This image is the cover for the book Wings of War, Vintage Aviation Library

Wings of War, Vintage Aviation Library

A rare day-to-day account by a young German squadron leader in Jagdstaffel 35 during the grim last year of World War I.

Originally published in 1933, Wings of War provides minute descriptions of kills, losses, and the Germans’ step-by-step retreat in the face of increasingly overwhelming Allied forces in the air.

Brutally honest and vividly written, Rudolf Stark’s account of the endgame of the Imperial German Army Air Service provides an intimate, front-row glimpse of the death-throes of a once-feared corps. This book also contains reproductions of some of the author’s paintings depicting life on the Western Front.

“A work of depth and insight, illustrated with the author’s own photographs and paintings from a cockpit perspective . . . League members are highly encouraged to read this classic of aviation history literature.” —Over the Front

“Provides a thoughtful look at the decline of Germany, its military, and its air force in the last half of 1918.” —World War One Illustrated

Rudolf Stark, Claude W. Sykes

After the war Stark, like many of the young men whose lives had been torned and transformed by the conflict, became somewhat of an adventurer. He flew for a while with Polizei-Fliegerstaffel 1 at Schleissheim, then as a test-pilot for Dornier. After that he went to South Africa only to return to his homeland in 1926 - a hard year of inflationand soaring unemployment - where he painted advertaisements, and even became farmer for a short while. Pressed by financiel difficulties and driven by his strong desire to fly again, Stark joined the secret German airforce with the rank of Oberleutnant. During the second World War he commanded an airfield in Italy. He died in 1982.

Philadelphia & Oxford