War in the Air - Reconnaissance (1) Flashcards
Who pioneered the aeroplane?
Wright Brothers in 1903
What book foresaw air battles and what did people think of them?
‘The war in the Air’ - H.G Wells 1908
- Most people thought it was far fetched
Why were planes seen as ‘scouts’ in 1914?
- 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
When was the RFC founded?
April 1912
When was the RNAS founded?
July 1914
Who viewed the latest aircraft at Salisbury Plain’s?
Douglas Haig in 1912
What were aeroplanes like in 1914? (details of build, speed etc)
- Could only go around 70mph
- Made of lightweight wood and fabric
- Unreliable engines, often crashed and unable to fly in bad weather
What had soaked up a lot of the government military spending in 1906?
Battleships, HMS Dreadnought
Name two famous individual plane makers and when they were established?
- Avro (1910)
- Sopwith (1912)
What happened to the Army Balloon Factory in 1912?
- 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
How many planes did Britain have in 1914 compared to 1918?
- 1914 they had just over 100
- 1918 they had over 22,000 for various different roles
What was a Kite Balloon?
- A sausage shaped balloon with fins for stability used for observation and artillery spotting
What happened to Britains first reconnaissance ship in 1910?
- They had their first reconnaissance ship called ‘Beta 1’
- They found her kite balloon more useful over the battle field
Give some details about the Kite Balloons? and what wars were they notably used in?
- 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
Did Balloons get shot down easily?
- 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
When were 4 RFC squadrons sent to France and what did they do?
Mid-August 1914
- They were sent to scout and artillery spot
- RNAS was used to attack the enemy as well as carry out reconnaissance
Who flew the first RFC reconnaissance mission and what happened?
19th August 1914
- Flew by Gilbert Mapplebeck and La Ferté
- Mapplebeck had got lost and had to land near Cambria to ask for directions
When was an Avro 504 scout of No.5 squadron shot down and where?
- Shot down 22nd August 1914
- Shot down over Belgium by German rifle fire
- First RFC aircraft lost to enemy action
What was the issue of Pilots trying to carry out Aerial Observations?
- 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
Did the British shoot at their own planes? How did they fix this issue?
- 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
When was Radio considered ‘New Technology’ and what had been used prior?
- 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
What was the No.9 Squadron of the RFC developed for?
- Formed to develop radio communication
- By 1915 each BEF army corps had an RFC reconnaissance squadron with three flights, one that defo had wireless
What was the first radio transmitter like? How did the Second one fix some of its issues?
- 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
What were early issues with radio being used in planes?
- 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
What did the anti-aircraft gunner Hans Jacke tell us about the effects of radio use on the Germans?
- 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
How was Artillery Spotting co-ordinated between those in the air and those on the ground?
- 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
What revolutionised artillery spotting?
The use of radio made this much easier
What was the ‘Zone Call’ system implemented from 1915 onwards?
- 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
How many aircraft and ground stations were using radio by May 1916?
- 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
What happened if wireless aerials were broken?
- Hard to fix with the shells and bullets flying around
- Only hope was to use hand signals to the pilots
