Age of Aces » October 1939 http://www.ageofaces.net The Best in Air-War Fiction Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:00:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 en hourly 1 Arch Whitehouse: WWI Pilot and Pulp Writer http://www.ageofaces.net/2009/09/arch-whitehouse-wwi-pilot-and-pulp-writer/ http://www.ageofaces.net/2009/09/arch-whitehouse-wwi-pilot-and-pulp-writer/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:05:22 +0000 Bill http://www.ageofaces.net/?p=1275 whitehouse1 One of our favorite aviation pulp writers here at Age of Aces is the extraordinarily prolific Arch Whitehouse. The series characters he created for Flying Aces and Sky Birds were extremely popular with the readers back in the 30’s and 40’s, and they are among the most popular downloads in our “Age of Aces Presents” section. Month after month he brought these colorful aces to life. They had names like Buzz Benson, Tug Hardwick, Coffin Kirk, Crash Carringer, the Casket Crew, and many more.

Seventy years ago this month Flying Aces magazine ran an illustrated profile of Whitehouse’s life, including his exploits as a WWI pilot. Here it is as it appeared in the October 1939 issue.

While Whitehouse’s account of his war record is entertaining, experts have attacked it as, at best, an exaggeration. And at worst, outright fabrication.  It seems that the line between fiction and non-fiction was a little blurry for Arch Whitehouse.

]]> http://www.ageofaces.net/2009/09/arch-whitehouse-wwi-pilot-and-pulp-writer/feed/ 0 “Scourge of the Sky Hellions” by Robert Byrd http://www.ageofaces.net/2008/04/scourge-of-the-sky-hellions-by-robert-byrd/ http://www.ageofaces.net/2008/04/scourge-of-the-sky-hellions-by-robert-byrd/#comments Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:36:39 +0000 Bill http://www.ageofaces.net/blog/?p=366 This full length novel tells the tale of Lieutenant Colonel “Stormy” Lake, who never met a rule he couldn’t break, an officer he couldn’t insult, or a German plane he couldn’t shoot down. So when the Allies formed the “Blackbird” squadron to take on the unorthodox, daring, and seemingly invincible “Red Devils Staffel”, Stormy Lake was the logical choice to command it. But Stormy would soon find that the Red Devils were not like any Germans he had fought before.

Although this story is credited to Robert “Bob” Byrd, who is also cedited with the Ka-Zar novels, the author’s real name is Thomson Burtis. This story is a reprint of Flying Blackbirds, a Burtis book published in 1932.

]]> http://www.ageofaces.net/2008/04/scourge-of-the-sky-hellions-by-robert-byrd/feed/ 0