This book is a gripping story about the exploits of Soviet aviators who fought in the skies over Stalingrad, Rostov, the Ukraine, East Prussia, and Berlin. Its author, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Dmitrevich Lavrinenkov, was a man of great courage and had a bright and unusual fate.

In August 1944, already an experienced fighter pilot with more than 25 victories in his tally, he rammed a Focke-Wulf Fw-189 and was forced to bail out from his damaged fighter over enemy-occupied territory. Lavrinenkov was captured, but escaped and exfiltrated from enemy territory until finding a partisan unit, where he fought for more than two months. The partisans helped him return to his unit. He would ended the war in Berlin.

The process of becoming a young fighter pilot, his path to mastery, is beautifully shown in the book. The main place is occupied by the story of the author's comrades-in-arms, with whom he spent the entire war, first as an ordinary pilot, a Serzhant, then as a squadron commander, and finally as the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment’s commander (9th GvIAP).