Gary Connor reviews Grid: The life and times of First World War Fighter Ace Keith Caldwell by Adam Claasen for the Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation:
‘Adam Claasen has produced a magnificent product recounting the life of Air Commodore Keith Caldwell, New Zealand’s highest scoring pursuit pilot of the Great War whose actual life leaves many fictional characters in the dust. While researching another work, Classen realized the magnitude of Caldwell’s contributions and realized his story had never been told in full. The family was supportive of a biography and gave Claasen access to Caldwell’s letters and personal papers. He used those intimate documents to bring Caldwell’s story to life. Claasen’s ability to move between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources with ease makes this book exceptional. GRID is a solid 400-page read; but the narrative flow is so smooth, simple, and direct and the transitions so seamless that the book is an extremely comfortable experience. Photographs are nicely curated to support the narrative.
The photography deserves special mention. Most of us know the Great War as a black-and-white war. But Central Powers air forces decorated their aircraft in colorful and personalized paint schemes. Most of the photographs in GRID are printed on the same rough paper as that which carries the text. But Classen and his editors included a few pages of high-quality paper to present full-color images of planes mentioned in the text.
Caldwell’s story follows a simple chronological order. While it focuses on the man, it well mentions the amazing cast of characters that surrounded him: his family and friends, enemies and allies, and the highest positions and lowest ranks and does so in a way that emphasizes the humanity of Caldwell and his supporting cast.
Caldwell was raised in a comfortably upper-middle-class family and became a product of the Kiwi public school system where “God, king, and country were the holy trinity to which the boys were wedded. Sports were often seen as more important than classroom teaching because they created gentlemen of good character steeped in the virtues of sacrifice, honour, hard work, and teamwork.” As Caldwell rose through the ranks, he did not like lone wolves (e.g., Billy Bishop) and was committed to a team-first ethic. He had two rules: “One, always be punctual and two, I do not want to ever see anybody abandon their comrades or mates in the air, even though odds are against you. If I do see that, my boot will be up your backside and need I remind you I have big feet.” Caldwell spent 27 months on the front lines, where life expectancy for a pilot was often measured in days. He saw the technology and tactics of the air war change from fragile kites to rugged, dependable fighter-bombers capable of performing air-to-air and air-to-ground missions with equal effect.’
Read the rest of the review here (page 53).
