"The New York Times bestselling author of Viper Pilot and retired USAF F-16 legend Dan Hampton offers the first comprehensive popular history of combat aviation--a unique, entertaining, and action-packed look at the aces of the air and their machines, from the Red Baron and his triplane in World War I to today's technologically expert flying warriors in supersonic jets."--

Little more than ten years after the first powered flight, aircraft were pressed into service in World War I. The romance of aviation had a remarkable grip on the public imagination, propaganda focusing on gallant air 'aces' who become national heroes. The reality was horribly different. Some 50,000 aircrew died in World War I. Marked for death explored the brutal truths of wartime aviation: of flimsy planes and unprotected pilots; of burning nineteen-year-olds...

A stunning terror bombing strikes a research facility in France, a much-admired African-American general is killed in a hit-and-run accident, and Pentagon staff officer John Reynolds finds an old friend, now an influential lobbyist, drunk and fearful. In short order, Reynolds must face a car bombing at his front door, his girlfriend's murder, and the wrath of a retired Green Beret general as scarred as he is inexplicably wealthy. Struggling to behave...

"The F-14 Tomcat tells readers all about the history of this jet fighter. It explains what the Tomcat could do and how it was used more by another country than the United States. A brief explanation of why they were destroyed by the U.S. military is also noted in this book that takes readers into a flight toward knowledge and understanding."--

"It was more than 50 years ago when the U.S. Air Force put in a request. It wanted a lighter fighter jet. Soon the F-16 Falcon was born. And it is still going strong today. The plane known by pilots as the 'Viper' is being used around the world by friends of America. Part of the America's Fighter Jets series: the F-16 Fighting Falcon places readers in the cockpit. It teaches them all about this incredible aircraft. and why it has been a mainstay in...

Attack aircraft are important to militaries around the world that need to deliver precise airstrikes. Readers will learn what makes these aircraft attackers, their capabilities, crewmembers, and much more.

"October 1942. Jo Hardy, a 22-year-old ferry pilot, is delivering a Supermarine Spitfire--the fastest fighter aircraft in the world--to Biggin Hill Aerodrome, when she realizes someone is shooting at her aircraft from the ground. Returning to the location on foot, she finds an American serviceman in a barn, bound and gagged. She rescues the man, who is handed over to the American military police; it quickly emerges that he is considered a suspect...

A small fighter jet gets the chance of a lifetime to compete in an international airshow championship. Determined to win, the jet signs up with a demanding trainer, but the reigning champ wants to make sure the jet won't win the tournment--or even compete.

In the near future, the Navy develops a stealth fighter plane. On board piloting the jet is an artificial intelligence computer. The jet is placed on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific to learn combat manuevers from the human pilots aboard. But when the computer develops a mind of its own, it's the humans who are charged with stopping it before it incites a war.