Technology was a critical factor in all battlefields of the First World War. Particularly on the German side, air force fighters, such as Oswald Boelcke, Manfred von Richthofen and Ernst Udet, became folk heroes. They were stylized as war heroes in the extensive aviator literature published from 1914 to 1945. The study examines how the fliers became projection screens for the imagination of the general public.

Immanuel Voigt, Historiker, Jena.