Dawn Patrol board wargame, 1982

After watching the 1966 film Blue Max, 15 year-old Mike Carr created Fight in the Skies, the world’s first tactical air combat game as well as the first air combat game set during World War I.

Carr self-published the first three editions, and in 1972 Guidon Games released the 4th. In 1975, TSR under its newly formed board games division published the 5th through 7th editions, with the most recent iteration, renamed Dawn Patrol, releasing in 1982.

Fight in the Skies is the only game to have been played at every Gen Con (the largest and longest running tabletop convention in North America) since its inception in 1968.