Bloody April - Peter Hart

As the Allies embarked upon the Battle of Arras, they desperately needed air support from the Royal Flying Corps. But by this point the RFC 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 tens of thousands of soldiers on the ground who were being lost daily.

In this book Peter Hart tells the story of the air war over Arras, using the voices of the men who were actually there. His research has uncovered a vast amount of previously unpublished information, some of which is controversial: for example, were some of the British aces being completely truthful about their fabulous victories?