The whole title is

"War Bird Ace The great war exploits of Capt.Field E. Kindley" by Jack Stokes Ballard.

I have the pleasure to present to you a published manuscript of high quality. It is the biography of Capt.Field E. Kindley a flight commander of the 148th Aero in 1918 and one of Arkansas' favorite sons.



A motion picture operator recently moved from Arkansas to Coffeyville, Kansas, Kindley joined the Kansas National Guard in May 1917. Transferring to the U.S. Army's Signal Corps, he attended the School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois before going to England for advanced flight training at Oxford. To gain combat experience, he was assigned to the Royal Air Force's 65 Squadron on the Western Front on 22 May 1918. Flying the Sopwith Camel, Kindley scored his first victory on 26 June 1918, shooting down a Pfalz D.III flown by the commanding officer of Jasta 5, Wilhelm Lehmann.

Reassigned to the 148th Pursuit Squadron as a flight commander, Kindley's patrol engaged Jasta 11 on 13 August 1918. That day, he scored his fourth victory, shooting down a Fokker D.VII possibly flown by Lothar von Richthofen who was wounded in the battle.

Promoted to Captain on 24 February 1919, Kindley assumed command of the 94th Pursuit Squadron at Kelly Field in Texas in January 1920. On Feb. 1, 1920, he was killed during training maneuvers when a control cable broke and his plane crashed to the ground. Kindley Field in Bermuda was named in his honor.

Published by Texas A&M press you should find it at Amazon .com or Barnes and Nobles Bookstores.
ISBN -13 : 978-1-58544-554-7

Of note this is the man that may have been the one to put Lothar von Richthofen out of the war . It was either captain Field Kindley or Lt. George V. Siebold both of the 148th Aero.

13Aug18 Ltn. Lothar Frhr. von Richthofen is WIA N. Roye at 13.52 hours, shot in the thigh, and to hospital.

Lothar was surrounded by six Camels of US 148th Aero sqn when his Jasta11 was attacking a two seater. Lothar manuevered well, but one Camel shot at him from very long distance of 600m and Lothar was hit to the right leg. (So maybe he was attacked rather from right ???) I think Lothar even became unconsciousness and his plane fell OOC for several thousand meters where he regained control and then he fell into trenches in the Somme battle area.

The exploits of these early heroes really makes for good reading.