The Aces' War

The popular stars of the time go by names such as Richthofen, Guynemer, Fonck, Udet, and Mannock. These flying aces are shaping the course of the First World War. Planes are getting better and kill counts are going up. But fame and success are starting to wear on these pilots. With strategies still not coordinated, they draw resentment from foot soldiers who are dying by the thousands each day.

World War I is the mark of a major new innovation in warfare: airplanes capable of high speed raids, bombing and shooting from the air, spying, and backing up ground troops. But the planes of that era were flown with little in the way of instrumentation. Brave and daring men flew them, often to the point of recklessness. This episode introduces us to the great flying aces of World War I.