Robert E. van Patten

For nearly a century, Dayton, Ohio, has been a seedbed of the nation's military airpower.

Between the wars, airmen ran enormous risks to take piston-powered airplanes above 50,000 feet.

Throughout the 1930s, American airmen fought the Imperial Japanese Army in China.

At nine Gs, you weigh 1,800 pounds and you feel every ounce of it.

Seventy years ago, aviators knew little about the hazards that awaited them above 20,000 feet.