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BBC History Channel

The Great War Interviews

Cecil Arthur Lewis

Detlef Siebert

Sandra Gorel

The Great War Interviews: Cecil Arthur Lewis

BBC - The Great War Interviews, Cecil Arthur Lewis

Cecil Arthur Lewis, a fighter pilot with the Royal Flying Corps, recalls WW1 dogfights.

Cecil Arthur Lewis, a fighter pilot with the Royal Flying Corps, had only 20 hours of flying experience when first posted to France for reconnaissance and contact patrol duties.

Cecil was a fighter pilot with the Royal Flying Corps, and had only 20 hours of flying experience when first posted to France for reconnaissance and contact patrol duties. His unique account documents the appearance of the Somme from the air - trenches that looked like the edge of lace doilies, and shells like lobbed tennis balls. His account is permeated with fearful honesty about how frightening it was to fight alone in the air, in stark contrast to the almost enjoyable hours spent on the airfields and towns of France.

Factual: History

A selection of original interview recordings filmed for The Great War in their entirety.

Filmed in the early 1960s, a selection of interviews from the BBC's series, The Great War, featuring eyewitness accounts of the conflict.

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BBC History Channel