Flying Aces
As millions of men suffered and died in the trenches during the Great War, a few hundred pilots did battle in the sky. America’s best-known ace pilot was Eddie Rickenbacker (right) of the 94th Aero Pursuit Squadron — a pilot who was credited with shooting down twenty-six enemy aircraft. The 94th was known as the hat-in-the-ring squadron, after the American custom by which a combatant threw his hat into the ring as an invitation to fight. Note the hat insignia on the plane. © Bettmann/Corbis.