"Stories of heroism these may have been, but Air Ace did not shy away from the fact that they were also stories of savage aerial combat and that the pilots and the crews of these fighters and bombers were fighting for their very existence and to protect their families from bombs and firestorms."

The first volume in this revised and expanded series covering the Fleetway war libraries features updated and corrected issue lists co-compiled by David Roach, along with all-new introductions, extensive biographies of many of the major artists and a creators index which includes shorter biographical sketches of artists and writers not covered in the Biographies section. Amongst the artists included are cover artists Ian Kennedy, Graham Coton, Alan Willow, Nino Caroselli and Pino Dell'Orco; other artists covered include F. Solano Lopez, George Stokes, Aldo Di Gennaro, Fernando Fernandez, Juan Zanotto, Victor Hugo Arias, Juan Abellan, Marcello Ralli, Luis Martinez Mira, Leopoldo Ortiz and Leopoldo Sanchez.

The book is contains over 500 illustrations, many of them taken from original artwork which has rarely been seen outside of private collections.