This story of early British military aviation is one of trial and (frequently) error, of triumph and adversity all began with a detachment of the Royal Engineers, called the Air Battalion. Created some forty years before the RAF, and initially charged with spotting for the artillery, this detachment was to experiment with balloons, dirigibles, airships, kites, gliders and early aircraft; this excellent book charts the development of military aviation during its formative years, and the use of the new weapons during war. And standing four square in the midst of most of this story is the strange figure of Col. Samuel Cody..... 256 pages with a good number of B&W photographs, contemporary illustrations and maps. Paperback. Amberley Publishing