The Fight for the Skies

The Early Days of Flight: 1909–1933

Charles Spicer

The riveting story of the birth of British aviation, spanning daredevil Edwardians hopping across the English Channel to the creation of lethal new military tools used during World War I.

The first ten years of British aviation are astounding. They are bookended by Louis Blériot crossing the Channel in 1909 and Alcock and Brown’s journey across the Atlantic a decade later. Between those two globally celebrated events sits the grim battle for air supremacy over Flanders that drove the innovation to make that second feat possible. All subsequent aviation owes its genesis to those Edwardian amateur pilots and the World War I military aviators who followed them.

But in popular memory these fearless men and women have been overshadowed by later pioneers: Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh in the late 1920s and ‘The Few’ in 1940. And their revolutionary ‘machines’ are overlooked in favor of Spitfires, Lancasters, and then jets. Similarly, most historians of the RAF (only founded in April 1918)—jealous of its hard-won independence from the army and navy, gloss over its precursors—the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy Air Service, anxious to get to the Battle of Britain and the Blitz without delay.

The Fight for the Skies tells the story of this first phase of flight neither as a chronicle of events nor a catalogue of pilots and their planes but as a narrative through the lives of a few central but overlooked players. More widely, the book uses flying as a prism through which to map the political, cultural, and social shifts from the Edwardian era to the early days of flight as aviation matures from dangerous niche sport to vital military tool in preparation for World War I.

Charles Spicer is a debut author whose recent doctorate on this subject has been examined by leading historians and acknowledged as a groundbreaking work. He completed his Masters from the University of Cambridge and his PhD from the University of London. Coffee with Hitler is based on eight years of painstaking research among letters, intelligence reports, and other primary sources, many of which have been lost or overlooked by historians for the past eighty years. Charles lives in Suffolk, England.

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Endorsements & Reviews

Praise for The Fight for the Skies:

“Gripping, exuberant, racy and deeply researched, here is the amazing tale of the flying machines—from cotton and canvas death traps to the air fleets of killing machines of WWII and the magnificent men and women who made them and died and killed in them, a crazy cast of eccentrics, daredevils and charlatans, all told with very enjoyable charm and swagger.” Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World: A Family History of Humanity

"This history of British aviation in the early-20th century is filled with quirky, brave characters, technological advances, and political complications—all thoroughly and enjoyably detailed by historian Spicer in this comprehensive work. A fascinating look at the growth of a fledgling technology adapted for battle—and the young pilots who made it work." Kirkus Reviews

“Charles Spicer has done it again, in this enthralling account of British aviation history from the gentlemen flyers of the 1900s to the creation of the iconic Spitfire during the 1930s...Check in, get aboard, fasten your seatbelt, and prepare for a marvellous flight and a terrific read.” David Cannadine, author of Victorious Century

“Charles Spicer has produced a spirited and engaging account of a dramatic and often incredible story—the birth of British Aviation...Full of fascinating anecdotes, this is also a tale of innovation, inspiration, bravery, humility and personal sacrifice alongside relentless obsession, unreasonable ambition and unwavering optimism. In short, it is a very British story.” Peter Dye, President of the Great War Aviation Society

“Eccentric is very much the word for it. Aviation’s pioneers were obsessive, foolhardy, prodigiously brave, infinitely resourceful and, well, kind of crazy. You had to be a little bit unbalanced to want to fly those rattletraps. Spicer’s book is fun, anecdote-rich and full of compelling characters.” S. C. Gwynne, author of Empire of the Summer Moon

Praise for Charles Spicer’s Coffee with Hitler:

“This meticulously researched, vividly written book takes 'civilising rather than appeasing as its central theme.' This is a complex tale, but as skillfully narrated by Spicer, it moves along briskly. His main characters are not easy to characterize either, but he brings them to life, with all their contradictions." The Washington Post

"Charles Spicer’s Coffee With Hitler has the cover and characters of an Alan Furst novel, but it is a true story of double-dealers and shifting shades of gray.” Dominic Green, The Wall Street Journal

"In this very well-researched and well-written work of historical revisionism, Charles Spicer reminds us of the important fact that not every Briton who wanted better relations with Nazi Germany did so from malign motives. Some were Germanophile, myopic, naïve, and amateur, but essentially well meaning. Understandably, they were incapable of believing—until it was almost too late—that Adolf Hitler was as evil as we, with our total historical hindsight, know him to have been.” Andrew Roberts, New York Times bestselling author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

"The escalation of Nazi violence, Edward VIII’s unexpected abdication, an unprepared Britain, and a government ignoring the danger signs of war all make for a heady brew and an exciting read. Will be easy for history lovers to enjoy." Library Journal (starred review)

"This compelling book captures the double-edged nature of 'one mainstay of British values' – giving even the most blatantly disgusting people the benefit of the doubt." The Week