Elm Grove Publishing

 

ROYAL FLYING CORPS

COMBAT FLYING LOG

 

The Wartime Story of

Reginald Collis, RFC, RCAF

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Mark Hillier

with Mick J. Prodger

 

          Reginald Collis joined the newly formed Royal Flying Corps in June 1912. Trained initially as an Air Mechanic, he was quickly selected for flying training and took his first flight in January 1913, becoming only the third Air Mechanic and the 14th NCO in the RFC to receive Royal Aero Club certification. Collis knew and flew with a virtual Who’s Who of aviation greats, including Trenchard, McCudden and Lanoe Hawker. He became an instructor, training many future aviation personalities, before being sent to France as a newly-commissioned second lieutenant with 6 Squadron in June 1915.

          Collis experienced aerial combat in the earliest days of the war, and recorded every “dogfight”, “Archie” encounter and mechanical failure in great detail in his log book. He survived the Great War and joined the RCAF in 1923, rising to the rank of Air Commodore in WWII.

          One of the earliest known examples to have survived, Collis’s unique combat flying log book is presented here in full, accompanied by extensive historical notes and meticulous research by well-known aviation author and historian Mark Hillier with contributions by Mick J. Prodger.

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Large format, casebound laminated hard-cover, 8.5" x 11" - 124-pages, illustrated throughout with black and white and colour photographs, many previously unpublished, including a complete reproduction of the original pilot's log book.