A flying Ace, fighter Ace or Air Ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The concept of the "Ace" emerged in 1915 during World War I, at the same time as aerial dogfighting, and was a term often also used to create heroes for domestic audiences, in what were otherwise wars of attrition. The individual combat actions of Aces were widely reported and disseminated as a chivalrous knight reminiscent to ancient era.
For a brief early period, the exceptionally skilled pilot could shape the battle in the skies, and approximately five percent of combat pilots account for the majority of air-to-air victories. French newspapers were the first to describe Adolphe Pegoud as an Ace in World War I, and later Manfred von Richthofen, known as the "Red Baron. There were a large number of Air Aces in World War II, and later in the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq-Iran, and Arab-Israeli wars. This book covers 25 of the greatest Air Aces across wars, nationalities and countries.
