What were airplanes like during World War 1? How did they improve? By: Olivia Posey AVIATORS IN WW1

THERE WERE 3 GENERAL TYPES OF PLANES Reconnaissance Planes These planes were used for spying on the enemy and their troops’ movements. These planes had an important role in the “war of movement” of 1914 which helped the Allies halt German invasion of France. Fighter Planes Fighter planes had machine guns attached to stop the enemy observation planes and to attack enemies; they were also generally large and heavy. Bomber planes These planes were for attacking multiple targets at once, and they were generally slow moving with multiple racks of bombs. Russia was the firs to develop a plane specifically for this purpose, and it was called the Murometz. Zeppelins, created by the Germans, were also bomber planes, and they were like inflatable balloons that were extremely slow moving. Because of their size and speed, the success of these planes reached their peak in 1915 when the Triple Entente became fully aware of the ships and how vulnerable they were. Germans are preparing to fill the inflated zeppelin or captive balloon with gas canisters to be dropped on the Western Front. They also look like torpedoes in the sky.

ABOUT THE PLANES By the end of WW1, there were over 70 different types of planes, and they generally went as high as 100 mph. These planes were made of wood and canvas. The Airplane was invented by the Wright Brother in 1903 which is 11 years before the beginning of WW1. In 1914 planes were not widely used, but some planes had machines guns mounted to the passenger’s part of the plane. Roland Garrod, a French pilot, designed his plane, so he could shoot a machine gun without interfering with the propellers; this caused the airplane to become offensive weapons. In 1915 Tony Fokker, a Dutch working for the Germans, designed the interrupter gear, so a machine gun could shoot through the propeller, like Roland Garros, except it was more reliable; this was called the “Fokker Scourge”, and it was the 1 st fighter plane. Airplane pilots had to use maps and school atlases to navigate because there were no navigational aids installed in the plans, so getting lost was very common.

IMPROVEMENTS Aviation or Airplanes evolved greatly throughout WW1. The core roles of air power was the control of the air, strike, reconnaissance, and mobility. The airframes were improved so that they were more maneuverable and engines became more powerful. The ability to mount machines guns on planes was also a great improvement for air-to air combat. Bombs and bombs racks were implemented on the planes eventually creating the bomber plans. Tactics on air-to-air combat improved as the countries learned the enemies movements with renaissance planes. Zeppelins and Gotha bomber were an improvement because they allowed long range bombing which, for Germany, generally targeted towards Britain. This brought the war to the citizens and risked the lives of families at home. Improvements were constantly being made to outwit or have an advantage to their enemy.

THE BATTLE FIELD Many recruits wanted to be pilots in the war, so there were never shortages of pilots, but the new pilots often flew planes with more or less than 5 hours of training, so they were not expected to survive the first few weeks of duty. Some of the pilots would not survive due to falling victim to an ace, lack of experience (with bad weather, mechanical problems, loss of control, lack of gas), lack of usage of parachutes. Come pilots did not use parachutes –for example Britain– because they felt by using a parachute would be cowardly. Many wanted to become a pilot in the war because they would avoid trench warfare, and it was a new way of going to war. The machine guns brought Dogfights or air-to-air combat to war. Many pilots who survived 5 victories in dogfights would be called an ace. Here are some examples: Manfred von Richthofen: ‘Red baron”, German, 80 victories Rene Ronck: French, 75 victories Edward Mannock; British, 72 victories Ernst Udet: German, 62 victories, famous for using parachutes to survive from being shot down

PICTURES FROM THE WAR In Les Invalides in Paris in 1915, a German airplane is displayed in the courtyard of Les Invalides. This captures plane is a pre-World War 1 aircraft. In my perspective, the planes look like there were designed after a bird. A French reconnaissance aircraft flying over a zig-zag pattern of defensive trenches over the Compeign Sector in France. American British French ItalianGerman On each airplane, they had indicators for which country they are fighting for. However, some soldiers did not recognize the difference between enemy planes and allied planes. These are the symbols for the US, British, French, Italian, and German planes.

QUIZ What were the three general types of planes? Renaissance, fighter, and bomber What country is this pilot fighting for? Britain Name at least 1 type of improvement on the planes during WW1. Airframes were maneuverable, more powerful engines, mountable machine guns, bombs, tactics, etc. What were the Zeppelins? What country created them? The Zeppelins were inflatable balloon like bomber plans that shot long- range, but they were extremely slow. They were invented by the Germans. What was the improvement called where the machine gun could shoot without damaging the propeller? “Fokker Scourge”

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