This book was received with a small publisher’s mark on the page edges on one of the 3 sides of edges. It is not visible on a book shelf with the spine facing outward. The book is new and undamaged for reading. aA Smithsonian book. As early as the First World War planes served as scouts, fighters, and bombers - and by World War II most of the advanced nations had large military air forces dedicated to bombardment. Starting with the less-than-perfect aircraft that flew over Europe in 1915, which caused countless deaths, see how technology developed between the wars; the early campaigns of WWII; air battles on the Eastern front; the defeat of the Luftwaffe; and sky combat in the Pacific.