The book recreates the process of forming the Russian Air Fleet under the leadership of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and represents the once famous, but undeservedly devoted to oblivion, balloonists and pilots of the early 20th century. Compiled by S.V. Gribanov, a fighter pilot, a member of the Writers' Union of Russia, the book includes manifestos and open letters from representatives of the Tsar's family, fragments of chronicles from periodicals of the beginning of the last century, memoirs and letters of aviators (E.V. Rudneva, B.M. Tkacheva, P.N. Nesterova), as well as essays and stories of professional writers (Vl. Gilyarovsky, A. Kuprina, A. Tolstoy).