Arguably no single human invention has transformed war more than the aeroplane. The potential of airpower to change the very nature - perhaps even the meaning - of combat was strikingly evident almost from the moment the Wright brothers first flew. showing how, during the course of the 20th century, it transformed warfare. Drawing on combat memoirs, government and industry archives, technical studies and museum collections, this text brings together a complete narrative history of war in the air, with the people, events, ideas and inventions that made it possible.