This encyclopedia explains the development of air warfare in the 20th century (this Vol goes up to 1945 -- its follow up Vol picks up from there and goes to current days). It analyzes each major historical development, explaining how regional and global events changed military aerospace. Chapters run typically 2-4 pages long. Text entries contain just about enough text material to do a decent job covering historical events without belaboring the issues. It gives itself the luxury of including anecdotes to help depict the human side vs. combat conditions or aircraft performance issues. There are lots of pictures (mostly B/W especially in Vol I), good-quality color plates (mostly half-page in size), and simple color maps to illustrate military strategies. Simplified aircraft stats are provided with the color plates. Signed by: Jefferson DeBlanc Jefferson Joseph DeBlanc (February 15, 1921 – November 22, 2007) was a World War II Marine Corps fighter pilot and ace — shooting down nine Japanese aircraft during two tours of duty in the Pacific at Guadalcanal and Okinawa — and a Medal of Honor recipient.