australia; 1972. This book, the only one of which I'm aware that deals with the RAFC, has 56 pages of variable quality black and white photos (by the way, this isn't the book's fault - I suspect that all the surviving photos are of variable quality!), four color plates illustrating the main Australian aircraft, and a reasonably detailed narrative of the RAFC's operations. Worthwhile, but due to its general unavailability you may pay a bit for it.

The Ace Factor: Spick, Mike; Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD; 1988. This book, while not specifically about World War I air combat, is an in-depth study of what makes good fighter pilots. The first two chapters, especially, do a good job of describing how air combat works and how it developed during WW I. Further, Spick examines how a number of WW I aces fought, what they did right, and what, besides the obvious, made them aces. Worthwhile.

Canadian Airmen and the First World War: Wise, S.; Minister of Supply and Services, Canada; 1981. This is the official Canadian war history. Lengthy, interesting account of the Canadians at war - in the RFC, RNAS, and RAF. As a result, though the emphasis is first and foremost on Canadians, a good picture of the British air war emerges as well. Many detailed operational and strategic maps, anecdotal operation descriptions, as well as the entertaining (to me; probably not to the Canadians) politics of why the Canadians wound up in the British air service instead of their own, all make this book worthwhile if you've an interest in the allied airforces. It cost between $40.00 and $50.00, but you get what you pay for.

Windsock Datafiles: Various Authors; Albatros Prod. Ltd., 10 Long View, Chiltern Park Estate, Berkhamsted, Herts., UK, HP4 1BY. This series of books, by various noted WW I aviation authors, is published at the rate of six books per year -in fact, one can subscribe to them as if they were a magazine! I'm not going to try to list them all - there're too many. Volume 60, Sopwith Baby, by J. Bruce, just arrived and typifies the lot: Concise, clearly-written history of the aircraft and its operations, with numerous well-captioned photos showing colors and markings, a centerfold of 1/72nd scale plans, and three color profiles on the back cover. Oh - each volume contains a section headed "Fabric Colors and Markings", which provides as accurate a description of the plumage of these aircraft as exists at publication time. All of my information on German lozenge-pattern fabric came from these volumes. Several appendices showing service details and technical specifications, as well a survey of available models of the type, concludes each volume. Over the years, several of the datafiles have been revised and re-issued, as newer and more accurate information becomes available to the authors. The downside is that these volumes cost between $12.00 and $15.00 per 40 page magazine-sized booklet. The upside is that the information contained in each volume is about as good as it gets with regards to the subject matter. Contact the publisher, above, for ordering information.

Several specific volumes used in preparing this article included: Fokker E.III, AEG G.IV, Brandenburg W29, and Junkers J.I, all by P. M. Grosz, Ansaldo SVA 5, by Gregory Alegi, Bristol M.1, and Morane-Saulnier Types N, I, V, all by J. M. Bruce.

Windsock Mini Datafiles: Various Authors; Albatros Prod. Ltd. This series (up to 8 volumes) details aircraft and equipment (two have dealt with machine guns, not aircraft) for which less information is available than the subjects of the datafiles. They're similar in format to their larger siblings, but only run 12 - 14 pages in length, and only (?) cost about $10.00.

Nieuport Fighters Volume 1 and 2: Bruce, J. M; Albatros Prod. Ltd.
RAF SE5a; Bruce, J. M.; Albatros Prod. Ltd.
Gotha!: Grosz, P. M.; Albatros Prod. Ltd.
Albatros Fighters; Fokker Dr.I; Sopwith Pup; WWI Warplanes, Volume One and Two all by Rimmell, Ray; Albatros Prod. Ltd.
WWI British Aeroplane Colours and Markings: Robertson, Bruce; Albatros Prod. Ltd.
von Richthofen's Flying Circus: VanWyngarden, Greg; Albatros Prod. Ltd.

This collection of books, some appearing under the series title "Datafile Specials", is the Albatros solution to addressing aircraft that don't fit easily into one of their other series. Rimmell's two WW I Warplanes books between them provide a sort-of miniminidatefile treatment to about 10 aircraft of limited enough interest, use, or information availability not to merit the 'full' treatment. Robertson's book on British markings is likely the best on the market (it may be the only one on the market...) All of these books include a wealth of plans, drawings, where appropriate, color pictures, and sections describing the subject aircrafts' colors and markings. Ranging in length from 50 or so to 80 pages, they range in price from £ 10.99 to £ 21.00, so they're not cheap. If you want to know about Gotha G class bomber markings, however, you may have nowhere else to go.

Aces & Aeroplanes 1 & 2: Hylands, Dennis; Werner Voss, ; Albatros Prod. Ltd. A&A3: Revell, Alex; James McCudden VC, ; Albatros Prod. Ltd. These three books, written in the same format as (and priced similarly to) the datafile series, detail the careers, aircraft, and colors of specific pilots - very useful as references on these three pilots.

Magazines

There are several that I would heartily recommend to anybody wanting to learn more about WW I aircraft.

Air Power: ed. by J. D. Webster and pub. by Air Power Pubs., of Ann Arbor, MI. This newsletter has been around for several years and deals primarily with GDW's Air Superiority game system and Clash of Arms' derivatives from that system, Speed of Heat, Achtung Spitfire, and Over the Reich. I note it here because it features an irregular WW I air gaming column that has, in recent times, been printing various of the statistics cards for the "missing 50" - the aircraft that didn't make it into Yaquinto Pubs.' game, Wings, along with additional commentary on the period. Generally a very interesting newsletter anyway, the WW I column just makes it better...

Cross and Cockade International Journal: pub. by The First World War Aviation Historical Society, 6 Cowper Road, Southgate, London, UK, N14 5RP. This glossy, quarterly magazine is a serious scholarly effort, containing original research on unit histories, pilot biographies, etc. Worthwhile reading for backround information and atmosphere, but less useful for aircraft markings, etc. Contact the Membership Secretary at the above address for subscription details.

Over the Front: pub. by The League of WW I Aviation Historians, PO Box 2475, Rockford, IL, 61132-2475. Over the Front comes with color cover illustrations of featured aircraft and is more extensively illustrated than the UK journal, containing numerous aircraft profiles, and what seems to me to be a wider variety of photos. Contact the Membership Secretary, at the above address, for subscription details.

Windsock: pub. by Albatros Prod. Ltd..This magazine is almost a bible for aircraft markings and colors. Each issue contains numerous kit reviews and kit-building articles, as well as historical articles (note that a couple of them, above, were used as references for this article), colors articles (including color chips!), and book reviews. Recommended wholeheartedly to the WW I air gamer!!! Contact them at the above address for subscription information. Some of the articles therein consulted for this article included Alberto Casiratis' "Italian Nieuport Colors", in Windsock, Vol 5/3 and "Italian Colors", by the Editor, in Windsock, Vol 6/6.

World War I Aero: The Journal of the Early Aeroplane, 15 Crescent Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. This magazine is as much directed to antique aircraft builders/restorers as it is at historians and modelers, and as such, it tends to have lots of pictures of restorations in progress and 'how to' plans of how to build/restore things. It does, however, have much good narrative about what the real aircraft are like and the occasional photo with interesting markings. Good reading, but not particularly oriented to the WW I air gamer. Subscription details are available from the editor at the above address.

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