Here, Norman Franks tells the story, in words and images, of the emergence of some of the greatest fighter aces to see action during the first half of the First World War. He explores the manner in which the situation developed from late 1914 to the late summer of 1916, the point at which Oswald Boelcke helped form the German Jasta system that would prove so devastating to the RFC and RNAS.

Utilizing images drawn from his large personal archive of photographs, Franks profiles some of the greatest and most notorious aces, as well as the aircraft in which they flew. The first years of the war saw some of the bravest acts of pilot gallantry and ingenuity play out. Franks celebrates the legacy of just a handful of these individuals, participants on both sides, including Boelcke's premier ace Manfred Von Richtofen, Lanoe Hawker, Georges Guynemer, Albert Ball, Lionel Rees, Wilhelm Frankl, and Stanley Dallas amongst many others.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 – The First Air War
• Chapter 2 – Things Get Serious
• Chapter 3 – The Fokker’s Day
• Chapter 4 – Fokker Aces Supreme
• Chapter 5 – Knights of the Air
• Chapter 6 – Nieuport Scouts
• Chapter 7 – Autumn Chill
• Chapter 8 – The End of 1916