Lords of the Sky

I was excited to pick this up, interested in both the emergence of fighter combat and the evolution of the pilots and machines that engage in it. Unfortunately, the book touches only lightly on the larger themes and trends, instead touching on vignettes of fighter pilots and fighter actions in various conflicts without really tying them together or explaining the significance of what’s happening. At times, the book bogs down with over-long descriptions of the strategy and ground actions of the conflicts—a piece of the puzzle, to be sure, but not worth spending pages on… particularly when it’s rarely explained if, or how, those factors influences combat. Even the coverage of those conflicts is spotty, with a lot of time spent on some and not much on others, again with no explanation of why a certain war might have been more or less influential on fighter development. There are tantalizing bits of information in the book, but it’s a long, long way from being a "comprehensive popular history of combat aviation” as is claimed. You won’t learn a lot about most fighter planes, just a few that Hampton picks that may or may not be representative—it’s never explained. And discussion of how fighter pilots are picked and trained is also hit and miss, although Hampton suggests that this is a major factor in their success or failure. The most frustrating aspect is that it seems like Hampton is both a good enough writer and experienced enough fighter pilot to produce the kind of book that this is supposed to be, but this doesn’t meet that measure.

I found this work to be totally engrossing due to its detailed history of not only the pilots themselves but also the history and events surrounding them. Excellent!