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British Experience of Warfare - World War I > War in the Air - Reconnaissance (1) > Flashcards

War in the Air - Reconnaissance (1) Flashcards

1
Q

Who pioneered the aeroplane?

A

Wright Brothers in 1903

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2
Q

What book foresaw air battles and what did people think of them?

A

‘The war in the Air’ - H.G Wells 1908
- Most people thought it was far fetched

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3
Q

Why were planes seen as ‘scouts’ in 1914?

A
  • British military called them ‘scouts’ for reconnaissance
  • They had little thought about their use as a fighting force that could match the navy or the army
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4
Q

When was the RFC founded?

A

April 1912

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5
Q

When was the RNAS founded?

A

July 1914

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6
Q

Who viewed the latest aircraft at Salisbury Plain’s?

A

Douglas Haig in 1912

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7
Q

What were aeroplanes like in 1914? (details of build, speed etc)

A
  • Could only go around 70mph
  • Made of lightweight wood and fabric
  • Unreliable engines, often crashed and unable to fly in bad weather
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8
Q

What had soaked up a lot of the government military spending in 1906?

A

Battleships, HMS Dreadnought

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9
Q

Name two famous individual plane makers and when they were established?

A
  • Avro (1910)
  • Sopwith (1912)
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10
Q

What happened to the Army Balloon Factory in 1912?

A
  • Became the Royal Aircraft Factory and designed aeroplanes
  • Despite most being experimental designs it did produce the SE5, an extremely influential plane during the war
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11
Q

How many planes did Britain have in 1914 compared to 1918?

A
  • 1914 they had just over 100
  • 1918 they had over 22,000 for various different roles
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12
Q

What was a Kite Balloon?

A
  • A sausage shaped balloon with fins for stability used for observation and artillery spotting
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13
Q

What happened to Britains first reconnaissance ship in 1910?

A
  • They had their first reconnaissance ship called ‘Beta 1’
  • They found her kite balloon more useful over the battle field
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14
Q

Give some details about the Kite Balloons? and what wars were they notably used in?

A
  • Tethered by a long cable to the ground
  • Ascenders could go as high as 4,000 feet and see up to 15 miles
  • Observers took photos, checked maps, identified targets and reported artillery accuracy by phone
  • Used in the American Civil War and Franco Prussian War
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15
Q

Did Balloons get shot down easily?

A
  • Surprisingly they didn’t, ammunition often did not hit their gas chambers and the balloons often survived
  • It was not until incendiary ammunition did the balloons start going down
  • Britain enjoyed a balloon superiority of 15 to 1 on the Germans
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16
Q

When were 4 RFC squadrons sent to France and what did they do?

A

Mid-August 1914
- They were sent to scout and artillery spot
- RNAS was used to attack the enemy as well as carry out reconnaissance

17
Q

Who flew the first RFC reconnaissance mission and what happened?

A

19th August 1914
- Flew by Gilbert Mapplebeck and La Ferté
- Mapplebeck had got lost and had to land near Cambria to ask for directions

18
Q

When was an Avro 504 scout of No.5 squadron shot down and where?

A
  • Shot down 22nd August 1914
  • Shot down over Belgium by German rifle fire
  • First RFC aircraft lost to enemy action
19
Q

What was the issue of Pilots trying to carry out Aerial Observations?

A
  • The pilots could often not tell the difference between soldiers and trenches as they all looked the same
  • E.g One report revealed a German pilot who had claimed to see the British running around in a panic when in reality they were just playing football
20
Q

Did the British shoot at their own planes? How did they fix this issue?

A
  • 1914 two aircraft of the RFC No.4 Squad were shot at by British Troops near Mons
  • At Ostend Royal Marines shot at RNAS planes trying to land
  • As a result ground crew painted union flags on the bottom of the planes, and these were later replace by coloured ‘Roundels’
  • This contrasted with the German black cross insignia
21
Q

When was Radio considered ‘New Technology’ and what had been used prior?

A
  • Radio was considered new technology in 1914
  • Prior to this Morse Code had been used since the 1830’s when it was developed
  • They also had used hand signals, messages dropped from planes or just waited for the pilot to report first hand once landed
22
Q

What was the No.9 Squadron of the RFC developed for?

A
  • Formed to develop radio communication
  • By 1915 each BEF army corps had an RFC reconnaissance squadron with three flights, one that defo had wireless
23
Q

What was the first radio transmitter like? How did the Second one fix some of its issues?

A
  • Bulky, weighed 72 pounds
  • Filled the cockpit of a two seater plane
  • The pilot had to fly, navigate, observe and transmit unaided
    -The Sterling lightweight set came into use in 1915 and weighed under 20 pounds
24
Q

What were early issues with radio being used in planes?

A
  • Wireless signalling was often the job of the observer who was also the gunner
  • The engine noise was loud
  • Radio could only be transmitted and therefore the fliers would receive no information
25
Q

What did the anti-aircraft gunner Hans Jacke tell us about the effects of radio use on the Germans?

A
  • New to Somme in 1916 he opened fire on a British plane carrying radio and was quickly targeted by there British Guns in response
  • He wrote how artillery direction in the air with shell fire was immediately corrected by wireless and seemed like the ultimate style in new warfare
  • Germans became apprehensive when they saw a plane with wireless and were afraid to challenge
26
Q

How was Artillery Spotting co-ordinated between those in the air and those on the ground?

A
  • Pilots could locate targets that gunners could don’t see and observe the fall of shells to correct the aim
  • The pilots would make targets by circling above to drop ribbons and markets or firing their guns, sirens or horns
  • Pilots would even stop maps or messages in containers and in return the artillery laid out white cloth strips to indicate which guns had fired and in what direction
27
Q

What revolutionised artillery spotting?

A

The use of radio made this much easier

28
Q

What was the ‘Zone Call’ system implemented from 1915 onwards?

A
  • Pilots sent information by radio in Morse Code to RFC signallers on the ground who were assigned to artillery batteries
  • System relied on maps with numbered zones with each battery firing into its designated zone as indicated by the aircraft
29
Q

How many aircraft and ground stations were using radio by May 1916?

A
  • 300 British Aircraft and 550 ground stations
  • RFC ground operators had a crucial job, hidden in dugouts, deafened by artillery and bombarded by the enemy
30
Q

What happened if wireless aerials were broken?

A
  • Hard to fix with the shells and bullets flying around
  • Only hope was to use hand signals to the pilots

British Experience of Warfare - World War I (10 decks)

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