WWI Book recommendation – Old Book

Over the past couple of years, I’ve taken a belated interest in aeroplanes of the “Great War”.
Many of the standard reference books are in my library, but I’ve recently come across one that I’ve found particularly helpful.
With its age, it’s likely to be out of library collections so it might be new to you. Though thin at just 130 pages, I’ve found it a great primer on the aircraft.

Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War by Owen Thetford and E.J. Riding. Published by Harborough in 1954.

The primary aircraft of the combatants are listed with each type getting two pages with specifications, and a well written history of the type. Unlike many “number” or “picture” books, Thetford enlivens his history with some subjective comments about the way the pilots felt about the machine, as well as objective numbers which compare speeds and (often overlooked) rate of climb to a given altitude.
Printed in a large (8.5 x 11″) format than the Putnam series, its photos are a useful size and most aircraft are also illustrated with 1/72nd scale drawings.
On larger types, the diagrams fold out which also allows more photos to be published.
It also features four Appendixes: Experimental and prototypes; Lesser-known types; photos of rare types and finally, several photos of squadron line-ups.

I found my well-used (it originally was a library book for a high school in the Los Angeles area) at a fundraiser for a new local museum.
I see several copies on are Amazon UK. I think it’s a bit of a bargain at the 20-quid price, but I’m sure there are more copies out there at secondhand book shops or charity stores.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aircraft-1914-1918-War-Owen-Thetford/dp/B0000CJ01G/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471987379&sr=1-1&keywords=Aircraft+of+the+1914-1918+war

I already have Thetford’s Putnam books on RAF and German WWI aircraft, but this book would certainly be helpful to someone with a casual interest in WWI types or would appreciate the larger format photos and drawings.

As an aside, the publisher was well known in my youth for their series of aviation books, easily identified by their gold covers with colour artwork. A couple of years ago while on holiday I found their book “Fokker – The Man and the Aircraft” written by Dutch historian (who knew Fokker) Henri Hegener. I found it very interesting as both a biography and for details on his aircraft.