Swifter Than Eagles: John Laffin 1964 1st edition hardback

Author: John Laffin

Publisher: Blackwood & Sons Ltd.

Pagination: 278

Format: Hardback + DJ

Condition: Good, ex-library, with edge and shelf wear, library stamps and labels inside cover; cover chipped and damp stained.

1st Edition.

 The four squadrons of the Royal Flying  Corps that went to France in August 1914  were commanded by Army majors who  had learned to pilot aeroplanes. One of  them was John Maitland Salmond. Three  years later his energy, courage and exceptional ability had raised him to the rank  of Major General and made him, at thirty-  six, the youngest-ever member of the Army  Council. In January I918 he returned to  France to command the Royal Air Force  on the Western Front. With squadrons  totalling two thousand machines he conducted the great closing air battles of the  War.  Then came the years when the R.A.F.  ad to fight for its own life against those  who wanted to whittle it away. In a  frontier-war in Iraq, Salmond demonstrated brilliantly that the Air Force could  conduct ‘ control and police ’ duties at a  reaction of the cost of the Army’s traditional methods, and this achievement more  than anything else ensured the continuance  of the R.A.F. as an independent Force.  In I928, at the request of the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, he  visited the two Dominions and reported  and advised on their Air Forces.  In a succession of high commands, he  raised the R.A.F. to a high pitch of  elficiency, and it was fitting that in 1930  he should succeed Lord Trenchard as  Chief of the Air Staff.  The years that followed make a story of  outstanding service. Today, as the senior  Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Sir John  Salmond takes a keen and active interest  in air matters and R.A.F. welfare. From  Marlborough to Montgomery, Great  Britain has always had the gift of producing leaders to bear the burden of high  command and fight its difficult wars to a  successful conclusion. History will rank  John Salmond high among them.