An American Pursuit Pilot in France: Roland W. Richardson's Diaries and Letters, 1917-1919

First Lieutenant Roland W. Richardson, pursuit pilot of the 213th Squadron of the American Air Service, often reflected the thoughts and feelings of the thousands of American youths sent to France. In his letters and diaries. What he wrote was not the dramatic fare one may read in aviators' reminiscences and biographies appearing during and just after World War I, but it constitutes a continuing record of the demands of training and combat, of the labor of simply keeping airplanes in the air. His is an intensely personal view of the first American effort to create a flying force for battle.
Richardson shows the reader a complete picture of the recruitment, training, staff work, and all the duties a would-be combat pilot had to face helping the novice American Air Service establish itself in war-torn France. He sometimes left out of his letters home the discussions of the dangers he faced from his own equipment and training procedures, but he faithfully included those perils in his diaries. The editors have combined his insights with thorough archival research to provide an unforgettable reading experience. Their combination of the technological, human, military, and social aspects of the American Air Service in France will be consulted for years by all who want to learn more about the origins of the age of aerial warfare.