Author Captain Haupt Heydemarck was a German Great War aerial observer who based his trilogy of books - of which this is the opening volume - on Western Front combat reports from 1915, written at the time when he was flying fighting patrols against the French. Eminently readable, Heydemarck's account of flying with his pilot partner 'Take' Engmann gives a lively account of the often hair-raising incidents in the early days of combat flying - such as freezing bombs caught in their release mechanism, machine guns that jam in the cold, blinding searchlights at night, anti-aircraft fire by day, and French fighters. Heydemarck copes with all this while doing his observer's job, (jotting down observations, taking reconnaissance photographs, a number of which are reproduced in the book) fitting in his dual role as a navigator into the bargain.