IT IS HARD TO THINK OF A MACHINE OF ANY KIND that evokes such universal feelings of power, heroism and lethal grace as the WW II fighter. Sadly, many existed for a pitifully short period of time before disappearing entirely as soon as the war was over. Only the later fighters, the Mustangs, Hellcats, etc., had any postwar life at all. Still, here we are, several generations removed from their time on center stage and we are more captivated by them today then at any time in history. The allure of the machines and the young men who flew them is captivating and, it seems, is eternal.
Because of the foregoing, putting together a magazine devoted to WW II Fighters is difficult because it's so hard to decide what to leave out. The amount of ground to be covered (so to speak) is enormous. Stories of men and machines are so numerous and far reaching that we'd need a magazine the size of the Manhattan phone book to even put a dent in the subject. But, we did our best. That's why we need two special issues a year: in doing one, we always have enough left over for another.
