'I know I'm going to die. I just don't know when. And worrying about when it's going to happen is killing me.' - U.S. Fighter Pilot, World War One.
When the First World War broke out, powered flight was barely a decade old. Within the first few months of the war, the first flimsy aircraft would change ground warfare forever. An Allied reconnaissance plane spotted a crucial weakness in the German lines at the Marne in August 1914. However, as the Allies massed in attack, a German aircraft saw them and the element of surprise was lost. Armies could no longer manoeuvre without being seen - and the era of trench warfare began.
At first rival pilots regarded each other as brothers, but the desperate need to knock out the enemy 'eye in the sky' led to the swift development of the first fighter aircraft. World War One would be fought with equal ferocity in the air as on the ground.
