René Dorme et Joseph Guiguet
La Guerre aérienne de deux As
The Air War of Two Aces

By Marc Chassard
ISBN: 2-84010-046-0
239 Pages, Hardbound
ÉDITIONS AUX ARTS
Lyon, France

Reviewed by Matt Bittner

This is an awesome book. The premise of the book is the concentration on the two WW1 French aces, Réne Dorme and Joseph Guiguet. Starting with how they entered the service and then how they became aviators, the book concentrates on their lives on and off the battlefield. At one point, Dorme was the number three ace, behind Guynemer and Nungessor. While Guiguet never achieved a high score, both he and Dorme remained friends while both lived.

The book also delves a little more into other French WW1 aviation matters. There is a large section on the evolution and use of the LePrieur rockets. The author also talks about the history of the emblem of GC 12 - the Stork. Plus he also goes into various technical aspects of aircraft such as the Nieuport series of fighters.

There are 22 color profiles showing all of the aircraft - and types of aircraft - flown by these two aces. In addition - and possibly more importantly - there are two period, color photos, one of a Caudron G.IV and the other of a Nieuport XI, finally showing exactly what the two colors are of the earlier Nieuport camouflage of the period.

If you have any interest - even the slightest - in French WW1 aviation, then you are doing yourself a disservice by not purchasing this book. It is a must, I feel, for the student of French aviation. The author can be contacted via email to arrange payment options, or you can visit Marc Chassard's website for more information. This book is written both in French and in English - a novel approach with the left column in French, and the right column in English. In addition the photo captions are also in both languages. Something I wish more French publications would do.