Eddie Rickenbacker and Dick Bong: The Lives of America's Top Fighter Aces during the World Wars

At first, airplane improvements occurred in an ad hoc, almost accidental manner during World War I. However, when pilots' mounting of armaments on airplanes proved a successful means of defeating other aircraft and even attacking men on the ground, a much more active and systematic development of warplanes began across the continent. Each advance prompted a countermeasure, as the two sides strove for primacy in a deadly, unforgiving environment which rewarded real advances in equipment and ...