The Fateful Dawn

Summer 1915.

The beginning of an incredible revolution in air warfare.

Experiments had begun in equipping aeroplanes with machine guns.

The Germans and the Allies both progressed from merely flying photographic and visual reconnaissance to actively seeking combat.

Until recently, when opposing airmen met, they would greet each other with a comradely wave or merely exchange a few token shots... with a rifle, revolver or shotgun that were almost sure to miss.

Now, they joined in battle, able at last to kill at 100 yards and to send an enemy aircraft down in flames.

Chillingly, neither side yet carried parachutes, even though the machines they flew were still highly unreliable.

Against this backdrop, this second volume of the Heracles Trilogy traces Aird’s rise up the ranks of the R.F.C. – amidst the twists and turns of his injuries ... and his romantic liaisons in Paris – and the intertwining fate of his compatriot Owthwaite, a northerner known equally for his brashness and his bravery.

Documenting the toll taken by the stress of daily uncertainty in frail machines and the constant threat of death, ‘The Fateful Dawn’ creates an absorbing and dramatic account of wartime life in the air.

Praise for Richard Bickers:

'A thrilling page turner.' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of 'Trade Off'.

Richard Townsend Bickers volunteered for the RAF on the outbreak of the second world war and served, with a Permanent Commission, for eighteen years. He wrote a range of military fiction and non-fiction books, including ‘Torpedo Attack’, ‘My Enemy Came Nigh’ and ‘Summer of No Surrender’.

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