miamieagle
June 5th, 2009, 14:58
Aviation in World War I
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from WWI Aircraft (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WWI_Aircraft&redirect=no))
Jump to: navigation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#column-one#column-one), search (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#searchInput#searchInput)
Color Autochrome Lumière (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autochrome_Lumi%C3%A8re) of a Nieuport Fighter in Aisne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisne), France 1917
About ten years after the Wright brothers made the first powered flight, there was still much to be improved upon. Because of limitations of the engine power of the time, the effective payload of aircraft was extremely limited. They were made mostly of hardwood (braced with steel wires (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_wires)) and linen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linen) fabric doped with flammable liquid[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-timelife-0#cite_note-timelife-0) to give them the stiffness required to form a wing surface. Aside from these primitive materials, the rudimentary aviation engineering of the time meant most aircraft were structurally fragile by later standards, and not infrequently broke up in flight especially when performing violent combat maneuvers such as pulling up from steep dives.
As early as 1909, these evolving flying machines were recognised to be not just toys, but weapons:
The sky is about to become another battlefield no less important than the battlefields on land and sea....In order to conquer the air, it is necessary to deprive the enemy of all means of flying, by striking at him in the air, at his bases of operation, or at his production centers. We had better get accustomed to this idea, and prepare ourselves.
– Giulio Douhet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulio_Douhet) (Italian staff officer), 1909[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-timelife-0#cite_note-timelife-0)
In 1911, Captain Bertram Dickson, the first British military officer to fly, also correctly prophesied the military use of aircraft. He predicted aircraft would first be used for reconnaissance, but this would develop into each side trying to "hinder or prevent the enemy from obtaining information", which would eventually turn into a battle for control of the skies. This is exactly the sequence of events that would occur several years later.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-timelife-0#cite_note-timelife-0)
The first operational use of aircraft in war took place on 23 October 1911 in the Italo-Turkish War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo-Turkish_War), when Captain Carlo Piazza made history’s first reconnaissance flight near Benghazi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benghazi) in a Blériot XI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%A9riot_XI). [2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-1#cite_note-1)
Contents
[hide (http://javascript<b></b>:toggleToc())]
1 The early years of war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#The_early_years_of_war#The_early_year s_of_war)
1.1 Early "Western Front" reconnaissance duties (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Early_.22Western_Front.22_reconnaissa nce_duties#Early_.22Western_Front.22_reconnaissanc e_duties)
1.2 Early bombing efforts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Early_bombing_efforts#Early_bombing_e fforts)
2 The dawn of air combat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#The_dawn_of_air_combat#The_dawn_of_ai r_combat)
2.1 Problems mounting machine guns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Problems_mounting_machine_guns#Proble ms_mounting_machine_guns)
2.1.1 The pusher solution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#The_pusher_solution#The_pusher_soluti on)
2.1.2 Machine gun synchronisation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Machine_gun_synchronisation#Machine_g un_synchronisation)
2.1.3 Other methods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Other_methods#Other_methods)
3 1915: The Fokker Scourge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#1915:_The_Fokker_Scourge#1915:_The_Fo kker_Scourge)
4 1916: Battle of the Somme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#1916:_Battle_of_the_Somme#1916:_Battl e_of_the_Somme)
5 1917: Bloody April (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#1917:_Bloody_April#1917:_Bloody_April )
6 Up to 1918: the final years of war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Up_to_1918:_the_final_years_of_war#Up _to_1918:_the_final_years_of_war)
7 Impact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Impact#Impact)
8 Anti-aircraft weaponry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Anti-aircraft_weaponry#Anti-aircraft_weaponry)
9 Bombing and reconnaissance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Bombing_and_reconnaissance#Bombing_an d_reconnaissance)
10 Strategic bombing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Strategic_bombing#Strategic_bombing)
11 Observation balloons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Observation_balloons#Observation_ball oons)
12 Notable aces (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Notable_aces#Notable_aces)
13 Notable aircraft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Notable_aircraft#Notable_aircraft)
14 Notes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Notes#Notes)
15 See also (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#See_also#See_also)
15.1 Main articles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Main_articles#Main_articles)
15.2 Other articles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Other_articles#Other_articles)
16 References (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#References#References)
17 External links (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#External_links#External_links)
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=1)] The early years of war
Rumpler Taube (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpler_Taube)
From the very start, there was some debate over the uses (or usefulness) of aircraft in warfare. Many senior officers, in particular, remained skeptical.
In Germany the great successes of the early Zeppelin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin) airships had largely overshadowed the importance of heavier-than-air aircraft. Out of a paper strength of about 230 aircraft belonging to the army in August 1914 only 180 or so were of any use.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-2#cite_note-2) The French military aviation exercises of 1911, 1912, and 1913 had pioneered cooperation with the cavalry (reconnaissance) and artillery (spotting), but the momentum was if anything slacking.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-3#cite_note-3) Great Britain had "started late" and initially relied largely on the French aircraft industry, especially for aircraft engines. The initial British contribution to the total allied airwar effort in August 1914 (of about 184 aircraft) was three squadrons with about 30 serviceable machines. [5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-4#cite_note-4) The US army and navy air services were hopelessly behind – even in 1917, when the United States entered the war, they were to be almost totally dependent on the French and British aircraft industries for combat aircraft. [6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-5#cite_note-5)
The initial campaigns of 1914 proved that cavalry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry) could no longer provide the reconnaissance expected by their generals, in the face of the greatly increased firepower of Twentieth century armies. It was quickly realised, on the other hand, that aircraft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft) could at least locate the enemy – even if early air reconnaissance was hampered by the newness of the techniques involved. Early scepticism and low expectations quickly turned to unrealistic demands beyond the capabilities of the primitive aircraft available.[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-6#cite_note-6) Even so, air reconnaissance played a critical role in the "war of movement" of 1914, especially in helping the Allies halt the German invasion of France. On August 22, 1914, British Captain L.E.O. Charlton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Charlton) and Lieutenant V.H.N. Wadham reported German General Alexander von Kluck (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_von_Kluck)’s army was preparing to surround the BEF, contradicting all other intelligence. The British High Command listened to the report and started a withdrawal toward Mons, saving the lives of 100,000 soldiers. Later, during the First Battle of Marne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Marne), observation planes discovered weak points and exposed flanks in the German lines, allowing the allies to take advantage of them. [8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-7#cite_note-7) The Germans' great air "coup" of 1914 (at least according to contemporary propaganda) was at the Battle of Tannenberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tannenberg_(1914)) in East Prussia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Prussia) where an unexpected Russian attack was reported by Lts. Canter and Mertens, resulting in the Russians' being forced to withdraw.[9] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-8#cite_note-8)
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=2)] Early "Western Front" reconnaissance duties
Late in 1914 the lines between the Germans invading France and the Allies stretched from the North Sea to the Alps. The initial “war of movement” largely ceased, and the front became static. Three main functions of short range reconnaissance squadrons had emerged by March 1915.
The first was photographic reconnaissance - building up a complete mosaic map of the enemy trench system. The first air cameras used glass plates (“Kodak” cellulose film had been invented, but did not have sufficient resolution).[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-illustrated-9#cite_note-illustrated-9)
Artillery “spotting” – enabled the ranging of artillery on targets invisible to the gunners. Radio telephony had not been invented, so communication was a problem. By March 1915, a two seater on “artillery observation” duties was typically equipped with a primitive radio transmitter transmitting the clicks of a Morse key, but had no receiver. The artillery battery signalled to the aircraft by laying strips of white cloth on the ground in prearranged patterns. These duties were shared with the observation balloon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_(aircraft)), tethered to the ground. Balloonists could communicate directly with their batteries by field telephone, but were obviously far less flexible in locating targets and reporting the fall of shot.
“Contact patrol” work (called Infanteriefliegerdienst by the Germans) attempted to follow the course of a battle by communicating with advancing infantry while flying over the battlefield. The technology of the period did not permit radio contact, and methods of signalling were necessarily crude, and included dropping messages from the aircraft. Soldiers were naturally reluctant to reveal their positions to aircraft, as it was difficult for them to distinguish between friend and foe.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=3)] Early bombing efforts
Typical 1914 aircraft could carry only very small bomb loads - the bombs themselves, and their stowage, were still very elementary, and effective bomb sights were still to be developed. Nonetheless the beginnings of strategic and tactical bombing date from the earliest days of the war. Notable are the raids by the RNAS on the German airship sheds at Dusseldorf, Cologne and Friedrichhafen in September, October and November 1914, as well as the formation of the Brieftauben Abteilung Ostende (or "Ostend carrier pigeon detachment", cover name for the first German strategic bombing unit), which mounted the first token raid over the English Channel in December 1914.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=4)] The dawn of air combat
As Dickson had predicted, initially air combat was extremely rare – and definitely subordinate to reconnaissance. There are even numerous stories of the crew of rival reconnaissance aircraft exchanging nothing more belligerent than smiles and waves.[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-illustrated-9#cite_note-illustrated-9) This soon progressed to throwing bricks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick), grenades (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenades), and other objects, even rope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope), which they hoped would tangle the enemy aircraft's propeller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propeller).[11] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-10#cite_note-10) The first aircraft to bring down another was through ramming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramming) on September 8, 1914, by Russian pilot Pyotr Nesterov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Nesterov), who died in the attack. Eventually pilots began firing handheld firearms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm) at enemy aircraft.[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-illustrated-9#cite_note-illustrated-9) The era of air combat proper, began as more and more aircraft were fitted with machine guns.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=5)] Problems mounting machine guns
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=6)] The pusher solution
As early as 1912, designers at the British firm Vickers were experimenting with machinegun-carrying aircraft – the first concrete result was the Vickers EFB.1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vickers_EFB.1&action=edit&redlink=1), which was featured at the 1913 aero show[12] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-11#cite_note-11) and appeared in developed form as the FB.5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_FB.5) in February 1915. This pioneering fighter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighter_aircraft), like the Royal Aircraft Factory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory)FE.2b (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_FE.2) and the Airco DH.1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airco_DH.1) were pusher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pusher_configuration) types. The pusher design had the engine and propeller behind the pilot, facing backward, rather than in front, as in a tractor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractor_configuration) type. This provided an optimal machinegun position, which could be fired directly forward without an obstructing propeller, and reloaded and cleared in flight. The drawback was, pusher designs – because of the struts and rigging necessary to hold their tail units, and the extra drag this entailed – tended at best to have an inferior performance to tractor types with the same engine power. Although the FE.2d, a more powerful version of the FE.2b, remained a formidable opponent well into 1917, pusher fighters were already obsolete – on the whole they failed in a most important criterion, being too slow to catch their quarry.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=7)] Machine gun synchronisation
Main article: Interrupter gear (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrupter_gear)
The forward firing gun of a pusher "gun carrier" provided some offensive capability – the mounting of a machine gun firing to the rear from a two seater tractor aircraft gave defensive capability. There was an obvious need for some means to fire a machine gun forward from a tractor aircraft – especially from one of the small, light, "scout" aircraft, adapted from pre-war racers, that were to perform most air combat duties for the rest of the war. It would seem most natural to place the gun between the pilot and the propeller, to be able to aim it as well as service it during a gun jam. However, this presents an obvious problem, a percentage of the bullets will actually strike the propeller, quickly destroying it.
Early experiments with synchronised (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrupter_gear) machine guns were carried out before the war in several countries. Franz Schneider (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schneider) – the former Nieuport (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuport) designer now working for the L.V.G. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.V.G.) concern in Germany patented a synchronisation gear on July 15, 1913. An early Russian gear was designed by a Lieutenant Poplavko, and the Edwards Brothers in England designed the first British example. Finally – the Morane-Saulnier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier) company were working on the problem in 1914. All these early gears failed to attract official attention – partly due to official inertia – but partly also due to the terrifying results of failures of these early synchronising gears, which included dangerously ricocheting bullets as well as disintegrating propellers. [13] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-12#cite_note-12)
The Lewis gun, used on many early Allied aircraft, proved next to impossible to successfully synchronise due to its open bolt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_bolt) firing cycle. In an open bolt firing cycle, it is impossible to predict the exact time any given round will fire, and for obvious reasons this is a unattractive characteristic in a weapon one is attempting to fire between the spinning blades of a propeller. Photographs of apparently synchronised Lewis gun mountings on RNAS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Naval_Air_Service) were probably in fact free firing - hardly a satisfactory solution.
Diagram of Fokker's "Zentralsteuerung" synchronization mechanism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interruptor_gear#Fokker.27s_synchronizer). Pulling the green handle lowers the red cam follower onto the cam wheel attached to the propeller shaft. When the cam raises the follower, the blue rod is depressed against the spring, enabling the yellow trigger plate to be reached when the purple firing button is pressed. This image shows a side view of one of the original Spandau LMG 08 guns, somewhat different in appearance from the LMG 08/15 later German fighters used.
The Maxim guns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_gun) used by both the Allies (as the Vickers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_machine_gun)) and Germany (as the LMG 14 Parabellum and LMG 08 Spandau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maschinengewehr_08)) had a closed bolt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_bolt) firing cycle that started with a bullet already in the breech and the breech closed, so the firing of the bullet was the next step in the cycle. This meant that the exact instant the round would be fired could be predicted with precision, making these weapons considerably easier to synchronize.
The standard French light machine gun, the Hotchkiss (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotchkiss), was also most unamenable to synchronisation due to rounds "hanging fire" – and the Morane-Saulnier company designed a "safety backup" in the form of "deflector blades" (metal wedges) fitted to the propeller at the point where they would be struck by a bullet. Roland Garros (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Garros_(aviator)) trialled this system in a Morane-Saulnier L (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_L) in April 1915. He managed to score several kills, but it was proved to be an inadequate and dangerous solution. Garros eventually was forced by engine failure (possibly caused by the repeated strain on his aircraft's crankshaft of the "deflected" bullets striking his propeller) to land behind enemy lines, and he, and his aircraft, were captured by the Germans. [14] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-13#cite_note-13)
Famously – the German High Command passed Garros' Morane to the Fokker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker) company, who already produced Morane type monoplanes for the German Air Service – with orders to copy the latest design. The deflector system was totally unsuitable for the steel jacketed German ammunition so that the Fokker engineers were forced to revisit the synchronisation idea (perhaps infringing Schneider's patent) – resulting in the Eindecker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_Eindecker) fighter series. Crude as these little monoplanes were, they produced a period of German air superiority (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_superiority), known as the "Fokker Scourge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_Scourge)" by the Allies. The psychological effect exceeded the material - the Allies had up to now been more or less unchallenged in the air, and the vulnerability of their older reconnaissance aircraft, especially the British B.E.2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_BE.2) and French Farman pushers, came as a very nasty shock.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=8)] Other methods
Another method used at this time to fire a machine gun forward from a tractor design was to mount the gun to fire above the propeller arc. This required the gun to be mounted on the top wing of biplanes and be propped up and secured by complicated, drag inducing mounting in monoplanes. Reaching the gun so that drums or belts could be changed, or jams cleared, presented problems – even when the gun could be mounted relatively close to the pilot. Eventually the excellent Foster mounting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster_mounting) became more or less the standard way of mounting a Lewis gun in this position in the R.F.C. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Flying_Corps)[15] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-14#cite_note-14) - this allowed the gun to slide backward for drum changing, and also to be fired at an upward angle, a very effective way of attacking an enemy from the "blind spot" under his tail. This type of mounting was still only possible for a biplane with a top wing positioned near the apex of the propeller's arc - it put considerable strain on the fragile wing structures of the period, and it was much less rigid than a gun mounting on the fuselage - producing a greater "scatter" of bullets, especially at anything but very short range.
The earliest versions of the Bristol Scout (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Scout) to see aerial combat duty in 1915, the Scout C, had Lewis gun mounts in RNAS service that sometimes were elevated above the propeller arc, and sometimes (in an apparently reckless manner) firing directly through the propeller arc without synchronisation. Captain Lanoe Hawker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanoe_Hawker) of the Royal Flying Corps, however, had mounted his Lewis gun just forward of the cockpit to fire forwards and outwards, on the left side of his aircraft's fuselage at about a 30º angle, on his Scout C, with serial number 1611, and with this aircraft on July 25, 1915, managed to defeat three German two seat observation aircraft to earn the first Victoria Cross (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross) awarded to a British aviator.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=9)] 1915: The Fokker Scourge
Main article: Fokker Scourge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_Scourge)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from WWI Aircraft (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WWI_Aircraft&redirect=no))
Jump to: navigation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#column-one#column-one), search (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#searchInput#searchInput)
Color Autochrome Lumière (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autochrome_Lumi%C3%A8re) of a Nieuport Fighter in Aisne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisne), France 1917
About ten years after the Wright brothers made the first powered flight, there was still much to be improved upon. Because of limitations of the engine power of the time, the effective payload of aircraft was extremely limited. They were made mostly of hardwood (braced with steel wires (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_wires)) and linen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linen) fabric doped with flammable liquid[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-timelife-0#cite_note-timelife-0) to give them the stiffness required to form a wing surface. Aside from these primitive materials, the rudimentary aviation engineering of the time meant most aircraft were structurally fragile by later standards, and not infrequently broke up in flight especially when performing violent combat maneuvers such as pulling up from steep dives.
As early as 1909, these evolving flying machines were recognised to be not just toys, but weapons:
The sky is about to become another battlefield no less important than the battlefields on land and sea....In order to conquer the air, it is necessary to deprive the enemy of all means of flying, by striking at him in the air, at his bases of operation, or at his production centers. We had better get accustomed to this idea, and prepare ourselves.
– Giulio Douhet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulio_Douhet) (Italian staff officer), 1909[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-timelife-0#cite_note-timelife-0)
In 1911, Captain Bertram Dickson, the first British military officer to fly, also correctly prophesied the military use of aircraft. He predicted aircraft would first be used for reconnaissance, but this would develop into each side trying to "hinder or prevent the enemy from obtaining information", which would eventually turn into a battle for control of the skies. This is exactly the sequence of events that would occur several years later.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-timelife-0#cite_note-timelife-0)
The first operational use of aircraft in war took place on 23 October 1911 in the Italo-Turkish War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo-Turkish_War), when Captain Carlo Piazza made history’s first reconnaissance flight near Benghazi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benghazi) in a Blériot XI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%A9riot_XI). [2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-1#cite_note-1)
Contents
[hide (http://javascript<b></b>:toggleToc())]
1 The early years of war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#The_early_years_of_war#The_early_year s_of_war)
1.1 Early "Western Front" reconnaissance duties (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Early_.22Western_Front.22_reconnaissa nce_duties#Early_.22Western_Front.22_reconnaissanc e_duties)
1.2 Early bombing efforts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Early_bombing_efforts#Early_bombing_e fforts)
2 The dawn of air combat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#The_dawn_of_air_combat#The_dawn_of_ai r_combat)
2.1 Problems mounting machine guns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Problems_mounting_machine_guns#Proble ms_mounting_machine_guns)
2.1.1 The pusher solution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#The_pusher_solution#The_pusher_soluti on)
2.1.2 Machine gun synchronisation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Machine_gun_synchronisation#Machine_g un_synchronisation)
2.1.3 Other methods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Other_methods#Other_methods)
3 1915: The Fokker Scourge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#1915:_The_Fokker_Scourge#1915:_The_Fo kker_Scourge)
4 1916: Battle of the Somme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#1916:_Battle_of_the_Somme#1916:_Battl e_of_the_Somme)
5 1917: Bloody April (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#1917:_Bloody_April#1917:_Bloody_April )
6 Up to 1918: the final years of war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Up_to_1918:_the_final_years_of_war#Up _to_1918:_the_final_years_of_war)
7 Impact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Impact#Impact)
8 Anti-aircraft weaponry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Anti-aircraft_weaponry#Anti-aircraft_weaponry)
9 Bombing and reconnaissance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Bombing_and_reconnaissance#Bombing_an d_reconnaissance)
10 Strategic bombing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Strategic_bombing#Strategic_bombing)
11 Observation balloons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Observation_balloons#Observation_ball oons)
12 Notable aces (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Notable_aces#Notable_aces)
13 Notable aircraft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Notable_aircraft#Notable_aircraft)
14 Notes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Notes#Notes)
15 See also (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#See_also#See_also)
15.1 Main articles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Main_articles#Main_articles)
15.2 Other articles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#Other_articles#Other_articles)
16 References (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#References#References)
17 External links (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#External_links#External_links)
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=1)] The early years of war
Rumpler Taube (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpler_Taube)
From the very start, there was some debate over the uses (or usefulness) of aircraft in warfare. Many senior officers, in particular, remained skeptical.
In Germany the great successes of the early Zeppelin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin) airships had largely overshadowed the importance of heavier-than-air aircraft. Out of a paper strength of about 230 aircraft belonging to the army in August 1914 only 180 or so were of any use.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-2#cite_note-2) The French military aviation exercises of 1911, 1912, and 1913 had pioneered cooperation with the cavalry (reconnaissance) and artillery (spotting), but the momentum was if anything slacking.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-3#cite_note-3) Great Britain had "started late" and initially relied largely on the French aircraft industry, especially for aircraft engines. The initial British contribution to the total allied airwar effort in August 1914 (of about 184 aircraft) was three squadrons with about 30 serviceable machines. [5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-4#cite_note-4) The US army and navy air services were hopelessly behind – even in 1917, when the United States entered the war, they were to be almost totally dependent on the French and British aircraft industries for combat aircraft. [6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-5#cite_note-5)
The initial campaigns of 1914 proved that cavalry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry) could no longer provide the reconnaissance expected by their generals, in the face of the greatly increased firepower of Twentieth century armies. It was quickly realised, on the other hand, that aircraft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft) could at least locate the enemy – even if early air reconnaissance was hampered by the newness of the techniques involved. Early scepticism and low expectations quickly turned to unrealistic demands beyond the capabilities of the primitive aircraft available.[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-6#cite_note-6) Even so, air reconnaissance played a critical role in the "war of movement" of 1914, especially in helping the Allies halt the German invasion of France. On August 22, 1914, British Captain L.E.O. Charlton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Charlton) and Lieutenant V.H.N. Wadham reported German General Alexander von Kluck (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_von_Kluck)’s army was preparing to surround the BEF, contradicting all other intelligence. The British High Command listened to the report and started a withdrawal toward Mons, saving the lives of 100,000 soldiers. Later, during the First Battle of Marne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Marne), observation planes discovered weak points and exposed flanks in the German lines, allowing the allies to take advantage of them. [8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-7#cite_note-7) The Germans' great air "coup" of 1914 (at least according to contemporary propaganda) was at the Battle of Tannenberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tannenberg_(1914)) in East Prussia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Prussia) where an unexpected Russian attack was reported by Lts. Canter and Mertens, resulting in the Russians' being forced to withdraw.[9] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-8#cite_note-8)
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=2)] Early "Western Front" reconnaissance duties
Late in 1914 the lines between the Germans invading France and the Allies stretched from the North Sea to the Alps. The initial “war of movement” largely ceased, and the front became static. Three main functions of short range reconnaissance squadrons had emerged by March 1915.
The first was photographic reconnaissance - building up a complete mosaic map of the enemy trench system. The first air cameras used glass plates (“Kodak” cellulose film had been invented, but did not have sufficient resolution).[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-illustrated-9#cite_note-illustrated-9)
Artillery “spotting” – enabled the ranging of artillery on targets invisible to the gunners. Radio telephony had not been invented, so communication was a problem. By March 1915, a two seater on “artillery observation” duties was typically equipped with a primitive radio transmitter transmitting the clicks of a Morse key, but had no receiver. The artillery battery signalled to the aircraft by laying strips of white cloth on the ground in prearranged patterns. These duties were shared with the observation balloon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_(aircraft)), tethered to the ground. Balloonists could communicate directly with their batteries by field telephone, but were obviously far less flexible in locating targets and reporting the fall of shot.
“Contact patrol” work (called Infanteriefliegerdienst by the Germans) attempted to follow the course of a battle by communicating with advancing infantry while flying over the battlefield. The technology of the period did not permit radio contact, and methods of signalling were necessarily crude, and included dropping messages from the aircraft. Soldiers were naturally reluctant to reveal their positions to aircraft, as it was difficult for them to distinguish between friend and foe.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=3)] Early bombing efforts
Typical 1914 aircraft could carry only very small bomb loads - the bombs themselves, and their stowage, were still very elementary, and effective bomb sights were still to be developed. Nonetheless the beginnings of strategic and tactical bombing date from the earliest days of the war. Notable are the raids by the RNAS on the German airship sheds at Dusseldorf, Cologne and Friedrichhafen in September, October and November 1914, as well as the formation of the Brieftauben Abteilung Ostende (or "Ostend carrier pigeon detachment", cover name for the first German strategic bombing unit), which mounted the first token raid over the English Channel in December 1914.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=4)] The dawn of air combat
As Dickson had predicted, initially air combat was extremely rare – and definitely subordinate to reconnaissance. There are even numerous stories of the crew of rival reconnaissance aircraft exchanging nothing more belligerent than smiles and waves.[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-illustrated-9#cite_note-illustrated-9) This soon progressed to throwing bricks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick), grenades (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenades), and other objects, even rope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope), which they hoped would tangle the enemy aircraft's propeller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propeller).[11] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-10#cite_note-10) The first aircraft to bring down another was through ramming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramming) on September 8, 1914, by Russian pilot Pyotr Nesterov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Nesterov), who died in the attack. Eventually pilots began firing handheld firearms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm) at enemy aircraft.[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-illustrated-9#cite_note-illustrated-9) The era of air combat proper, began as more and more aircraft were fitted with machine guns.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=5)] Problems mounting machine guns
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=6)] The pusher solution
As early as 1912, designers at the British firm Vickers were experimenting with machinegun-carrying aircraft – the first concrete result was the Vickers EFB.1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vickers_EFB.1&action=edit&redlink=1), which was featured at the 1913 aero show[12] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-11#cite_note-11) and appeared in developed form as the FB.5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_FB.5) in February 1915. This pioneering fighter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighter_aircraft), like the Royal Aircraft Factory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory)FE.2b (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_FE.2) and the Airco DH.1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airco_DH.1) were pusher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pusher_configuration) types. The pusher design had the engine and propeller behind the pilot, facing backward, rather than in front, as in a tractor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractor_configuration) type. This provided an optimal machinegun position, which could be fired directly forward without an obstructing propeller, and reloaded and cleared in flight. The drawback was, pusher designs – because of the struts and rigging necessary to hold their tail units, and the extra drag this entailed – tended at best to have an inferior performance to tractor types with the same engine power. Although the FE.2d, a more powerful version of the FE.2b, remained a formidable opponent well into 1917, pusher fighters were already obsolete – on the whole they failed in a most important criterion, being too slow to catch their quarry.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=7)] Machine gun synchronisation
Main article: Interrupter gear (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrupter_gear)
The forward firing gun of a pusher "gun carrier" provided some offensive capability – the mounting of a machine gun firing to the rear from a two seater tractor aircraft gave defensive capability. There was an obvious need for some means to fire a machine gun forward from a tractor aircraft – especially from one of the small, light, "scout" aircraft, adapted from pre-war racers, that were to perform most air combat duties for the rest of the war. It would seem most natural to place the gun between the pilot and the propeller, to be able to aim it as well as service it during a gun jam. However, this presents an obvious problem, a percentage of the bullets will actually strike the propeller, quickly destroying it.
Early experiments with synchronised (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrupter_gear) machine guns were carried out before the war in several countries. Franz Schneider (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schneider) – the former Nieuport (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuport) designer now working for the L.V.G. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.V.G.) concern in Germany patented a synchronisation gear on July 15, 1913. An early Russian gear was designed by a Lieutenant Poplavko, and the Edwards Brothers in England designed the first British example. Finally – the Morane-Saulnier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier) company were working on the problem in 1914. All these early gears failed to attract official attention – partly due to official inertia – but partly also due to the terrifying results of failures of these early synchronising gears, which included dangerously ricocheting bullets as well as disintegrating propellers. [13] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-12#cite_note-12)
The Lewis gun, used on many early Allied aircraft, proved next to impossible to successfully synchronise due to its open bolt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_bolt) firing cycle. In an open bolt firing cycle, it is impossible to predict the exact time any given round will fire, and for obvious reasons this is a unattractive characteristic in a weapon one is attempting to fire between the spinning blades of a propeller. Photographs of apparently synchronised Lewis gun mountings on RNAS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Naval_Air_Service) were probably in fact free firing - hardly a satisfactory solution.
Diagram of Fokker's "Zentralsteuerung" synchronization mechanism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interruptor_gear#Fokker.27s_synchronizer). Pulling the green handle lowers the red cam follower onto the cam wheel attached to the propeller shaft. When the cam raises the follower, the blue rod is depressed against the spring, enabling the yellow trigger plate to be reached when the purple firing button is pressed. This image shows a side view of one of the original Spandau LMG 08 guns, somewhat different in appearance from the LMG 08/15 later German fighters used.
The Maxim guns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_gun) used by both the Allies (as the Vickers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_machine_gun)) and Germany (as the LMG 14 Parabellum and LMG 08 Spandau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maschinengewehr_08)) had a closed bolt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_bolt) firing cycle that started with a bullet already in the breech and the breech closed, so the firing of the bullet was the next step in the cycle. This meant that the exact instant the round would be fired could be predicted with precision, making these weapons considerably easier to synchronize.
The standard French light machine gun, the Hotchkiss (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotchkiss), was also most unamenable to synchronisation due to rounds "hanging fire" – and the Morane-Saulnier company designed a "safety backup" in the form of "deflector blades" (metal wedges) fitted to the propeller at the point where they would be struck by a bullet. Roland Garros (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Garros_(aviator)) trialled this system in a Morane-Saulnier L (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_L) in April 1915. He managed to score several kills, but it was proved to be an inadequate and dangerous solution. Garros eventually was forced by engine failure (possibly caused by the repeated strain on his aircraft's crankshaft of the "deflected" bullets striking his propeller) to land behind enemy lines, and he, and his aircraft, were captured by the Germans. [14] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-13#cite_note-13)
Famously – the German High Command passed Garros' Morane to the Fokker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker) company, who already produced Morane type monoplanes for the German Air Service – with orders to copy the latest design. The deflector system was totally unsuitable for the steel jacketed German ammunition so that the Fokker engineers were forced to revisit the synchronisation idea (perhaps infringing Schneider's patent) – resulting in the Eindecker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_Eindecker) fighter series. Crude as these little monoplanes were, they produced a period of German air superiority (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_superiority), known as the "Fokker Scourge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_Scourge)" by the Allies. The psychological effect exceeded the material - the Allies had up to now been more or less unchallenged in the air, and the vulnerability of their older reconnaissance aircraft, especially the British B.E.2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_BE.2) and French Farman pushers, came as a very nasty shock.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=8)] Other methods
Another method used at this time to fire a machine gun forward from a tractor design was to mount the gun to fire above the propeller arc. This required the gun to be mounted on the top wing of biplanes and be propped up and secured by complicated, drag inducing mounting in monoplanes. Reaching the gun so that drums or belts could be changed, or jams cleared, presented problems – even when the gun could be mounted relatively close to the pilot. Eventually the excellent Foster mounting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster_mounting) became more or less the standard way of mounting a Lewis gun in this position in the R.F.C. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Flying_Corps)[15] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI_Aircraft#cite_note-14#cite_note-14) - this allowed the gun to slide backward for drum changing, and also to be fired at an upward angle, a very effective way of attacking an enemy from the "blind spot" under his tail. This type of mounting was still only possible for a biplane with a top wing positioned near the apex of the propeller's arc - it put considerable strain on the fragile wing structures of the period, and it was much less rigid than a gun mounting on the fuselage - producing a greater "scatter" of bullets, especially at anything but very short range.
The earliest versions of the Bristol Scout (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Scout) to see aerial combat duty in 1915, the Scout C, had Lewis gun mounts in RNAS service that sometimes were elevated above the propeller arc, and sometimes (in an apparently reckless manner) firing directly through the propeller arc without synchronisation. Captain Lanoe Hawker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanoe_Hawker) of the Royal Flying Corps, however, had mounted his Lewis gun just forward of the cockpit to fire forwards and outwards, on the left side of his aircraft's fuselage at about a 30º angle, on his Scout C, with serial number 1611, and with this aircraft on July 25, 1915, managed to defeat three German two seat observation aircraft to earn the first Victoria Cross (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross) awarded to a British aviator.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_in_World_War_I&action=edit§ion=9)] 1915: The Fokker Scourge
Main article: Fokker Scourge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_Scourge)