One of the author working at the "In the Flanders Fields" Museum. The other one is an archeologist from the Gent University. They added their expertises to deliver an incredible work to identify the places portrayed from the sky. They added maps to give information about then and now. Some pictures are translated on tracing papers.
The result is fascinating and of great quality.
However, something is missing. Two major military museums are associated to this project but the airmen who permitted the development of aerial photography as well as the techniques they invented are not described in this book. Except for a very few pictures, the personal history of the photographer is not mentioned. The role of such important observers as Desclée or D'Hendecourt are omitted. Their roles, the risks they took should have needed a few words. Today where drones are everywhere, explaining the roles of the observers is for sure an added value for the reader.
La guerre vue du ciel
1914-1918 Le front en Belgique
Publisher: [BE] Fonds Mercator/ Mercatorfonds
Avec 40 calques transparents,Author: Birger Stichelbaut, Piet Chielens
Hardback, 245x295mm, 352p, 500 colour illustrations,
French edition, Englis
Publication date: [12/13]<
ISBN: 9789462300255 ISBN-13: 9789462300255
PRICES:
Euro 69,95 [BE] / Euro 65,99 [INT] 1914-1918 Le front en Belgique
Publisher: [BE] Fonds Mercator/ Mercatorfonds
Avec 40 calques transparents,Author: Birger Stichelbaut, Piet Chielens
Hardback, 245x295mm, 352p, 500 colour illustrations,
French edition, Englis
Publication date: [12/13]<
ISBN: 9789462300255 ISBN-13: 9789462300255
There are 3 versions of the book :
In het Nederlans : http://www.mercatorfonds.be/#/nl/geschiedenis/de-oorlog-vanuit-de-lucht-1914-1918-het-front-in-belgie/
En français : http://www.mercatorfonds.be/#/fr/histoire/la-guerre-vue-du-ciel-1914-1918-le-front-en-belgique/
En anglais : http://www.mercatorfonds.be/#/en/history/the-great-war-seen-from-the-air-in-flanders-fields-1914-18/
One of the most successfull Belgian team of observers. Adj "Gusto" de Mevius and Capt Roger
d'Hendecourt of n° 4 Squadron in their Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter in 1917. They had such a reputation, they were detached from the Belgian army to help both French and British armies operating on the Belgian front at the express request of Allied armies. A professional officer, Roger le Dergent d'Hendecourt did not hesitate to buy at his own cost the photographic hardware he needed to obtain high quality pictures. His albums are preserved at the Royal Army Museum in Brussels (pictture from http://www.belgian-wings.be/)
