Winged Sabres

Winged Sabres is the story of a RFC & RAF squadron flying the cumbersome FE2 from February 1916 to September 1917, and then the superlative Bristol Fighter: a two-seater ‘fighter-reconnaissance’ squadron with an astonishingly high success rate.

20 Squadron was possibly the highest scoring squadron of the war and one of the most highly decorated, claiming over 600 combat victories with well over 400 confirmed in RFC & RAF Communiqués. Its members won seventy gallantry decorations including a posthumous Victoria Cross, and included fliers from the U.K. and around the world. Over 40 became aces, including the American Iaccaci brothers and some Canadians and others. But with a casualty rate of around 50% including killed, wounded and POW they paid a high price.

Over 15 years research has gone into this book, covering a seldom-explored aspect of WW1 in the air: the two-seater fighter-reconnaissance squadrons. 20 Squadron’s motto was Facta Non Verba – Deeds Not Words!