Royal defense forgotten fields heroic mode

2 But soaring above the mud and mass casualties was the вЂheroicвЂ™ pilot of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). Tales of the Somme and Passchendaele are popularly recounted with regret, pity, and above all, sadness вЂ“ especially in the last four years. It will study the research of air-minded medical officers and the conclusions reached on the nervous disorders of flying personnel.ДЇew events in British history have resonated as profoundly as the First World War (1914-18). This article will therefore present the medical view. Medical officers quickly established that flying not only affected bodily functions, but also вЂwore downвЂ™ the nerves that regulated psychological responses. The war necessitated, and provided the conditions for, the study of the medical problems of flying, including the significant nervous strains.

This article will show that flyers were believed to be medically different, and what set them apart from men in the trenches was their unique employment. This represents a critical lacuna in the historiography of military medicine, for flying personnel were studied apart from вЂshell-shockedвЂ™ soldiers. The First World War exposed the propensity of pilots to the nervous and psychological rigours of aerial warfare, but their unique experiences have been overlooked in favour of вЂtraumaвЂ™ in infantrymen. It explores the military medical response to nervous disorders in the Royal Flying Corps. This is not an article about вЂshell-shockвЂ™.

Royal defense forgotten fields heroic mode