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Use of airplanes in ww1
WWI and Early Cold Aviation
Use of airplanes in ww1
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On August 17th, 1917, General Jan Christian Smuts, of the Royal Flying Corps, explained the importance of airplanes that they would not just play a role as an auxiliary force within the military, but would create a new form of warfare in the skies: “There is absolutely no limit to the scale of its future independent war use. And the day may not be far off when aerial operations with their devastation of enemy lands and destruction of industries and populous centres on a vast scale may become one of the principal operations of war, to which the older forms of military and naval operations may become secondary and subordinate.” It was upon this recommendation in a report written to the Air Ministry and the Air Staff to combine the two fronts of Britain’s aerial presence, to create a single independent military branch, the Royal Air Force. On April 1st, 1918 the Royal Air Force was officially formed and it would forever change the history of the world to come. The history of aerial flight is often looked at from the perspective of the great moments, from the first flight of the Wright Brothers in 1903, to the Battle of Britain, but many less than stellar moments have perhaps shaped the formation of aviation in ways that may have been overlooked. Heavier-than-air flight, as it were, was in its infancy of development in Britain, due to tightening Government spending and unconvinced investors. For instance, the Wright Brothers were actually invited to come to Britain, but were turned away because the Treasury was unwilling to financially back their aerial experiments. Just the same, the British Balloon Factories were offered meager investments compared to the financial backing that the giant airships, or Zeppelins, were receiving in ... ... middle of paper ... ...ting the target for attacks. These advances quickly led to a significant drop in lost shipping vessels by more than 80 percent, and also allowed for advanced staging of Allied invasion forces that would otherwise be hindered by the German U-boats. On May 8th, 1945 the war against the tyrannical Nazis in Europe was over, but the Allies and the British needed to look towards the Western Front, to defend the United States of America against the Japanese. While the RAF played a major role against the European threats, the presence against the Japanese was not felt nearly as great as it was in the campaign against the Germans. On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb exploded over the city of Hiroshima, and a second on August 9th, 1945, on Nagasaki, causing the Japanese to unconditionally surrender to the Allies on August 15th, 1945, officially ending World War II.
For as long as most of the world can remember aviation has played a major factor in how wars are fought. Starting in World War I the worlds fighting forces began using aircraft to conduct surveillance missions over enemy territory. While these aircraft were not the masters of stealth that todays aircraft are there was no technology to take down these planes at the time. Air-to-air combat was an event that rarely happened and was almost never effective.
In today’s world, the use of airplanes in wars or in everyday life has become a part of how we live as human beings. Removing the air forces of the world is like taking a step back in time when wars were only fought on land or sea. WWI began only eleven short years after the Wright brothers achieved powered flight in 19031 and yet aircrafts were being used for surveillance and eventually combat purposes. It is understood that these aircrafts were primitive, but they laid down the foundation for what we know today as fighter jets. The Fokker Eindecker “revolutionized air combat by successfully employing a synchronized forward -firing machine gun mounted on the engine cowling”2. Because this airplane became the first to successfully use a synchronized machine gun, it allowed its pilots to become the first aerial combat tactitions3.
World War One was known as the war that would end all wars. At first, airplanes in the war were thought to have just little combat use. An unknown British general even commented, " The airplane is useless for the purpose of war." In the beginning of the First World War, the airplanes were pretty simple and raw. By the end of the war, aircraft had become more advanced and had split off into fighters, bombers and long-range bombers. The specifications of the airplanes were changed to meet the war's requirements. When the War started in August of 1914, British airmen were associated with the British army and their commissioned officers had army ranks. Before the United State’s declaration of war in 1917, American nationals had enlisted in British and French air services including the Lafayette Escadrille. By the time the war ended in November of 1918, the Royal Flying Corps no longer prevailed and was absorbed into the recently developed Royal Air Force. The Royal Air Force now had its own command structure away from the army and provided its own ranks.
The First World War was monumental in history because of all the new technology that was introduced. One particular area that developed during the Great War was the use of airplanes by the German and Allied militaries. In comparison, they both had different mentalities towards an invention that was only made successful less than a decade before the outbreak of war in 1914 by the Wright Brothers in North Carolina, United States. The German Military welcomed the idea with open arms, investing in its potential for military uses, whereas the Allies remained reserved and hesitant, claiming that aircraft could not be used for anything more offensive than reconnaissance missions. These differences in opinions later affected the development of each air force. The German military kept making consistent improvements to their equipment whereas the allied pilots were slow in their respective air force evolution. However, there was a common progression that both militaries had which was the slow phasing out of the cavalry on either side due to the effectiveness of the aircrafts reconnaissance and battle capabilities. During the World War One, the German military took advantage of the new technology available to them, which gave significant results, whereas the Allies had a more traditional mindset and followed behind at a slower pace.
During World War II (WW2) the aeroplane proved to be the military’s greatest asset. It was dominant as it was versatile. Unlike the tank, boat or even the foot soldier the planes can serve in all areas of one countries military, land, sea and of course the air. They could fight where ever needed. Not only did they attack in dog fights or bombing raids they could go for a surveillance or reconnaissance to assist their forces. They destroyed many enemies industrial plants and provided many ground combat support.
The Vietnam War provided challenging and exciting times for United States (US) military aviation. Jets were still considered new technology at the beginning of the 1960’s and had not been tested thoroughly during the Korean War. As the situation in Vietnam started to escalate, US leadership recognized the importance of air superiority and the need to use and adapt newer technology. Air superiority can be achieved through multiple means, but none as romanticized and iconic as aerial combat. The general concept remains the same even to this day—defeat the other plane. However, the means to winning a dog fight had changed greatly due to the quick advancement in jet propulsion and guided weapon technology. This paper provides a summarization of the US efforts towards achieving air superiority through the means of aerial combat.
Goering’s plan for the defeat of Britain consisted of three phases. First, the Luftwaffe would bomb the British Navy and any merchant ships crossing the English Channel. The goal of this was to cause a shortage of supplies and a weakened morale in Gre...
During World War I, General Mitchell demonstrated the importance of air superiority. The Battle of St. Mihiel exemplified this concept. During this battle, Allied forces massed their air power and sent waves of planes to destroy German ground power. Mitchell was attached to the assaulting force and emerged as the first American Army aviator to cross enemy lines. This status earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, the French Legion of Honor, and a promotion to Brigadier General. This promotion enabled Mitchell control over all American air combat units in France. These successes legitimized Mitchell’s world view on air superiority.
...st practical use of the airplane, mail was flown in war-era planes by young pilots, including Lindbergh. This thin, tall airmail pilot caught the world’s attention and awakened his countryman to the airplanes true potential, less then 24 years after the Wright brother’s first flight. His famous flight across the Atlantic can be credited with the birth of commercial aviation in the US. Although modest attempts had been made to take passengers along with the mail, the range of aircraft that could carry both was limited, and flying at night was too risky. The Boeing B-40, for example, one of the first airliners, was only able to carry two passengers, and the pilot sat in an open cockpit. The military and a small segment of the civilian population really started to show the way. Navy and Army airmen called attention to aviation with feats or daring, and record setting.
When someone hears the words ‘Air Force’ they might think of one of the most strikingly impressive and capable military branches known today. However, most people do not know the struggle and competition to change the minds of stubborn Generals and die hard soldiers. William ‘Billy’ Mitchell was the man who first envisioned air power. He fought his whole life for an Air Force. Once he ran out of options he sacrificed his career to continue advocating for air power’s potential, Mitchell continued this effort until death. He managed to convince his superiors of his idea of aircraft right before America would have been destroyed by Germany and Japan in World War II. General William ‘Billy’ Mitchell’s leadership in advocating air power led to his legacy that lives on and is clearly seen in today’s modern United States Air Force.
During World War II the Wright Brother’s invention of the airplane was used to drop troops off, supplies, as well as bombs (Smith). Flight has been a huge factor towards warfare. Being a key element in World War I and II, the airplane became the view of a hawk and a destructive nightmare. For example, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would not be possible without the airplane. Also in World War I the airplanes were used to scout out the enemy troops ahead of time. The United States took a hold of the Wright Brothers inventions to end violence and insure peace. Other countries have used the airplanes to rain destruction. In both ways the Wright Brother’s airplane contributed to the spread of danger and development of warfare.
The author writes “The first planes used for bombings could only carry small bombs and were very vulnerable to attack from the ground. By the end of the war, faster long-range bombers were built that could carry a much larger weight of bombs”(1). As you can see planes revolutionized the game of war now leaders don’t need to send troops and worth them being killed instead they bomb bases. The author writes “With more planes taking to the skies, enemy pilots began to fight each other in the air. At first, they tried throwing grenades at each other or shooting with rifles and pistols. Pilots soon found that the best way to shoot down an enemy plane was with a mounted machine gun. An invention called an "interrupter" was invented by the Germans that allowed the machine gun to be synchronized with the propeller”(2). With the idea of dogfights wars can now happen in the air it’s special machine guns connected to a interrupter which could take down planes. All of these innovations in plane technology helped armies win
airplane, it was finally successful for so many people to see. “6 years...until the first military
In the year 1903, two bicycle shop owners named Orville and Wilbur Wright became the first to build and fly a heavier than air machine. Named the Kitty Hawk, this flimsy looking plane made of wood and powered by a small engine flew for the first time for 12 seconds, going 120 feet (Wright-House.com). Almost as soon as they were invented, planes were drafted for military service. The first country to use planes for military purposes was Italy, whose planes made reconnaissance, bombing and shelling correction military flights during the Italian-Turkish war during September 1911 to October 1912, in Libya (Wikipedia). The first major conflict that included planes was World War I, which had planes doing mostly reconnaissance. It was during this period that dogfighting became part of warfare. The most well known pilot during WWI was Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron, who shot down 80 planes in air-to-air combat (Wikipedia).