Like The Long Reach, Down to Earth is a message from the battle at its height, told in their own words by the men who fight' this is how Brig-Gen Francis Griswold, VIII Fighter Command, ends his introduction to this book. His official endorsement reveals just how important a document Down to Earth was to the teaching of tyro fighter pilots heading for action in the ETO. More leading aces were lost to flak whilst ground strafing than to German fighters. In this book William Hess has included biographies of all the pilots that originally contributed to this work back in 1943-44.

William N Hess is the official historian for the American Fighter Aces Association, and is one of the most highly respected aviation writers of his generation. A B-17 crewman during World War 2, Hess has written over 40 books during his long and distinguished career. An airbrush artist with years of experience, Chris Davey has become Osprey's principal illustrator of RAF aircraft, having produced the profiles for over a dozen books since 1994. His most recent work includes Aircraft of the Aces 30: 'P-47 Thunderbolt Aces of the Ninth and Fifteenth Air Forces' and Combat Aircraft 19: 'Sunderland Squadrons of World War 2'. He is particularly adept at 'big' aircraft like the Halifax and Sunderland.