The Airplane's Impact in World War One

657 Words2 Pages

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 Wright brother's flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903 was the first powered flight recorded. Louis Blèriot made the first powered crossing of the English Channel in 1909. As expected, aircraft remained simple in 1914. A new recruit had a higher chance of being killed during training than during combat in The Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1914. The first British navigation of an aircraft that flew off from England to fly to bases in France for the first time in war history, was based on reading a map while in air and, if the clouds allowed, looking out for landmarks on the ground to guide the pilots.
At the beginning of the war, airplanes were primarily used for reconnaissance; for...

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...et. If a bomb hit anywhere near a target, it was good luck over anything else. Towards the end of the war, aircraft that would be recognized as long-range bombers had been created. More larger than fighters, and way less maneuverable, their task was simple to carry toward a target as many bombs necessary and to drop them on the certain target with a degree of accuracy. The Germans had produced the Gotha bomber while the British had developed the Handley Page bomber. Even though the deliberate targeting of civilians wasn't a new military tactic, bombers made an aerial attack possible. Airplanes could also attack even a nation’s means of war production, mostly factories. Such an idea would have been impossible in 1914, but by 1918, it was a reality.

Works Cited

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/aircraft_world_war_one.htm
http://aerofiles.com/acesww1.html

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