British and Empire Aces of World War 1

An illustrated history of how the British fighter developed, both single- and two-seaters.

At the outset of World War I, the British possessed some 110 assorted aircraft, used predominantly for visual reconnaissance. With the emergence of faster and more agile single-seaters, the Allies and their adversaries engaged in a race to develop genuinely effective fighters equipped with fixed forward-firing machine gun armament. It was not until 1917 that the British succeeded in creating a truly effective interrupter gear, leading to the production of excellent single seaters such as the Sopwith Triplane Camel and the RAF S.E.5, later accompanied by the Bristol F.2B - lauded as the war's finest two-seat fighter.

British and Empire Aces of World War 1 explores the rapid evolution of the fighter during World War I and chronicles the extraordinary feats of the British and Empire aces who piloted them.