Full Circle: The Story of Air Fighting

Johnny Johnson was the highest scoring Allied ace of World War II and arguably one of the finest flyers in the R.A.F. His book is unique among books about war in the air, simply from the cockpit perspective he brought to the subject. This is the only complete account of the evolution of the tactics of fighter aircraft and their pilots, from beginning to end. It starts with the first exciting air dogfights in World War I, when 70 mile-an-hour biplanes lumbered through the sky in single encounters over France. It traces the swift development of higher performance fighter planes between the wars, and shows how British, German, and American pilots sharpened their skills in the vastly more powerful and heavily armed fighters of World War II. A final fascinating section describes the further evolution of fighter tactics in the era of supersonic jets - the last manned fighter planes the world is likely to see.