More than 100 years has passed since World War I — "the war to end all wars" — began and ended, and even though many of the battles and much of the horror of the trench warfare has been forgotten, what happened thousands of feet above the ground hasn't been forgotten, indeed some of the strategies and tactics used by the pilots of that war are still used by fighter pilots today.

Keep in mind that in the early 1900s the idea of using aircraft for virtually any reason — much less for military purposes — was radical. Nevertheless, aircraft quickly evolved during World War I from slow, fragile reconnaissance aircraft to quick, maneuverable fighter aircraft flown by a new breed of aviator that became known as the fighter pilot.

World War I Airwar is about these fighter pilots who were at first poorly trained and equipped, but who learned tactics and strategies, in many cases through brutal and violent experience. They included such immortal, iconic fighter pilots as Manfred von Richthofen (The Red Baron) from Germany and Eddie Rickenbacker from the United States, but also many "flying aces" from other countries involved in World War I.

The threats from the sky weren't just from the evolution of fighter aircraft and the arrival of the dedicated bomber aircraft, but also included the Zeppelins — the huge, silent airships that became a frighteningly new way to wage war that terrorized civilian populations in London and in other locations for several months in 1916 and 1917 with the goal of bringing Britain “to its knees.”

This updated edition of World War I Airwar describes the development of these airships - the Zeppelins and the Schuezze Landen airships - and many of the missions their crews flew over Britain particularly in 1916 and 1917.