Battle Birds

Five biplanes in an aerial dogfight
Cover of the first issue; art by Frederick Blakeslee

Battle Birds was an American air-war pulp magazine published by Popular Publications from 1932 to 1935 and from 1940 to 1944.

It was launched at the end of 1932, but did not sell well, and in 1934 the publisher turned it into an air-war hero pulp titled Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds. Robert Sidney Bowen, an established pulp writer, provided the lead novel each month, and also wrote the short stories that filled out the issue. All of the cover art was painted by Frederick Blakeslee. Bowen's stories were set in the future, with the United States menaced by an Asian empire called the Black Invaders. The change was not successful enough to be extended beyond the initial plan of a year, and Bowen wrote a novel in which, unusually for pulp fiction, Dusty Ayres finally defeated the invaders, to end the series. The magazine ceased publication with the July/August 1935 issue.

It restarted in 1940, under the original title, Battle Birds, and lasted for another four years.