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The War in the Air
The Machines
Most of the World War I air operations were carried
out by heavier-than-air machines (airplanes). All armies made extensive
use of lighter-than-air observation balloons, however, and most of them
had experimented with various types of dirigibles. The Germans had done
the most outstanding work in this lastnamed field and had developed
a fleet of large, rigid-type dirigibles (the famous zeppelins). Excellent
weight lifters capable of cruising long distances (one of them made
a successful 96hour, 4,225-mile, nonstop flight between Bulgaria and
northeastern Africa in November 1917), these impressive aircraft initially
scored considerable success. Their size and relatively slow speed made
them increasingly vulnerable to the Allies' constantly improving fighter
airplanes and antiaircraft artillery, however, and they lacked the structural
strength to withstand severe storms. These weaknesses resulted in their
being gradually driven from the skies.
The typical military airplane at the beginning of World
War I was unarmed, slow, fragile, and mechanically unreliable-hardly
beyond the experimental stage and capable of carrying only enough fuel
for a short flight., Exact figures are not available, but it is probable
that all the original belligerents together could put less than 2,000
serviceable machines into action. In addition, most of the so-called
aircraft factories operating in 1914 (Germany was credited with about
12, France with 8, and Britain with 6) were merely small shops, employing
a few hundred skilled artisans. Airplanes were built largely by hand
on a cut-and-try basis. There was nothing comparable to the tremendous
shipbuilding and armament industrial complexes which provided weapons
for the sea and land forces of the period. Aircraft engines were inefficient
and heavy for the power they delivered, averaging six to eight pounds
of weight per horsepower.
From this primitive stage the brutal necessities of
war and the increasing appreciation of the potential importance of air
operations soon led to dramatic improvements in airplane design and
production. The nondescript general-purpose plane of 1914 began to evolve
into several new types designed for specific functions. Swift fighter
planes, generally single-seaters (though some of the most effective
British fighters were two-seated models), were employed to hunt down
other aircraft. These fighter aircraft-such as the French Nieuport and
Spad, the British Camel, and the German Fokker-shared the fame of the
aces who flew them and are probably the best-remembered aircraft of
the war. The twoseater observation planes were slower but usually had
a longer range; by 1918, German observation planes could operate at
higher altitudes than could most Allied fighters. Frequently they carried
special cameras for aerial photography of enemy positions or primitive
radio equipment for the direction of artillery fire.
The resulting race for air supremacy over the western
front produced series of improved planes on both sides. Speeds became
greater, ceilings (the maximum height at which the plane could operate)
were pushed upward, and the rate of climb increased. Air battles demonstrated
that airplane quality and performance were even more important than
total numbers. Air superiority shifted back and forth between the two
sides as new types of aircraft were introduced and tactics developed
to exploit their particular capabilities. In 1916, for example, the
British ruled the skies over the Somme battlefield; nine months later,
in the spring of 1917, Hoeppner had wrested it from them. On the whole,
the planes of both sides were fairly evenly matched, neither being able
to maintain any distinct superiority in plane and engine construction,
though the Germans might be credited with slightly greater technological
aptitude.
In 1915 the machine gun became the standard weapon for
airplanes, though the problem of how to mount these weapons so as to
obtain the most effective use of their firepower took considerable time
to solve. Some fighter aircraft carried a light machine gun ( such as
the British Lewis gun) mounted in the center of their top wing in order
to give fire forward above the propeller. A French flier obtained greater
accuracy by mounting a machine gun just in front of his cockpit, so
that it could fire directly through the rotating blades of his plane's
propeller. This enabled him to aim his gun simply by pointing his plane
at his opponent; light armor on the inner surface of the propeller gave
that vital part rough-and-ready protection from such bullets as struck
it. German technical skill made this concept obsolete by developing
a system of mechanical linkages which synchronized the revolutions of
the propeller and the rate of fire of the machine gun. This system was
soon copied by the Allies and became standard equipment on fighter planes,
though some still retained the machine gun on the top wing. Observation
planes and two-seater fighters were variously armed; usually the pilot
had one or two fixed guns mounted like those on the fighter aircraft,
and his passenger had one or more movable guns. Since increasing attention
was being given to all-around protection, one of these might be- mounted
so as to fire through the floor of the rear. cockpit. A few special
fighters carried heavy machine guns or even light cannon; airplane armor
made its first tentative appearance.
By 1917 the aircraft industry began to develop the skills
necessary to turn out larger aircraft designed primarily for bombing.
Previ ously, some observation planes had been modified so as to carry
light bombs slung under their wings. Smaller bombs had been carried
in the cockpit and dropped hopefully overside by hand; the French had
tried but abandoned the idea of scattering showers of steel darts called
flechettes. Some of the new bombers, such as the British DH series,
were still modified observation craft. Others were big, slow biplanes
like the British Handley Page bomber, the Italian Caproni, and the German
Gotha. The Handley Page, which came too late to take a serious part
in the air war, was capable of carrying sixteen 112-pound bombs and
fuel for an eight-hour flight. These bombers, in turn, were subdivided
into day and night bombing planes; generally speaking, the former were
lighter and faster, the latter slow but capable of carrying a much greater
bomb load.
Naturally, this increase in airplane numbers, types,
and capabilities could be brought about only through an unparalleled
development of the aircraft industry. That of France and Britain grew
steadily, and .the French effort especially (though plagued by a multiplicity
of plane and engine types) was so well directed that France was able
both to supply her own needs and to furnish large numbers of excellent
aircraft to her allies. Germany, thanks to an early start and a broad
industrial base, could outproduce either France or Britain until early
in 1918. Thereafter, diminishing raw materials and heavy demands for
munitions for the German Army prevented her efficient aircraft industry
from keeping pace with her losses in combat.
The United States aircraft industry was of necessity
hastily built from the ground up after the American entry into the war.
By agreement with its allies, the United States furnished their aircraft
industries with needed raw materials (sprucewood, linen, chemicals,
fuels, and lubricants); in exchange, Britain and France trained American
fliers and mechanics, and France provided planes for the first United
States air squadrons. Since fighter aircraft were evolving so rapidly
that any selected type would be obsolescent before it could be put into
production in the United States, it was further agreed that the United
States would produce the DH-4 (a sturdy, British-designed plane used
as an observation plane and as a light bomber) for all of the Allies,
and would in addition develop and produce a new type of engine (dubbed
the Liberty engine) in ample quantity to satisfy its own DH-4 production
and French and British requirements. American production got under way
too late to be of importance, but it could have been a considerable
factor had the war continued into 1919.
By the war's end approximately 8,000 Allied planes were
arrayed against 3,300 enemy aircraft. Back of the men who flew these
aircraft were the much larger forces of mechanics, armorers, and supply
personnel in the service parks and repair depots behind the lines. The
importance of their work can be understood when it is realized that
an airplane of this period lasted only a few weeks in combat. Thereafter,
even if not destroyed, it normally required extensive repairs. A significant
figure is available to illustrate this fact: the British had 1,300 planes
operating in support of their armies at the beginning of the Second
Battle of the Somme. When the fighting ended a few weeks later, 1,100
of the original 1,300 planes had been destroyed or damaged and had to
be replaced.
It should be noted that though the major emphasis in
World War I was on air operations in support of the armies, the contending
navies steadily developed their own air elements for overwater scouting,
fire direction, and bombing attacks on submarines and surface ships.
Originally, the aircraft used were seaplanes, which operated from established
naval bases. Later, battleships and cruisers began to carry one or more
light planes, and fast merchant vessels were converted into seaplane
carriers which could accompany the fleets on extended operations. Since
seaplanes lacked the speed and maneuverability of land-based planes,
the British eventually developed the first modern aircraft carrier •(
commissioned into the Royal Navy in October 1918), capable of both launching
and recovering the latter type. Probably naval aviation's most valuable
mission during the war was its antisubmarine work, a task for which
dirigibles proved very satisfactory.
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