Why read Bloody April?

Book cover of Bloody April: Slaughter in the Skies Over Arras

Book description

The story of the decimation of the Royal Flying Corps over Arras in 1917

As the Allies embarked upon the Battle of Arras, they desperately needed accurate aerial reconnaissance photographs. But by this point the Royal Flying Club were flying obsolete planes. The new German Albatros scouts massively outclassed them…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Bloody April as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Melvyn Fickling

Author

Bloody April was a month well-named. The Royal Flying Corp lost one in three of its pilots, with the average life expectancy of a newly arrived airman dropping to less than two weeks. Pushed by the commanders and planners at HQ, they continued to rise against these horrible odds in flimsy biplanes without parachutes. Their young lives were gambled away for the prize of the reconnaissance photographs that the survivors might bring back, grainy images upon which the planning for the ground battle so depended. Hart mixes the hard facts and figures with the personal recollections of those that fought…

From Melvyn's list on The best books about the Battle of Arras, the Royal Flying Corps and the aftermath of WW1 for women.