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Encyclopedia: Aviation in World War I, Talk:Aviation in World War I

Bloody April by the Allied air forces. The Royal Flying Corps suffered losses so severe it came close to being annihilated. However, they managed to keep the German Air Force on the defensive, largely preventing them from from using their planes on bombing or reconnaissance missions to assist their troops on the ground.

Shortly after "Bloody April", the Allies re-equipped their squadrons with new planes such as the Sopwith Pup, and SE5a which helped tip the balance back in their favor. The Germans responded with new fighters as well, such the Fokker Dr.I but these were countered by the British Sopwith Camel and French SPAD S.XIII. As a result, neither side managed to take a clear technological advantage for the remainder of the war, but eventually the Allies would gain the advantage in numbers and material toward the end of the year.

Up to 1918: the final years of war

The final year of the war (1918) saw increasing shortages of supplies on the side of the Central Powers. Captured Allied planes were scrounged for every available material, even to the point of draining the lubricants from damaged engines just to keep one more German plane flyable.
Manfred von Richthofen, the famed Red Baron credited with around 80 victories, was killed in April, possibly by an Australian anti-aircraft machinegunner (although Royal Air Force pilot Captain Arthur Roy Brown was officially credited), and the leadership of Jagdgeschwader 1 eventually passed to Hermann Göring, future head of Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe.
Germany introduced the Fokker D.VII, both loved and loathed to the point that surrender of all surviving examples was specifically ordered by the victorious allies.

This year also saw the United States increasingly involved. While American volunteers had been flying in Allied squadrons since the early years of the war, it wasn't until 1918 when all-American squadrons begin patrolling the skies above the trenches. At first, the Americans were largely supplied with second-rate weapons and obsolete planes, such as the Nieuport 28. But as American forces began arriving in large numbers, they received better equipment, including the SPAD S.XIII, one of the best French planes in the war.

Anti-aircraft weaponry

right|thumb|A German observation balloon being bombed by an allied aircraft.
Though aircraft still functioned as vehicles of observation, increasingly it was used as a weapon in itself. Dog fights erupted in the skies over the front lines - planes went down in flames and heroes were born. From this air-to-air combat, the need grew for better planes and gun armament. Aside from machine guns, air-to-air rockets were also used like the Le Prieur rocket against balloons and airships.

This need for improvement was not limited to air-to-air combat. On the ground, methods developed before the war were being used to deter enemy planes from observation and bombing. Anti-aircraft artillery rounds were fired into the air and exploded into clouds of smoke and fragmentation, called archie by the allies, providing enemy aircraft with an obstacle course to fly around.

Anti-aircraft artillery defenses were increasingly used around observation balloons, which became frequent targets of enemy fighters equipped with special incendiary bullets. Attacks on balloons were so frequent that observers were given parachutes, enabling them to jump to safety. Ironically, only a few aircrew had the luxury of parachutes, due in part to a mistaken belief they inhibited aggressiveness (and in part to early aircraft being unable to lift their significant weight).

Bombers and Recon Planes

As the stalemate developed on the ground, with both sides unable to advance even a few miles without a major battle and thousands of casualties, planes became greatly valued for their role gathering intelligence on enemy positions and bombing the enemy's supplies behind the trench lines. Large planes with a pilot and an observer were used to recon enemy positions and bomb their supply bases. Because they were large and slow, these planes made easy targets for enemy figher planes. As a result, both sides used fighter aircraft to both attack the enemy's two-seat planes and protect their own while carrying out their missions.

While the two-seat bombers and Recon planes were slow and vulnerable, they were not defenseless. Two-seat planes had the advantage of both forward and rear firing guns. Typically, the pilot controlled fixed guns behind the propeller, similar to guns in a fighter plane, while the observer controlled a mounted machine gun that he could aim with a 180 arc at incoming fighters behind the plane. Furthermore, two-seat planes could dive at very high speeds due to their excessive weight, allowing them to put some distance between them and enemy fighters. Also, pursuing a diving two-seater was hazardous for a fighter pilot, as it would place the fighter directly in the rear-gunner's line of fire. Several high scoring aces of the war were shot down by "lowly" two-seaters, including Raoul Lufbery and Robert Little.

Strategic Bombing

The first ever aerial bombardment of civilians was during World War I. On January 19, 1915, two German Zeppelins dropped 24 fifty-kilogram high-explosive bombs and ineffective three-kilogram incendiaries on Great Yarmouth, Sheringham, King's Lynn, and the surrounding villages. In all, four people were killed, sixteen injured, and monetary damage was estimated at £7,740, although the public and media reaction were out of proportion to the death toll.

There were a further nineteen raids in 1915, in which 37 tons of bombs were dropped, killing 181 people and injuring 455. Raids continued in 1916. London was accidentally bombed in May, and, in July, the Kaiser allowed directed raids against urban centres. There were 23 airship raids in 1916 in which 125 tons of ordnance were dropped, killing 293 people and injuring 691. Gradually British air defences improved. In 1917 and 1918 there were only eleven Zeppelin raids against England, and the final raid occurred on August 5 1918, which resulted in the death of KK Peter Strasser, commander of the German Naval Airship Department. By the end of the war, 51 raids had been undertaken, in which 5,806 bombs were dropped, killing 557 people and injuring 1,358. The Zeppelin raids were complemented by the Gothaer bomber, which was the first heavier than air bomber to be used for strategic bombing. It has been argued that the raids were effective far beyond material damage in diverting and hampering wartime production, and diverting twelve squadrons and over 10,000 men to air defences. The calculations which were performed on the number of dead to the weight of bombs dropped would have a profound effect on the attitudes of the British authorities and population in the interwar years.

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multi-video item|filename=Bombers of WW1.ogg|title=Bombers of WWI|description= Video clip of allied bombing runs over German lines.|format=multi-video

==Observation balloons==

Manned observation balloons floating high above the trenches were used as stationary reconnaissance points on the front lines, reporting enemy troop positions and directing artillery fire. Balloons commonly had a crew of two personnel equipped with parachutes: upon an enemy air attack on the flammable balloon the balloon crew would parachute to safety. Recognized for their value as observer platforms, Observation balloons were important targets of enemy aircraft. To defend against air attack, they were heavily protected by large concentrations antiaircraft guns and patrolled by friendly aircraft. Blimps and balloons helped contribute to the stalemate of the trench warfare of World War I, and the balloons contributed to air to air combat among the aircraft to defend the skies for air superiority because of their significant reconnaissance value.

In order to encourage their pilots to attack enemy balloons whenever they were found, both sides counted downing an enemy balloon as an "air-to-air" kill, with the same value as shooting down an enemy plane. Some pilots became particularly distinguished by their prowess at shooting down enemy balloons. Perhaps the most well known was American ace Frank Luke. 14 of his 18 kills were enemy balloons.

Notable aces

(Complete list: List of World War I flying aces)

Notable Aircraft

* Aircraft of the Entente Powers
* Aircraft of the Central Powers

See also :Category:World War I aircraft.

Notes

See also

Main articles

World War

Other articles

* Aviation history: 1914-1918
* Flying ace
* Dogfight

References

*The Great War, television documentary by the BBC.
*Pearson, George, Aces: A Story of the First Air War, historical advice by Brereton Greenhous and Philip Markham, NFB, 1993. Contains assertion aircraft created trench stalemate.
*Winter, Denis. First of the Few. London: Allen Lane/Penguin, 1982. Coverage of the British air war, with extensive bibliographical notes.
*Morrow, John. German Air Power in World War I. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. Contains design and production figures, as well as economic influences.
*Editors of American Heritage. History of WW1. Simon & Schuster, 1964.

External links

* http://members.shaw.ca/flyingaces/ Rosebud's WWI and Early Aviation Image Archive
* http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Air_Power/WWI_Bombing/AP3.htm Bombing during World War I
* http://www.flyboysthemovie.com Flyboys - World War I aviation movie
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_baron_3d Red Baron 3D - WWI Combat Flight Simulator
* http://www.alexanderpalace,org/aerialrussia/ - Aerial Russia - the Romance of the Giant Airplane - aviation in Russian before and during WWI - online book

Italian Aircraft:
* http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/caproni3.htm Aircraft of the AEF - Caproni Ca.3
* http://www.aerei-italiani.net/SchedeT/aereoca2.htm Aerei Italiani (Italian)

Category:Aviation history
Category:World War I aviation