Reaktion Books Sky Wars, A History of Military Aerospace Power - 2003

Unlike land and maritime military warfare, which has evolved over thousands of years, the history of war in the air is as short as it has been spectacular: only 100 years have passed since the first flight in a powered aircraft. Despite its brief history, however, military air power is not an insignificant part of the modern military machine: on the contrary, it has played a strikingly prominent role in recent conflicts and humanitarian relief operations, and is likely to take the leading position in many future ones. In the decades since World War II the skies, and increasingly space, have acquired ever more importance as the ultimate "high ground".