Airplane Warfare in WWI

Airplane Warfare in WWI

   During World War One, the role of airplanes and how they

 were used changed greatly.  At first planes were only used

 for sport, but people started realize that not only could

 airplanes be useful but they could even influence an outcome

 of the war greatly.  Soon the war was filled with blimps,

 planes, and tethered balloons.  By the end of the war,

 planes became a symbol of fear, but they were not always

 treated with such respect.

          In the time leading up to the war, the general

 feeling about planes was, they were a sneaky, unfair tactic

 that should not be used in warfare.  During The 1899 Hague

 Peace Conference it was put on record that the dropping or

 shooting of any projectiles or explosives from the air

 during a time of war was forbidden and was considered a

 crime of war.  It was also decided that airplanes could only

 be used for reconnaissance or spying missions. (Villard-227)

 "The airplane may be all very well for sport, but for the

 army it is useless" (Quoted in Villard-227) Even by the

 beginning of the war in 1912, the use of planes in war was

 still prohibited by the War Office.  Shortly thereafter this

 changed, people awakened to the possibilities of air

 warfare.  The world soon started to realize the

 effectiveness of planes in war and how the control of the

 skies could influence the outcome. 

         Although the French were the first to have a

 working, conscripting air force and to license fliers, their

 trust in airplanes still was not up to par. Their lack of

 trust was justified, for the planes had no armaments, too

 many wires, and no reliable motor. (Villard-228) 

          Soon all countries in the war effort had their own

 little air force, built hangers, and started to train

 pilots.  The first bombing occurred in November 1911. 

 Although the first bomb was dropped by the Italians, soon

 all countries were involved in bombing raids. (Villard-229)

  It was followed by the first aerial dogfight in 1912. This

 consisted of a primitive exchange of pistol fire between

 British and German planes . (Harvey-95)

         The first flying experience for the United States

 occurred in 1862, during the Civil War.  General McClellan

 went into battle against the South with a balloon corps

 floated by hydrogen and pulled by four horses. (Saga-51)

         Literary fiction started to breed ideas about the

 use of planes in warfare. The most famous writer to explore

 the idea was H.G. Wells.  He wrote  The War In The Air, a

 book about the future in which battle is conducted with

 planes. (Wohl-70).  In Germany, literary fiction preceded

 the actual development of warfare in the air.  Rudolph

 Martin was a writer who predicted that the German's future

 was not on the sea, but in the air.  He also believed that

 further development in aviation would kill the importance of

 distance and help to lead toward the German unification of

 the world.   (Wohl-81)  Martin's novel helped to prepare the

 Germans for their use of planes in the war.  The fiction

 soon became scientific fact.  (Wohl-71)

           The United States, ultimately  was slower than

 France and Germany to develop an air force.  On March 3,

 1911, Congress appropriated $125,000 to start an air force,

 which consisted of five planes.  The first squadron was

 organized by the Americans on March 5, 1913, in Texas City.

  It consisted of nine planes. Although the United States

 entered the war in 1917, it did not use planes in the war at

 that time. (Villard-231)

         U.S. pilots had little or no experience in

 "cross-country navigation."  They did not have good maps and

 sometimes they became lost, ran out of fuel and would have

 to land behind enemy lines.  (Villard-233)

         As the Americans advanced in the use of planes in

 warfare, so did the Germans.  Initially, the Germans made no

 effort to hide their skepticism about the use of planes in

 warfare.  In the beginning of the war, many Germans raised

 in newspaper articles and on government committees the

 possibilities of warfare in the air, but the country as a

 whole was not quick to initiate the effort.  (Wohl-70)

 This quickly changed, however, because the  development of

 airplanes during the war was mostly credited to the Germans.

  The Germans came out with advances in planes that outdid

 anything that France had to offer.  Even though France had

 the largest air force in the world, they soon became

 second-best.  No matter how hard the other countries tried,

 the Germans were always one step ahead in airplane advances.

  These advances were so great that even though the Germans

 were outnumbered eight to one, they still came out on top. 

 For instance, the mounting of a machine gun behind the

 propellers seemed like suicide, but the Germans came up with

 the idea of a timed switch that would allow the gun to fire

 in-between rotations.  This made it easier to aim and fly at

 the same time.  Roland Garros, an allied flier, who mounted

 a gun in the cockpit and put protective plates on his

 propellers was trying to match the German timed device, but

 it was a faulty, unsafe rip-off . (Harvey-95) 

         Another advancement used by the Germans was the

 introduction of luminous paint so that pilot would not fly

 into each other or shoot each other during night raids.

 (Duke-130)  The allied countries tried many times to

 duplicate this and many other German inventions, but failed

 each time. 

         The Germans started putting up hangers and domes

 around it's boarders. They introduced more and more types of

 planes.  As the war went on, Germany introduced the

 BI-planes and Tri-planes which made the use of one winged

 planes obsolete.  The more wings, the more mobility,

 stability, and speed the plane had.  The mobility made it

 easier to evade gun fire or to maneuver better in dogfights.

  The stability made these new planes handle better in

 turbulence, and in reconnaissance missions the speed was

 most important for escaping the enemy.  These new German

 planes dominated the skies and made lumber of the

 allies' "flaming coffins" (old mono-planes) 

         The BI-plane was considered to be the best

 all-around plane.  It was the favorite of the German Flying

 Ace, Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the

 "Red Baron"  The Red Baron was the best pilot in the war,

 and was credited with shooting down 80 allied planes.  He

 was equally respected by both sides, and when he was shot

 down, his enemies held a service for him to show how much

 respect they had.  This show of chivalry was not uncommon,

 for in the beginning of the war, it was tradition to throw

 down a wreath if an enemy plane was shot down, to show

 respect and honor.  However when bombing was introduced, the

 feeling about planes turned from noble flying knights into

 fear, death from above. 

         The evolution of aircraft during World War One was

 profound and unmatched by any other advancements in any

 other field at the time.  From Reconnaissance to bombing,

 the use of airplanes in the war became a necessity

 and by the end of the war airplanes and pilots had earned

 the respect they deserved.  Today's warfare relies heavily

 on the use of aircraft, not only for destruction and

 transportation of troops and supplies, but also for it's

 initial use of reconnaissance.