It was not for nothing that the 20th century was dubbed the “CENTURY OF AVIATION” - in just a hundred years it has come a colossal path from the first timid flights, which lasted a few minutes, to complete dominance in the air and the status of the new “Goddess of War”, and aircraft designers became its “priests” . How did this transformation from an auxiliary branch of the military into a determining factor in combat operations take place? What revolutions has aviation experienced over the past century, which has become the bloodiest in human history? Who wins the age-old confrontation between the Air Force and Air Defense? What allows the air force to maintain dominance over the battlefield even in the era of air defense systems, nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles? And whose aircraft designers made the greatest contribution to the fierce century-long struggle for air superiority? Tracing the entire history of combat aviation from the first “sky slow-movers” to the latest fifth-generation combat systems, a leading military historian identifies hidden patterns and possible alternatives, the main lessons of the past and forecasts for the future .The book was also published under the title “The 20th Century of Aviation.”