Aviators of the Great War have been called ‘Knights of the Sky’ - officers fighting individual combats above a battlefield where millions of men struggled amidst mud, machine guns and shellfire.

The reality was somewhat less glamorous, and the life expectancy of a Royal Flying Corps (RFC) pilot could be measured in weeks. The constant see-sawing of aerial supremacy saw hand-held weapons from rifles and pistols - and even bricks - give way to multiple automatic weapons.

Ace pilots were those who learned to sneak up on their opponents and shoot them in the back. Nonetheless, there was still a degree of chivalry in the skies where the RFC fought, triumphed and emerged in 1918 as the independent Royal Air Force.

British Aircraft of World War One, Issue 84 in the Aviation Archive series, presents the famous and lesser-known fighters, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft of the RFC and RAF 1914-18 through archive photographs, detailed cutaway drawings and colourful profile paintings.