Knights Without Parachutes — usaf origins

The End of Aerial Duels Last week’s post explained how the summer 1917 Gotha attacks on London caused Arthur Gould Lee’s squadron to be in England. Though they didn't get to fight any Gothas, they comforted the population while developing their skills at formation flying. The practice in formation flying was itself the beginning of a major change. The period that WWI aviation is best remembered for was the aerial fighting in 1916 and 1917: “when enemies in the air could fight without mercy but without hate, could even respect and admire each other’s skill and valour.” But when, on the formation of...