A Yankee Ace in the RAF: The World War I Letters of Captain Bogart Rogers (Modern War Studies) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0700607986 ISBN 13: 9780700607983

Publisher: University Press of Kansas, 1996

Synopsis

The engines are started, twenty shiny propellers glistening in the sun, forty exhausts rumbling and belching blue smoke. . . . Everything ready, the pilot waves his hand, the blocks are pulled and the flights taxi out one at a time. Away goes the commander, motor roaring, streamers flying, and the rest follow in their proper formation order. A couple of turns around the aerodrome and they're away to the line-up, up, and they soon disappear in the haze.

Just beyond that beckoning "haze," Captain Bogart Rogers and his fellow pilots flew into enemy territory to fight the world's first air war. Suffused with the romance of flight and the harsh realities of aerial combat, Rogers's letters to his fiancee, Isabelle Young, vividly detail his wartime experiences against a lethal and elusive opponent exemplified by the likes of Baron von Richthofen's Flying Circus.

The son of controversial Los Angeles attorney Earl Rogers ("the greatest jury lawyer of his time," claimed Clarence Darrow) and brother to pioneering Hearst journalist Adela Rogers St. Johns, Bogart made his mark in the Great War. Of the three hundred-plus Americans who joined the British air corps in 1917, only Rogers and two dozen other volunteers became "aces" by shooting down five or more German planes. He himself claimed six "kills" in fighting during the Second Battle of the Marne, the Somme Offensive, Cambrai, Ypres-Lys, and six other major engagements.

Rogers also had a definite flair for writing, one that launched his postwar career as a journalist and screenwriter in Hollywood. The letters in this volume are a striking testament to that skill. Lucid, reflective, highly articulate, and touched with flashes of humor, they illuminate the challenges of aviation training, daily life at the aerodromes, the liberating wonders of flight, and the sobering truths of a devastating war. They also reflect Rogers's constant longing for his future bride "Izzy" (who celebrates her 99th birthday in 1996).

About this title

About the Author

Earl Rogers, Bogart's son and a former naval aviator, still flies his own plane. He is a consulting civil engineer and freelance writer who has written for In-Flight USA, Flying Magazine, and other journals. John H. Morrow, Jr., is Franklin Professor of History at the University of Georgia and the author of the Great War in the Air and German Air Power in World War I.

From the Back Cover

Suffused with the romance of flight and the harsh realities of aerial combat, Rogers's letters to his fiancee, Isabelle Young, vividly detail his wartime experiences against a lethal and elusive opponent exemplified by the likes of Baron von Richthofen's Flying Circus. The son of controversial Los Angeles attorney Earl Rogers ("the greatest jury lawyer of his time", claimed Clarence Darrow) and brother to pioneering Hearst journalist Adela Rogers St. Johns, Bogart made his mark in the Great War. Of the 300-plus Americans who joined the British air corps in 1917, only Rogers and two dozen other volunteers became aces by shooting down five or more German planes. He himself claimed six "kills" in fighting during the Second Battle of the Marne, the Somme Offensive, dogfights over Cambrai, dashes at Ypres and Lys, and six other major engagements. Rogers also had a definite flair for writing, one that launched his postwar career as a journalist and screenwriter in Hollywood. The letters in this volume are a striking testament to that skill. Lucid, reflective, highly articulate, and touched with flashes of humor, they illuminate the challenges of aviation training, daily life at the aerodrome, the liberating wonders of flight, and the sobering truths of a devastating war. They also reflect Rogers's constant longing for his future bride "Izzy" (who celebrated her ninety-ninth birthday in 1996).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Tuesday afternoon (May 21) three of us got into a nasty scrap and were very lucky to get out of it. My flight commander is a chap named Simpson, a Captain and as fine a fellow as one could wish to know. Furthermore he has a reliable head and plenty of experience. We were doing an offensive patrol about twenty-five miles over the line at 18,000. Below us was another patrol. For almost two hours we tootled up and down looking for trouble, but no Huns, no Archie, no excitement of any kind. Finally three of us went down to look over a suspicious two seater. When we got back up the rest of the bunch had gone home. We were about to leave, when along came nine gaudy Hun scouts beneath the bunch that was under us. We flew large circles and watched. Being pitifully green I had no idea what was happening. The bunch below us fell for the trick and down they went on the Huns. I expected to go down and join the scrap for they were at it hot and heavy. Suddenly Simpson turned west, and we followed. Wow!! What a jolt. Slightly below us and so close that every little detail was visible were some dozen Huns all coming out of the sun. We were so far over they had been able to get west of us. These Huns were painted even worse than usual, every color and every combination and design. They all were covered with enormous black crosses. One machine I distinctly remember, a gorgeous orange creation, for while I was looking at him he turned and shot at me. Expecting Simpson to half-roll and dive on at least one or two of these birds I looked up, which should always be done before diving, and directly above us were at least twenty more Huns. Honestly, Isabelle, they had us cold. TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1 Toronto August--November 1917 2 Texas November 1917-January 1918 3 Atlantic Convoy January-February 1918 4 Chattis Hill February-March 1918 5 Tangmere, Scotland, and France April 1918 6 Mount Kemmel May 1918 7 Montdidier and Noyon June 1918 8 Second Battle of the Marne: Chateau-Thierry July 1918 9 Amiens and the Somme Offensive August 1918 10 Cambrai and the Hindenburg Line September 1918 11 Ypres and Lys October 1918 12 Armistice November 1918 13 Postwar December 1918-May 1919

Edition details

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0700607986
• ISBN 13: 9780700607983
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 280
• Editor: Morrow Jr. John H., Rogers Earl