The work of international journalist A. Alyabyev is not only the history of World War II, but also an excursion into the history of the development of military aviation during this period. The author attracts a huge documentary material: official reports from governments, news agencies, radio and the press, providing an opportunity to compare the views of the warring parties on the same events. Provides excerpts from orders, instructions, diaries and memoirs of command officers and pilots performing combat missions.