The famous French Ace gives us a set of enthralling inside stories about the war in the air - what really happened at Pearl Harbour, the fantastic truth about the Japanese suicide - pilots, the desperate attempt to aide the Warsaw insurrection by air, the exploits of such dare - devils as Max Guedj and ’ Screwball ’ Beurling, the ’ Twilight of the Gods ’ when the Luftwaffe made its last throw. He has chosen these and others out of a mass of material from the archives of the Allied and Axis air forces to illustrate the individual valour which lay behind official communiqués and statistics. He gives us the tactical background of each exploit, and appends fascinating notes on the performance of the various aircraft concerned.

’ No airman could fail to be moved by the graphically described examples of desperate courage ’ - Marshal of the R.A.F., Lord Douglas of Kirtleside. ( ... )