The Millionaires' Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power

I'm seldom attracted to books about war, especially if they're not written by someone who participated in the conflict. From my reading experience, the tendency by many authors is to regurgitate bland facts and anecdotes and the main theme is clouded by second-hand minutia. Not this book. Somehow, Mr. Wortman brought these young men to life allowing me to become interested in their successes, failures and fates. He did a... Read Full Review

This is a very unusual book about a group of students at Yale in 1916 who all came from very privileged backgrounds, but felt it their duty to do something worthwhile with their lives. Considering the world situation at that time, they decided to form the Yale flying club and its members would become well trained pilots and eventually ended up flying many and extremely dangerous missions in Europe on behalf of America and... Read Full Review

First off, this is a great book and I agree with the other reviewers that it is a great read. Yes, it does follow the Yale flyers from crew races in Connecticut to the skies over the English Channel and Belgium in World War I. And yes, there are great descriptions of courage, heroism and loss. But to me there are two things that set this book apart. One, Wortman is a great writer. It is the mark of any really good book... Read Full Review

A remarkable story! In 1916 a group of extraordinary Yale class leaders, who happened also to be millionaire athletes, organized an aviation unit. These were heroic, very patriotic young men. Wortman makes you feel as if you're in the air flying with them. It's a great read. Don't miss it.

This story as told by the author Marc Wortman is a very good read indeed! It is a narrative history that is a well-documented true tale about real people. The story is cinematic in the quality of it's telling. This book satisfied my curiousity about the history of early 20th Century American aviation, the US role in World War l/the Great War, and the role played by many Yale University graduates in the rise of American... Read Full Review