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150whom, Hollinghust, Gould-Lee and Leask, for example, had reached airrank before retiring. There are even first hand recollections from anumber of observers, the generally overlooked tribe who actually didmuch of the damage inflicted by %u2018Fees%u2019 and Bristol Fighters. Theseinterludes add to the texture and there will be few readers who will notfind something new buried within the text. There is, for instance, atantalisingly brief reference to the RFC%u2019s monitoring of enemy radiotransmissions to trigger the launching of fighters and I had notpreviously appreciated that, within the German air service, only a regularofficer could command a Jagdgeschwader. In practice, because ofseniority, if nothing else, the same tended to be true of British wings, butthis was clearly not a matter of policy as Lt-Col Louis Strange (whofeatures in the book as a significant early, and late, aerial tactician) was anotably aggressive Wing Commander. Strange was no career officer,however; an RFC Special Reservist in 1913, he was back in civviesbefore the end of 1919.Dog-Fight is also particularly good at amplifying the differingattitudes adopted by the various air forces towards, and policiesimplemented to govern, the validation of combat claims. This is hardlybreaking new ground, of course, but one point is made particularlygraphically by the previously noted re-assessment of Ball%u2019s forty-fourvictories, which, the author reasons, would have been more like twentyseven using WW II rules, whereas Johnnie Johnson%u2019s thirty-eight onSpitfires might have been as high as fifty-nine if he had been flyingSE5as. Another point that is well illustrated, with specific examples, isthe remarkable extent to which recognised claims that had beensubmitted in good faith, even those which had been supported bywitnesses, were not reflected in the losses actually sustained by theopposition.Final verdict? A worthwhile investment, even if your shelves arealready well-furnished with books on the fighter pilots of WW I. Forthose who do not have a reasonably firm grasp of the subject, however,Dog-Fight will provide a very sound foundation.CGJUnder the Guns of the Kaiser%u2019s Aces by Norman Franks and HalGiblin. Grub Street; 2003. %u00a320.The successful Under the Guns%u2026 series, reviews in depth the victory