This promise on the posters did not entirely misrepresent the lot of the WWI aviator. Their feats were glorified far beyond those of comrades in the trenches but, like them, they died in huge numbers.

What began as an adventure became increasingly lethal and unglamorous, with little mercy for an overmatched or disabled foe.

Before the Great War ended, one much-decorated knight of the air declared that, if anything, he felt like a “hired assassin.�

Knights of the Air book is one volume included in the Time-Life Epic of Flight series.

Epic of Flight: Knights of the Air
Book Contents

Chapter                                                                         Page             

1          The rush to a “noble cause�                                                       17
2          In pursuit of the Blue Max                                                         45
3          The Allies ascendant                                                                 77
4          The year of the Red Baron                                                        117
5          A timely spur to victory                                                 147