Author: Hayes, Neville F.
Publisher: Pacific Downunder
Year: 2008
ISBN: 9780957870531
Binding: Soft Cover
Book Condition: As New
Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Description:
New book, 314 pages. After 25 years of diligent research, noted Aero Historian Neville Hayes presents the often overlooked story of the training of pilots at Richmond, New South Wales, for service in World War I. While the Defence Department's Central Flying School at Point Cook struggled to keep training planes in the air, the NSW Government put together an Aviation School on Ham Common at Clarendon, complete with land, buildings, aircraft, experienced instructional pilots and mechanics, to train pilots for service abroad. After the War, the land and building became the fledgling Richmond Air Base, now the top arm of Aerial Defence in Australia. Liberally interspersed with many previously unseen photographs, the work is less a traditional history presentation and more the bringing to life the story of the student pilots, the part they played in the Great War of 1914-18, and the politics behind the scenes. This book is for the descendant families, many of whom know little more that 'he said he was a flyer'. And to keep alive the names of those who served the Nation, some of whom paid the supreme sacrifice.