French Text

The fifty planes which make up this book all marked the Second World War in one way or another. They have been photographed at the air shows where they still fly, maintained in flying condition by associations or by wealthy amateurs at great expense and at the price of constant effort.

The pilots who take to the air in these planes today are experienced people and it mustn’t be forgotten that the pilots were only on average 22 or 23 years old at the time. The author has therefore become attached as much to the men as to the machines.

Among the famous planes in the book there are the Supermarine ‘Spitfire’, Junkers Ju 52, Polikarpov I-16, Hawker ‘Hurricane’, Boeing B-17 ‘Flying Fortress, Bell P-39 ‘Airacobra’, Grumann F6F Hellcat, Republic P-47 ‘Thunderbolt’, Focke Wulf FW 190, Yakovlev Yak 3, Curtiss P-40B ‘Tomahawk’, North American P-51 ‘Mustang’ and Mistubishi A6M ‘Zero’, etc.