War among the Clouds: New Brunswick Airmen in the Great War by J. Brent Wilson
A Review by Heather McBriarty
A mere eleven years after the first heavier-than-air flight, airplanes were put to use in a war that forever changed warfare and the world. Thousands of Canadians rushed to sign up as pilots, gunners, observers and mechanics in the dangerous yet glamorous new field, including more than 250 New Brunswickers. They saw service not only in France and Belgium but also in Italy, Egypt, Macedonia and Russia. Nineteen of them did not survive the war, dying in action or killed in training accidents or simply going missing, never to be seen again. Many spent years as prisoners of war; a number went on to illustrious careers in the new Royal Canadian Air Force, now celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2024.
“…a masterful job of painting a picture of what was happening as the air war took off in 1914, not only from a New Brunswick perspective but a Canadian one.”
J. Brent Wilson’s new book, War among the Clouds: New Brunswick Airmen in the Great War tells the story of the Canadian contribution to the British air war, from the recruiting and enlisting process, training in Canada and the UK, to the fighting in various arenas, life behind the lines and inside POW camps, through the eyes and experiences of men from Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton and many of the smaller towns and villages across New Brunswick. We even get peek at what those who made it home faced in the post-war years. The book details the experiences of the men who fought in aerial battles and ran daring sorties across enemy lines to photograph artillery emplacements and trench line layouts, but also includes those who worked with wood, metal and fabric to maintain and repair the delicate early airplanes. Evoking the image of the gentleman officer, adorned in flying goggles and white silk scarf, standing beside his machine, Wilson shares the men’s joy and awe of leaving the earth and sailing into the clouds through their own words. We sense their carefully orchestrated bravado when describing dog fights, near misses or injuries brushed off as insignificant in their letters home. That is powerful, immediately bridging the years between us and them.
This isn’t a huge volume, nor could Wilson tell all 250 men’s stories in detail, but it does do a masterful job of painting a picture of what was happening as the air war took off in 1914, not only from a New Brunswick perspective but a Canadian one. Wilson’s research is comprehensive, pulling not only from military records and war diaries, but also newspaper accounts of the day, personal diaries and letters home, which brings a deeply personal look at what these men faced. Highly readable and engaging, War among the Clouds has much of interest to those fascinated by this early age of flight, of the war years and New Brunswick history in general.
About the Author
J. Brent Wilson worked at the Centre for Conflict Studies and the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick for thirty-five years, where he was director of the New Brunswick Military Heritage Project, editor of the New Brunswick Military Heritage Book Series, and taught military history. He has conducted battlefield tours in France, Belgium, Canada, and the United States with the Canadian Battlefields Foundation, the Canadian Armed Forces, and commercial tour companies. His publications include Hurricane Pilot: The Wartime Letters of Harry L. Gill, DFM, 1940–1943 and A Family of Brothers: Soldiers of the 26th New Brunswick Battalion in the Great War.
Book Details
Publisher : Goose Lane Editions (Oct. 15 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 190 pages
ISBN-10 : 1773104292
ISBN-13 : 978-1773104294