WW1 In The Air: Aerial Reconnaissance

Question 1

What is reconnaissance?

Answer 1

Gaining intelligence by surveying territory held by the enemy

Question 2

How was reconnaissance traditionally done before aircraft?

Answer 2

By scouts- cavalry who could ride ahead of an army
Spies operating behind enemy lines
The navy used fast ships to locate and shadow an enemy fleet

Question 3

Why did armies use manned balloons?

Answer 3

On land, a high point made a good observation point, balloons were referred to as aerial ‘high points’

Question 4

When were balloons used? Give 3 examples

Answer 4

American civil war 1861-65
Franco-Prussian war 1870-71
Used by the British in the Boer war

Question 5

When did the Germans first acquire a zeppelin?

Answer 5

1906

Question 6

The Royal Navy used airships before the war. What for?

Answer 6

Reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols

Question 7

What was the first reconnaissance airship used by the British and what was the result?

Answer 7

Beta 1 in 1910
They found the kite balloon more useful in the battlefield

Question 8

Balloons

Answer 8

Used on the western front for artillery spotting and observation
It was tethered to the ground by a large cable
It had a basket beneath where observers could take photographs,check maps, report on artillery accuracy by telephone and identify targets
Could ascend as high as 4000 ft and see up to 15 miles

Question 9

Defending observation balloons

Answer 9

They were defended by anti-aircraft guns
They weren’t as easy to take down as you would expect (bullets could pass straight though)
This was until incendiary ammunition which would cause aircraft to catch fire

Question 10

When did the RFC first go the the western front?

Answer 10

Squadrons 2,3,4,5 were sent to France mid august in 1914 to scout and artillery spot for the army

Question 11

When was the first reconnaissance mission for the RFC?

Answer 11

19th august 1914

Question 12

Who flew in the first RFC reconnaissance mission?

Answer 12

Gilbert Mapplebeck- who was killed later in an aircraft test in England in 1915, at age 23
Philip Joubert de la Ferte- who survived the war and went on to become an air chief marshal

Question 13

What was the first RFC plane lost to the enemy?

Answer 13

An Avro 504 scout of the no.5 squadron was shot down over Belgium by german rifle fire on the 22nd august 1914

Question 14

What were the difficulties with aerial reconnaissance

Answer 14

Pilots couldn’t accurately identify soldiers and trenches below- they all looked the same
This caused frequent errors

Question 15

Problems with aircraft identification and how they were solved

Answer 15

Soldiers on the ground shot at any aeroplanes
In 1914, 2 aircraft of the No.3. Squadron were shot at by British troops near Mons
This resulted in the British and the french aircraft having coloured ‘roundels’ on the underside of aircraft and Germans had a black cross insignia

Question 16

The use of radio

Answer 16

It was primitive in 1914, but by 1915, each BEF army corps had an RFC reconnaissance squadron usually had 12 aircraft, with 3 flights, one of which had wireless

Question 17

Problems with using radio for aerial reconnaissance

Answer 17

Initial airborne radio transmitters were bulky-72 pounds, which took up the second seat on the plane, which made it difficult for pilots
In 1915, the sterling light weight set-20 pounds used
However fliers could only send messages not receive them because the gunner engine was too loud

Question 18

The ‘zone call’ system

Answer 18

Used from 1915
Pilots sent target information by radio in morsecone to RFC signallers in trenches
Relied on maps with numbered zones and each battery firing into designated map zones
By 1915, there were 300 British aircraft and 550 ground stations using wireless

Question 19

Problems with wireless aerial

Answer 19

Easily damaged
Hard to repair because of shell fire

Question 20

First army air cameras

Answer 20

Fredrick laws experimented with aerial photography, his first army cameras were flown in a slow stable BE2 aircraft. They were mounted to the outside of the rear cockpit
Later cameras pointed through a hole in the floor

Question 21

How were photos taken from planes?

Answer 21

Air cameras used metal or glass plates, until the use of automatic film loaded cameras in 1918

Question 22

How did aerial photography prove useful? Give an example

Answer 22

At the battle of Nueve Chapelle in March 1915, the No.3. Squadron photographed the german lines, revealing a new trench construction and that ed to significant changes in the British plan of attack

Question 23

How were aerial photographs assembled?

Answer 23

Mosaic maps

Question 24

How did camera speed improve by 1916?

Answer 24

In a test in that summer, No.10 squadron delivered photo prints to army HQ in France within 30 minutes of a reconnaissance plane landing

Question 25

Use of aerial photography at the Somme

Answer 25

RFC took more than 19’000 aerial photography’s and produced 430’000 prints over the Somme battlefield

Question 26

What did air reconnaissance force ground troops to do?

Answer 26

Compelled ground forces to disguise and use camouflage

Question 27

Describe the first RFC ‘air victory’

Answer 27

25th August 1914
At the battle of Mons, 3 unarmed RFC planes forced a german 2-seater down, one RFC aircraft landed and the 2 man crew chased the Germans into the wood and set fire to the enemy aircraft