Early in the last century, aviation was in its infancy—and dangerous enough without the added element of combat. Yet a group of young men from several nations climbed aboard frail machines of canvas and wood and took to the sky to do battle in World War I. Those who survived, and indeed excelled at, this new type of warfare were accorded a status similar to modern-day rock stars. With ever-rising mortality rates from trench warfare, each country needed heroes, and these daring flying aces fit the bill. 

Mark C. Wilkins, an historian and writer on World War I aviation, examines the rise of the ace phenomenon through the exploits of its most colorful characters—many of whom did not live to the end of the war.

Among them are Eddie Rickenbacker, America's "Ace of Aces" who flew more hours than any other U.S. pilot; Germany’s top flyer Manfred von Richthofen, known as the Red Baron; Raoul Lufbery of the famed Lafayette Escadrille, an inscrutable loner whose best friend was a lion named Whiskey; the first of the German aces, Max Immelmann, who perished while doing his famous Immelmann Turn; and France’s Charles Nungesser, the flamboyant  "Knight of Death" who sustained so many injuries he often had to be lifted into his fighter.

Their stories—and those of other aces—bring to life the bravado and danger that characterized this legendary era of aviation history.