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London: Collins/The Quality Book Club, 1963. Publishers original light grey cloth with gilt lettering to red panel on spine. Minor bumping to top and base of spine, browning of spine. Dustwrapper: unclipped, tear across front panel, loss to top and base of spine, closed tears and abrasion panel to back panel, crease marks and rubbing to surfaces, now protected in Brodart. White endpapers, no inscriptions. 384pp including index, light foxing to closed page edges otherwise pages clean and bright in firm binding. Mounted on his charger and accompanied by his groom, Second Lieutenant Douglas rode across country on Boxing Day 1914 to take up his duties with the Royal Flying Corps. This bizarre entry was typical of the new Service. A few months earlier Douglas, the son of the famous art historian, had been an undergraduate at Oxford. Joining up as a gunner on the outbreak of war, he presently applied for posting to the R.F.C. as an observer, and later became a pilot. Apart from a tiny nucleus of regulars, it was young volunteers from the arms like himself who, by daring trial and tragic error, first applied the flying machine to the uses of war. The reader is made vividly aware of what this meant in personal experience. . Hard Cover. Very Good/Fair. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.