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149addressed at all. There is, for instance, little analysis of the trend towardsbigger units. It had been agreed as early as January 1918 that the size ofthe RFC%u2019s single-seat fighter units should be progressively increased totwenty-four aeroplanes apiece (plus one for the CO) and by the time thatthe shooting stopped in November ten squadrons had twenty-fiveaeroplanes and twenty-seven pilots on strength (compared to thepreviously standard eighteen and twenty-one, respectively) which mustsurely have had significant tactical implications. Then again, we are toldnothing of the work of the Aerial Tactics Committee, which must havecontributed something positive, or of the use of wireless telephony byselected Bristol Fighter squadrons from mid-1918, which must also have,at least begun to have, had some influence on the way in whichformations were being handled. It could be argued, of course, that I amcriticising the book that I had been hoping to read, rather than the onethat the author actually wrote. That is probably true, but I do think thatan opportunity has been missed.So what of the book that we do have? Typos? Yes, there are a few,%u2018possbily%u2019, for example, and faired (for fared), %u2018defencive%u2019, %u2018carryied%u2019,%u2018th%u2019, and %u2018Boyou%u2019 (for Boyau). There is also a tendency towardsduplication; an analysis of Ball%u2019s score is presented twice, as is much ofthe summary of Boelke%u2019s career and we are informed of the date ofVoss%u2019 demise four times. The oft-repeated allegation, that the RFC/RAFdeclined to provide its pilots with parachutes, for fear that they mightabandon their aeroplanes rather than fight, is given another airing,although, as is invariably the case, no contemporary evidence ispresented to justify this very serious accusation (which is, I suspect,actually based on post-dated anecdote). Nevertheless, these cavils aside,and within the constraints imposed by the nature of the subject matter,the narrative flows well enough. There are about sixty excellentphotographs inset within the text and these have turned out surprisinglywell, considering the relatively low grade of paper on which the bookhas been printed and the coarse screening that has been used. There areseveral diagrams illustrating tactical formations, although I found someof these and/or their captions a little difficult to interpret, and severalnames have been omitted from the index to personalities.Among the fresh insights that illuminate Dog-Fight are references to,and a number of verbatim extracts from, interviews that the authorconducted from the 1960s onwards with veterans of WW I, several of