author
Paul Bewsher
1894–1966
Best known as a First World War aviator-poet, he wrote with unusual immediacy about flying, danger, and the strange beauty of life in the air. His work brings together combat memoir and lyric poetry in a way that still feels vivid and personal.
2 Audiobooks
"Green Balls" : The Adventures of a Night-Bomber
by Paul Bewsher
The Dawn Patrol, and other poems of an aviator
by Paul Bewsher
About the author
Born in Fulham, London, on 12 November 1894, he served in the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War and later transferred into the Royal Air Force. Sources about his service describe him as having flown bombing missions, been shot down once, and received the Distinguished Service Cross.
Those wartime experiences shaped the writing he is remembered for today. His poetry collection The Dawn Patrol, and Other Poems of an Aviator and his memoir Green Balls: The Adventures of a Night-Bomber draw directly on the fear, excitement, and exhaustion of early military flying.
He died on 18 January 1966. What makes his work stand out is its close-up view of aviation at a moment when flight was still new, dangerous, and full of wonder.