Airplanes During World War 1

World War One weapons were often primitive and unreliable. Airplanes were still in their infancy at this point in time, and they were crudely built and inadequate in battle. During World War One, airplanes were bi-winged and often built using fabric and wood. Their tops speeds were slow and they traveled at a low altitude which allowed enemies to fire upon and hit both pilots and planes. The pilots had to literally fly low and drop bombs over the side of the plane. The most frequent use of the airplane during this time was for spying. Adolf Hitler gained control of the Nazi party in the early 1930’s with the promise of making Germany great again. He quickly raised the military numbers and took control of Germany with absolute power. Within

Early planes didn’t have any storage available. All supplies or packages had to be stored in the cockpit next to the pilot. This even included bombs and other dangerous cargo. Two types of planes that would have a cargo area added were the bomber and the cargo plane. The cargo plane was used to simply transport goods and soldiers to where they were needed. The ability to move troops to battle fronts quickly enhanced the way battles were fought. The bomber planes, such as B-29, used the cargo area to transport and drop bombs on specific targets. The cargo area in these planes would include a hatch where the bombs were released. These bombers could carry between one thousand and four thousand five hundred pounds of explosives. These advancements in cargo space have allowed armies to transport troops and materials long distances in a short amount of

The biplane was outdated and was limited in the missions that could be performed. The engines continued to be more advanced with their power coming from pistons. The new engines produced more power allowing these planes to not only to increase their flying speed, but they also allowed the planes to fly for longer periods of time. These newer fighters were able to make longer trips without stopping for fuel. This allowed pilots to complete round trip missions, returning safely back to their home base. Twin engines would be added to some aircrafts to help move heavy loads or for those airplanes that were heavily armored. These aircrafts weren’t as maneuverable as many of the single-engined planes. In a dog fight, these heavy aircrafts were easily defeated. But they were good to use as bombers, having the ability to haul larger amounts of explosives. The longer the war lasted to more speed and altitude were reached. At the beginning of the war, the distance an average plane could travel was about 300 miles. By the end of the war, this distance was doubled. At the beginning of World War Two, planes could only reach an altitude of about 35,000 feet. Towards the end of the war, planes were reaching altitudes between 40,000 and 45,000 feet. The engines could overheat, causing a malfunction that lead to the crew’s deaths. However, engines were changed to be cooled down in two ways. The first way was to bring cold outside air