The War in the Air

H. G. Wells's The War in the Air is a dark futuristic work of science fiction depicting aerial warfare between the United States and Germany. Wells's prophetic vision was written well before WWI when full scale aerial warfare would take place. The story unfolds of Bert Smallways, a young man accidentally carried away in a navigable airship invented by Mr. Butteridge. During his adventure, Smallways travels to Germany, discovering a secret airfield, and in the process, Germany's plans to attack the United States. Wells wrote this dark tale after the first flight of the Wright Brothers in 1903, after which world powers began to consider the potential strategic importance of aerial warfare. It first appeared serialized in The Pall Mall Magazine in 1908.