When the Blue Flare tore through the skies, no pilot ever failed to answer that signal for help. But sometimes someone answers it who shouldn’t. Then a baited trap is the only answer.

• Download “One Blue Flare” (November 1933, War Birds)

O. B. Myers was a decorated WWI fighter pilot who turned to writing after the war. His air war stories have an authenticity that many writers can’t duplicate. This is especially true in this story of a new pilot experiencing the fear and confusion of combat for the first time.

• Download “This Guy Weston” (May 1931, War Birds)