One of Jack Williamson's early short stories, "The Second Shell" is a wild ride featuring aliens living above the heaviside layer of the atmosphere, a would-be world conqueror, a stuttering scientist, a pilot, a guy and his gal. Oops, I forgot the mysterious red airplanes with stubby wings...
Scanned from AIR WONDER STORIES, Vol. 1 No. 5, November 1929.