Airplanes of WWI
The airplane is a flying vehicle that was used for many things during the war. The first things they did include observation and espionage of the enemies. But later expanded to bombing ground units and getting into a dogfight ( a battle between two planes in the air) with the enemy aircraft.
Initially deemed of little use to the armed services other than in a reconnaissance role, aircraft development exploded during wartime (all too often literally). For example, France had fewer than 140 aircraft when her war against Germany began; four years later that number had ballooned to approximately 4,500.While this may seem an impressive increase, it does not give a true indication of the amount of aircraft involved. During the war France produced no less than 68,000 aircraft. 52,000 of them were lost in battle, a horrendous loss rate of 77%.
The first free flight, heavier than air, machine to fly was built and flown by the Wright Brothers (Wilbur and Orville) in Kittyhawk, North Carolina in 1903. Building upon their design the Wright’s intended to use the aircraft for easier transportation.
Initially deemed of little use to the armed services other than in a reconnaissance role, aircraft development exploded during wartime (all too often literally). For example, France had fewer than 140 aircraft when her war against Germany began; four years later that number had ballooned to approximately 4,500.While this may seem an impressive increase, it does not give a true indication of the amount of aircraft involved. During the war France produced no less than 68,000 aircraft. 52,000 of them were lost in battle, a horrendous loss rate of 77%.
The first free flight, heavier than air, machine to fly was built and flown by the Wright Brothers (Wilbur and Orville) in Kittyhawk, North Carolina in 1903. Building upon their design the Wright’s intended to use the aircraft for easier transportation.
Impact and Consequences
Airplanes had huge implications on many groups across Europe. People on the battlefield would have been bombarded by dropped grenades or be tantalized by diving biplanes with machine guns.
In the prelude to the Battle of Tannenberg, General Alexander Samsonov was to tragically ignore warnings provided by his pilots. Field Marshal von Hindenburg did not. Almost all of Samsonov's army was either killed or captured. Samsonov committed suicide. After the stupendous German victory von Hindenburg acknowledged that "without airmen there would have been no Tannenberg." So from then on the leaders of these nations had to make big decisions on whether or not to implicate the use of aircraft on the battlefield as it could be a major factor.
The civilians at also had to worry about these flying machines, when they used a tactic called strategic bombing .Strategic bombing is aimed at reducing an enemy's capacity to make war - targets typically include factories, power stations and dockyards.
In the prelude to the Battle of Tannenberg, General Alexander Samsonov was to tragically ignore warnings provided by his pilots. Field Marshal von Hindenburg did not. Almost all of Samsonov's army was either killed or captured. Samsonov committed suicide. After the stupendous German victory von Hindenburg acknowledged that "without airmen there would have been no Tannenberg." So from then on the leaders of these nations had to make big decisions on whether or not to implicate the use of aircraft on the battlefield as it could be a major factor.
The civilians at also had to worry about these flying machines, when they used a tactic called strategic bombing .Strategic bombing is aimed at reducing an enemy's capacity to make war - targets typically include factories, power stations and dockyards.
Connections to Today
100 years later we have made numerous advancements in aeronautical technology. A WWI weapon fighter plane and a modern fighter differ in many ways. Today’s planes such as the notorious F-35’s of the U.S are sleek in aerodynamics, and capable of speeds faster than the speed of sound (Mach 1.0+). Modern fighters have abilities that would have been tremendously useful to the fighters in WWI. Such as the ability to communicate between planes for co-operative missions even though they aren’t in the same aircraft.
Reconnaissance missions are also vastly improved compared to the planes of WWI. With the addition of the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) we can remotely pilot aircraft and even have them fly themselves to spot out enemies, and even target them with missiles. Which is a much more safe and effective way of spying, than flying low and risk being shot at. |