This is the story of the single-seater fighter operations over the Western Front flown by the fighter pilots of Great Britain and her Commonwealth. Along with their opposite numbers from Germany and her allies, these pilots of the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Naval Air Service and later, the Royal Air Force, were the world's first fighter pilots. The Great War of 1914-1918 saw the advent of a new type of warfare. For the first time in history the aeroplane was to play an important and vital role in the pursuit of war. The stalemate of trench warfare on the Western Front, where trenches stretched from the coast of Belgium to the borders of Switzerland, saw aeroplane reconnaissance as the only way to observe the activities of the opposing side, a task previously carried out by cavalry. It was imperative that these two-seater observation/reconnaissance aeroplanes were prevented in carrying out their vitally important tasks and destroyed - in effect to deny the enemy his 'eyes'. Fast 'fighter' aeroplanes were used to carry out this task, which led to each side attempting to protect their reconnaissance aeroplanes with fighter aeroplanes of their own. It was the beginning of a new type of warfare - aerial combat.

By the autumn of 1916, with the formation of the new Jagdstaffeln, the pendulum of aerial supremacy had once again swung in favor of the German Air Force. The battle of the Somme in 1916 saw the RFC suffer losses of nearly 400 aircrew between September and November, and British casualties were to reach a zenith in the 'Bloody April' of 1917 when 319 aircrew were lost, killed or taken prisoner of war. This was the situation when No 56 Squadron arrived in France at the end of April 1917. Equipped with the superb new SE 5, it was the first fighter squadron of the RFC to be able to meet the Albatros and Halberstadt fighters of the Jagdstaffeln on equal terms. The squadron's pilots won an incredible tally of decorations, and by the end of the hostilities many famous fighter pilots had passed through its ranks - Albert Ball VC, Canadian Hank Burden and American Robert Caldwell to name but a few. In this fascinating study, Alex Revell uncovers the early days and development of No 56 Squadron, its victories and losses, and the birth of a proud tradition.