Stoop to the Sky - Tim Shaw - Bog

A little more than a decade after its first erratic flight, the aeroplane was thrust into the largest and deadliest conflict mankind had ever known. The men who flew these early flimsy aircraft had to learn, not only how to fly but also how to fight, this is the story of such early aviation pioneers.

These are the adventures of one boy pitched from rustic poverty into a world of cutting edge machinery, class divides and amoral relationships. A farm boy whose natural talent for flight thrusts him into a world where wealth, breeding and social standing are everything, yet he rises above the cream of society to become a hero in a world teetering on the edge of war.

Becoming embroiled in a plot to assassinate Winston Churchill and the Prince of Wales by German spy masters. He is entrapped by a beautiful woman and discovers sex and flying make for a heady mix.

Taking the him from the fertile fields of rural Lincolnshire, to the flat marsh lands of the cradle of British aviation in Kent, and on to the wilds of Salisbury Plain. He fights enemies within the ranks of the R.F.C and flies simple aircraft to their limits before battling an enemy agent high in the skies over the English Channel.

This is a story of skill and determination, of espionage and assassination, of sexual corruption and of petty jealousies played out to a backdrop of political upheaval across Europe on the eve of the Great War.