You should read Winston Groom’s book , THE AVIATORS. He skillfully enter twines the biographies of Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh, and Jimmy Doolittle. Amazingly, all three lived to ripe old ages. Rickenbaker was the all around nicest guy and had the most brushes with death.
His 1963 autobiography is excellent. At the end, he has a few thoughts on his vision for the future. In one paragraph he describes three idea that eventually become Fed-Ex, Amazon and the Internet.
Speaking of WWI aces, a direct ancestor of a friend of mine was Manfred von Richthofen, the Red baron.