Urban devastation: the dream of Douhet and other prophets of air power. Aces such as Baron Manfred von Richthofen (the legendary Red Baron) and his successor Hermann Goering became worldwide celebrities. Among even the most bitter opponents, there was an almost medieval code of chivalry. In an era full of fear at the regimentation and mass movement of man, they were a welcome throwback to the knights of old, charging into enemy lines either single-handedly or in small squadrons. The men flying the fragile airplanes cut a romantic figure as they rose into the sky. Biplanes and triplanes soared, locked in dogfights over the trenches of France. German dirigibles had bombed London, causing panic. In the First World War, air power emerged as a dramatic new dimension of combat.
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