The Interwar Aviation series covers aircraft that were developed and used between World War 1 and World War 2, and was known as the “Golden Age of Aviation.”
In the two decades between the end of World War 1 and the start of World War 2, military aviation underwent a complete transformation. The typical combat aircraft of 1918 was a fabric-covered externally braced biplane with fixed landing gear and open cockpits. Few aero engines developed as much as 250 horsepower, and top speeds of 200 km (120 miles) per hour were exceptional. By 1939 the first-line combat aircraft of the major powers were all-metal monoplanes with retractable landing gear.