Wings for the Chariots: A novel of World War I by the author of Squadron 44.
first edition
1973 · Garden City, NY
by Whitehouse, Arch.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1973. First Edition. Octavo, black cloth (hardcover), uncut, 256 pp. Very Good, with rubbing to edges, tidy former-owner bookplate; in a Near-Fine, mylar protected dust jacket. From dust jacket: A new element was added to the art of warfare when Bristol Fighters of the Royal Flying Corps joined forces with armored vehicles of the Tank Corps to break the stalemate that trench warfare had brought to the battlefields of World War I. This exciting new novel by the author of Squadron 44 is set against the action created by the introduction of the tank prior to the memorable attack on Cambrai in 1917. Though their first engagement caught the enemy by surprise, the deployment of these lumbering vehicles on the wrong terrain, the inexperience of their crews, and their faulty construction soon negated their advantages. To Captain Keith Celement of the Royal Flying Corps, however, that was just a temporary setback. An ex-Cavalry officer now piloting an observation plane over the front, he viewed the appearance of the tank as worth far more even than the airplane. Lieutenant Chuck Bower, an American volunteer and tank commander, had a different opinion; knowing from personal experience how vulnerable the metal monsters were, he wished that he could transfer to the Flying Corps. Through the eyes of these two men the author provides a vivid picture of a new kind of warfare that reached its peak of effectiveness when the two learned to work together as a team. Adding to the drama of their growing partnership is a combined effort to liberate a Swedish scientist interned by the Germans, and a secret mission behind the lines to prevent the enemy from gaining possession of a secret weapon which could have turned the tide of war. (Inventory #: 4487bd)