Bert Hall

Bert Hall (1885-1948) was a film director, actor, writer and military aviator. Hall was one of America's first combat aviators, who flew with the famed Lafayette Escadrille in France, before the U.S. entered World War I. He has been given the honorable title "Soldier of Fortune" [ [http://www.aviationheritagepark.com/hall.html Aviation Heritage Park] ] due to his distinguished career. Perhaps this title also reflects that a leave of absence from fighting may have contributed to saving his life. Survival of these combat aviators was extremely low, since many of them were shot down after only a few weeks. Hall was known to be boastful, [ [http://www.acepilots.com/wwi/lafayette.html Lafayette Escadrille] ] but he put his words into action through writing and movie making:

Bert Hall gave live presentations, for his 1919 Romance of the Air movie, in the theaters. [ [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?_r=1&title1=Romance%20of%20the%20Air%2c%20A&title2=&reviewer=&pdate=19181111&v_id=&oref=slogin New York Times Romance of the Air Review] ]

Bibliography

Hall wrote books about being a "Flyboy" in the Lafayette Escadrille: [ [http://www.raindesert.com/great_war/books/hall_bert.htm THE GREAT WAR IN THE AIR BIBLIOGRAPHY PROJECT] ]
* Hall, Bert. (1918) "En L'air", New York: The New Library, Inc. ASIN: B000M1DSJM

* Hall, Bert. (1929) "One Man's War: The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille", London: J. Hamilton. ASIN: B00087AA7I

A few movies have been made about Bert Hall and his fellow combat aviators, including the 1958 Lafayette Escadrille film, with Tab Hunter, and the 2006 film Flyboys.

External links

* [http://www.aviationheritagepark.com/hall.html Several photos of Bert Hall and the other real "Flyboys"]
*imdb name|0355341|Bert Hall (I)

References