Beginning with the development of balloons, dirigibles and armed aircraft, the author portrays the uses of aircraft in World War I, on the Western Front and in the Middle East. Faith in Zeppelins was shattered by accidents and led to the improvement of bi-planes and heavy bombers in the 1920s and 1930s and to increasingly professional training. The work of the RAF in World War II, including photographic reconnaissance, air-sea rescue and transport of vital supplies as well as fighting and bombing, is recorded in a range of photographs, drawings, paintings and emphera. Post-war, the reader witnesses the RAF's role in NATO, the development of more sophisticated aircraft and training and its contribution to victory in the Falklands. A final discussion of the RAF in the 1990s brings the book up to date.