Bombers Patrol And Reconnaissance Aircraft 1914-1919.

Bombers, Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft, 1914-1919 - MUNSON, KENNETH. ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN W. WOOD, WITH NORMAN DINNAGE, WILLIAM HOBSON, ALAN HOLLIDAY, TONY MITCHELL, ALLEN RANDALL -   London, 2004 -  187 pp, 7 3/8, hard cover in dust jacket -  Colour plates.

Bombs were dropped from an aeroplane at least as early as November 1911, nearly three years before the outbreak of the First World War, and hence the bomber may claim to ante-date the fi ghter aeroplane as a weapon of war. At any rate, while there were no true fighters in existence in August 1914, there were bombers - from the frail Voisins of France to the giant four-engined Russian Ilya Mourometz. The ensuing four years o f w a r p rovided a forcing-ground for such outstanding and varied bomber designs as the Gotha Grossflugzeuge, the Breguet 14 and the Handley Page O/400; and the submarine menace spurred development of the flying boat patrol bomber, culminating in t h e fi rs t -c lass Felixstowe designs. Throughout the war the evolution of reconnaissance aircraft progressed to the extent that, to succeed the frail, defenceless Taube and Albatros machines of 1914, armed 2-seaters were evolved that in 1918 c oul d ou t-f ly an d o ut-climb some of the ablest fighters in the service. The 66 aircraft in this volume reflect the development of such aircraft throughout the first truly formative period of military aviation history. The period 1914-19 is sel ecte d so as t o i ncl ude certain important types designed during the war, but which arrived too late for combat service.