The air aces of World War I evoke a nostalgia-and a heroism-one might have forgotten. They went aloft and headed into enemy territory with almost no training. The crates they flew were designed and produced within a matter of days; this was enough time for an aeronautical genius like Fokker. The great gladiators shot the enemy from the sky on a kind of one-a-day plan, taking a toll as high as Richthofen's 80. Reynolds contrasts the concentrated spree of glory of a Bishop with the cautious, sophisticated style of a Mannock. With America's entry into the war, and Rickenbacker's deadly methods, the modern air age seems to dawn, and mass bombing raids take the place of the initiative and courage of the dogfight..... A creditable account with the professional pace and reportorial assurance to be expected from a practised hand.