The War In the Air

The War In the Air engines,but by the end of the

By the outbreak of war, war Britain had the largest
all nations had an air and most advance air force in
force of some sort. In the world.
spite of their particular
interest in airships Based   o n   t he   unique  
geography  of  Great  B ritain,  
(blimps), the Germans
why  might  it  have  been  
had about 250 aircraft important  for  Britain  to  
in 1914. Their setup and quickly   c atch   up   t o   its  
enemies   in   its   n umber   o f  
aircrew training were airplanes?
generally superior to that A  French  pilot  demonstrates  the  dangers  of  flying  in  
WWI  as  he  lets  go  of  the  flying  controls  to  fire  the  
of the Allies and Austrian machine  gun.
air force was tiny Strong  and  stable,  the  Bristol  BE2  
compared to their German allies. was  the  most  reliable  reconnaissance  
plane  used  by  the  British.

The Russians had more airplanes

Compared to the Germans, the French were
than the British at the beginning of
outnumbered in aircraft by about 3 to 2 though the
the war and produced the giant
French had better designed airplanes. The French
four-engine Sikorsky Ilya
were also able to manufacture airplanes quicker
Moroumetz, the world’s first heavy
than the Germans which was was fortunate for
bomber in 1915. But few were ever
their ally, Britain, which lagged behind both the
build due to their complicated
French and Germans in 1914. The Royal British
design. The Italians produced some
Flying Corps was created in 1912, two years after the Manfred  von  Richthofen,  the  “Red  
excellent airplanes but due to their
French air force, and only had about 60 Baron”  Richthofen  stands  in  front  of  his  
trademark  red  Fokker  triplane.  He  was   constant military disorganization,
aircraft by 1914. For the first year or credited  with  the  destruction  of  a  
Italy never had great success in the
two the British were heavily record  80  Allied  aircraft  between  
September  1916  and  April  1918,  when   air war.
dependent on French airplane he  was  shot  down  over  enemy  lines.
 A Code
AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE of
Reconnaissance by air was the most valuable task performed by aircraft Honour
throughout the war. But since During World
reconnaissance by airplane was so War One, the
effective, the enemy naturally took speed of an
steps to prevent it, while protecting its airplane was not
own reconnaissance operations. Nor terribly important
did it take long to realize that if you British  troops  run  to  man  an  anti-­‐aircraft  gun  on  the  battle  field   and the biggest
of  Vimy  Ridge.
danger, apart from
occasional ground fire, was engine failure. In the skies, opposing pilots
occasionally exchanged salutes as a sign of respect. They soon turned
Aerial  camera  used  for  reconnaissance  
during  WWI. less friendly taking shots at each other with rifles or revolvers, but there
can see an enemy from above you always remained among aircrews respect and admiration for their
can hit it and so surveillance opponents.
expanded into attack. Airplanes
How   would   y ou   explain   t he   c hange   in   pilots   behaviour   from   s aluting    
began to be specifically designed in  the  beginning  of  the  war  to  firing  guns  at  one  another  at  the  end?
to be fighters and bombers
attacking enemies on the ground.

How   might   information  

gathered  by  airplanes  prove   Aerial  photograph  of  trenches  during  WWI.  
valuable  in  c ombat  occurring  on   Top  left  Allies,  Right  German AN EFFECTIVE FIGHTER
land  in  the  trenches?
Critical to an effective airplane fighter was a forward-firing machine-gun
that did not hit the propeller when it fired. Various solutions were tried. A
French engineer came up with a design that enabled a pilot to fire through
the propeller using gears. The
Germans quickly copied this
French design after shooting
The  Lewis  gun  was  quickly  adapted  for  use  on   down a French fighter plane and
fighters  fixed  above  the  wing.
 improving the firing system giving them a distinct
advantage throughout the rest of the war.

Fighting tactics were developed largely in

the air by pilots. Solo fighters soon learned
the advantage of attacking from above and
SE5A  -­‐  this  fast,  reliable  British   behind, preferably with the sun behind them
plane  could  reach  speeds  of  137   which blinded their opponents. When
mph  and  could  have  2  guns.
operating in pairs, one approached from the
side and opened fire early to distract attention from the other diving on
the enemy from the rear.

The Dangerous Life of a Pilot

Aircrew were absurdly overworked, required to fly several patrols each
day for weeks and months. Allied pilots were thrown into battle very
undertrained and inexperienced: 80 percent of British pilots that were
shot down had flown less 20 missions meaning they had only been flying
for a few weeks. The Germans were more careful and trained their pilots
better until heavy losses in the air forced them throw their own
inexperienced pilots into the war.

What  explanation  c an  y ou  give  for  why  pilots  might  be  s o  poorly  

trained   w hen   t hey   w ent   t o   i nto   c ombat?
CONTROL OF THE SKIES often. The British rarely used parachutes based on the fear that having
At its worst in April 1917, known them would encourage pilots to abandon their mission unnecessarily.
as “Bloody April” British pilots’
life expectancy dropped to 11 With   a   life   expectancy   of   11   days   as   a   pilot,   and   with   n o   parachute   in  
the   p lane   w hy   might   men   c ontinue   t o   t rain   and   w ant   t o   be   p ilots  
days. Later in 1917, the Allies
during   t he   F irst  World  War?
were able to win back control of
the skies, as Germany began
struggling to keep up with the
number of Allied planes. French Sopwith  Camel  -­‐  could  out  maneuver  any  
and British aircraft production in German  plane  with  relative  ease.
Recruiting  posters  for  pilots  -­‐  WWI
1917 was double that of the Germans. The end was near for Germany and
it struggled to match its enemies numbers.

STILL IN THE EARLY STAGES

Despite the huge increase in airplanes flying over Europe during World
War One, the
technology of flight was
still in its infancy. This
led to an extremely high
casualty rate – 50% of
British pilots were
either shot down or
badly wounded during
the war and the French
and German rates were Parachutes  were  not  widely  used  in  WWI.

very similar. More pilots

were lost through accidents than in battle, though fewer might have died
had parachutes been widely used. At first parachutes were thought to be
too heavy for the airplanes but later in the war the Germans used them