When I was 8 yrs old, my sisters got me a model of a Nieuport 11 for Christmas and 'Santa' brought me a 3 book set (Sink the Bismarck, The Flying Tigers and.....Flying Aces of WWI). I was hooked immediately on WWI aviation.
That was followed shortly with the Milton Bradley game Dogfight that my buddies and I played religiously for several years, and Enemy Ace comics. The rest, as they say, is (literally) history!!
I still have my original Flying Aces of WWI around boxed away somewhere and my son read it when he was about 10....but now, at 19, girls and fast cars have all of his attention.