The story of air power during the Great War East Africa campaign is barely known. GWAS, through Cross & Cockade International has published a number of excellent histories covering specific aspects, but there is no single volume that brings all the stories, all the war diaries, and many of the personal collections together. Member Rick Newton, with a personal interest in air power’s role in small wars, has done the research and written that comprehensive volume with the goal of educating future airmen on the challenges of delivering air power in primitive, harsh, and extremely distant environments.

Rick Newton is currently serving as an irregular warfare and air power planner for the US military in Stuttgart, Germany. He volunteers his time to also serve as the Irregular Warfare Initiative’s Director of the Air & Space Power project. He is a 1977 graduate of the USAF Academy and holds a PhD from King’s College London. His thesis was the basis for his first book, The Royal Air Force and Tribal Control: Airpower and Irregular Warfare Between the World Wars.