First World War in the Air: 5 Minute History E-Book

Norman Ferguson

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Seitenzahl: 76

Beschreibung

How much can you really find out about the War in the Air during the First World War in five minutes? This handy little history book will surpass all your expectations and leave you well versed on all you wish to know, and maybe even a little bit more… Who was the highest-scoring ace? Which plane looked like a dog begging? What was the Black Flight? How many died in the first Blitz? What was the Fokker Scourge? Jam-packed with facts, stats and first-hand accounts of the action, all woven together in an accessible way by an expert in the field, this 5 Minute History is a valuable addition to anyone's bookshelf, ready to be delved into at a moment's notice.

Leseprobe

Author’s Note

The story of aviation in the First World War is a broad subject and for space reasons this book looks mainly at the British war in the air fought above the Western Front.

CONTENTS

Title

Author’s Note

Introduction

The First Military Flyers

Flight to War

Eyes in the Sky

The First Battle of Britain

Fighters

Bombers

Allied Aircraft

German Aircraft

The Air Aces

Life on a Squadron

In the Air

Bravery in the Air

Planes at Sea

Notes

Bibliography

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

THE FIRST WORLD War was the first major conflict to see the use of aviation, initially in the form of balloons and aircraft providing aerial reconnaissance to army commanders on the ground. Aircraft were made of fabric wrapped around wooden frames; wires and wooden struts were used to brace the wings and more wires connected the pilot’s controls to the ailerons, elevators and rudder. Any bullet or piece of shrapnel cutting through them would result in a swift loss of controlled flight and almost certain death.

Early aircraft were unarmed and at the start of the war opposing pilots and observers would wave as they passed each other. This soon changed: weapons started to be carried and the gentlemanly approach, harking back to medieval days of chivalry, was soon replaced by brutal aerial battles, as shockingly violent as for those in the trenches far below. Some pilots carried pistols to carry out pre-emptive action to prevent them from burning to death – parachutes were not carried, disapproved of by higher authorities for potentially impeding the aircrew’s movement.

As in other conflicts, the First World War instigated innovations in technology. Aircraft in 1914 were flimsy and underpowered. With no machine guns or bomb-carrying abilities, these basic flying machines were swiftly superseded. By the last year of the war huge heavy bombers, capable of carrying a ton of bombs hundreds of miles, flew as aircraft of the new Royal Air Force, the world’s first independent air service.

During the war aircraft had taken on more roles beyond flying over the battlefield on reconnaissance missions. They were now engaged in aggressive activities: bombing enemy positions, strafing trenches and shooting down aircraft, balloons and airships. At sea, aircraft flew from aircraft carriers for the first time and naval aeroplanes hunted for submarines and airships.

But these machines were no use without men to fly them. (Only a few women flew, for the military in Russia and France.) Pilots and observers were sent to squadrons with the barest of training or experience, and the resulting losses were high. These pilots were mainly unknown to the general public until the desperate need for good news from the interminable entrenched war on the Western Front allowed the press to make much of these lone aviators heading aloft in open-topped cockpits to tackle their foes in mortal combat. Those ‘aces’ – determined as pilots who shot down more than five enemy aircraft – were seen as the personification of individual courage; the day-to-day work carried out by the thousands of other pilots was ignored.

While the endeavours of Ball, Mannock, McCudden, Von Richthofen, Guynemer, Rickenbacker and others continue to resonate down the years, they were only one part of the first ever war in the air.

THE FIRST MILITARY FLYERS

BRITISH MILITARY COMMANDERS were slower than their French and German counterparts to grasp the potential of aviation. From the beginning of the twentieth century, Germany had developed their huge Zeppelin airships for army and navy use and at one point just before the war Britain’s military pilots numbered nineteen while France had 200.

There had been some interest shown, however. In the 1860s experiments with balloons had been carried out and the Army Balloon School had formed in 1878. Balloons were seen as potentially useful for aerial observation duties and were sent to South Africa for the Boer War. An observer raised to a decent height could see much farther than a horse-riding cavalryman; however, many of the army commanders had a cavalry background and were not overly keen on these newfangled contraptions. (They also thought aeroplanes would frighten the horses.)

DID YOU KNOW?

Geoffrey de Havilland was paid royalties for each aircraft produced from his designs. He became wealthy as a result and founded the de Havilland aircraft manufacturing company, which built the legendary Mosquito aircraft in the Second World War.

SAMUEL F. CODY

Another innovation brought to the military’s attention was that of kites, able to lift soldiers or sailors to give them a high vantage point for observation purposes. The man promoting their use was Samuel F. Cody. Cody was a larger-than-life American who had run Wild West shows before turning his attention to aeronautical matters. He was also involved in the advent of airships in Britain. Britain’s first military flying machine – the airship Nulli Secundus – first flew in 1907, with Cody having helped with the steering and engine installation.

However, it was the heavier-than-air machines, as opposed to lighter-than-air balloons and airships, that were to ensure Cody a place in aviation history. On 16 October 1908, he made Britain’s first sustained and powered aircraft flight, aboard British Army Aeroplane No. 1a. At Farnborough he flew for a distance of 1,400ft and, despite crashing while trying to avoid a gorse patch, he had shown his design was capable of flight. However, the army authorities were not keen and funding was withdrawn.

I WAS THERE

Colonel Cody’s Funeral

Military Honours for Dead Aviator

The high esteem held by the public for the late Mr S F Cody was demonstrated in a remarkable manner yesterday afternoon when the funeral took place at the Military Cemetery, Thornhill, Aldershot. The route from the deceased’s house to the cemetery gates, a distance of two miles or more, was lined many deep by thousands of spectators.

Covered with a Union Jack the coffin was conveyed to the cemetery on a 13-pounder gun carriage. The whole of the Naval and Military Wings of the Royal Flying Corps followed, warrant and non-commissioned officers acting as bearers. On the Union Jack rested one floral tribute in the form of the steering wheel of the deceased’s aeroplane but with a broken spoke. This was from the widow and bore the inscription ‘In Loving Memory of my dear Frank.’

The Scotsman1

DID YOU KNOW?

There was a real Captain Scarlett. He was the Admiralty’s Inspecting Captain of Aircraft, who evaluated aeroplanes to assess their suitability for use in the Royal Naval Air Service.

In August 1912 the Military Aviation Trials were held to select a flying machine for the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), which had been established in May that year. A prize of £4,000 was to go to the winning design. Samuel Cody’s ‘flying cathedral’ machine (so named because of its size) won the competition but it was an outmoded design and was not put into production. Instead, the Royal Aircraft Factory’s BE.2 was chosen.

EARLY TRAINING

Up until late 1914, military pilots had to pay for their own flying tuition (though if they passed the course they were reimbursed). The aeroplanes used for training were not designed for the role and some pilots learnt to fly on versions of the aircraft the Wright Brothers had made the first powered flights on. They were very unstable and notoriously difficult to fly. The first aviation fatality was an American army officer killed in a Wright Brothers aircraft in 1908.

I WAS THERE

‘L’aviation pour l’armée, c’est zéro.’ (Aviation for the army, it’s worthless.)

French General Ferdinand Foch, 19102

Two-seater machines weren’t always available and a budding pilot would be shown what to do by an instructor, patted on the back and sent airwards on his own. A short hop would be made, then longer flights, until a student could fly a complete circuit around the airfield. If a two-seat training machine was available, the instructor would have to shout instructions over the engine noise or use a stick to get his point across more directly.

The early pilots were not fully trained in navigational techniques, such as using a compass, and instead they would follow railway lines, sometimes landing beside a station to find out where they were. Instrumentation was rudimentary: one pilot used a piece of string to tell him if he was flying level or not. Autopilot was a thing for the future and each aircraft had to be flown manually throughout the flight.

For the early aviators there was little in the way of restrictions; there was no air traffic control and they had the sky all to themselves. Pilots doing cross-country flights to improve their skills would sometimes take a week – enjoying the hospitality provided en route to these daring young men in their flying machines. These early machines were not reliable or stable, and accidents were common, but without these early pioneers willing to take to the air, the later developments would not have been possible.

FLIGHT TO WAR