Michel Coiffard’s remarkable rise from infantryman to become one of the top French fighter aces of the war is chronicled by Chrisophe Cony. Sparsely covered in the literature, his 34 victories place him 6th on the French list of aces.
In “A Decorated Soldier” author Will Simpson surveys the combat career and legacy of Eugene Bullard, America’s first black fighter pilot.
Jon Guttman and Frank Bailey trace the combat career of the little-known French Escadrille Spa. 158. One of the few equipped with the Morane A.I monoplane in 1918, its short combat career yielded only 2 air-to-air victories.
Well known by name to most WW 1 historians, Raynal Bolling’s death – the only airmen killed in combat without having flown a single mission – has left his impressive organization achievements largely unknown. Steve Ruffin’s masterful article helps restore Bolling’s rightful place in the pantheon of architects of the US Air Service.
The videos of talks at the 2023 League Seminar last Octobver are now available on YouTube The link to all videos is here.
The issue opens with author Michael O’Neal’s study of post-war casualties at the 3rd Air Instruction Center. Steve Ruffin visits France to view the memorials to fallen American airmen, and Thomas Wildenberg examines Spenser Grey’s role in the origins of strategic bombing. Finally, Robin D. Smith views Manfred von Richthofen’s connection to Ostrowo, Poland and a possible romantic relationship there. We conclude with Charles Walthall’s Tangible Links and Peter Kilduff’s Between the Bookends.
We regret that rising costs for everything, but especially for mailing expenses, mean we have had to raise our dues for 2024 and beyond. This is the first rate increase we have had since 2016; US rates will increase by $10/year ($2.50 an issue) for both Media Mail and First Class subscriptions. We can no longer offer "Fourth Class" rates to Canada (USPS hasn't offered that option for a long time; we've been unwittingly eating the cost); Canadians now need to use the First Class US/Canada option. Rates for all other countries will increase by $15/year ($3.75 an issue). You will still get the same 512 pages of our usual content over the course of a year, in the same high-quality journal you have been receiving.
If you've received any issue from Vol. 38, you have renewed for 2023. If the last issue you received was for a prior year, your subscription has lapsed. You can renew at the new rates for 2024, and get Volume 38 (2023) from the Shop.
As President Dan Polglaze said in Between the Lines in Volume 35 No. 3, we (mostly he) have been delving through our back issues to create the first-ever complete Table of Contents for every issue of OTF published to date. In it you'll find titles, authors, volume, issue and page references, and major topics for each article. It's all in the form of an Excel spreadsheet so you can download your own copy and sort, search and modify it as much as you want. Can't wait to get started? Download a copy here. We'll try, now that we've got it, to keep it updated as each new issue comes out, but may fall behind.
Think of this as a first step toward a full index of all of Over the Front, an endeavor you can help with. Interested? Contact Dan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Courtesy of Steve Suddaby, who also provided us with his Allied Bombing Missiion database, we have added the table of contents of the original Cross and Cockade to the Table of Contents.
