WW1 - War in the Air Flashcards
Development of Command and Structure
-At the start of World War One, aircraft were very basic and crude. By the time World War One had ended, aircraft had become far more sophisticated and had differentiated into fighters, bombers and long-range bombers.
-At the start of the war in August 1914, British airmen were part of the British Army and commissioned officers had army ranks.
-By April 1918, the Royal Flying Corps no longer existed and was absorbed into the newly created Royal Air Force. This had its own command structure away from the army and introduced its own ranks.
Early attempts with aircraft
-The British company Avro had produced one of the first aircraft used by the army in 1914 – the 504
-The first version was not popular but by version K, Avro had produced a reliable aircraft that developed a fine reputation – the Americans bought 52 of the Avro K
-The Sopwith Camel also gained a good reputation as a fighter aircraft. However, in terms of reputation, the Fokker Triplane eclipsed all fighters.
-Its association with the German ace Manfred von Richthofen certainly helped its cause but its design gave the aircraft excellent manoeuvrability and its rate of climb gave it a major advantage over Allied fighters.
Early attempt at air reconnaissance
-Large aircraft with a pilot and an observer were used to scout enemy positions and bomb their supply bases
-Because they were large and slow, these aircraft made easy targets for enemy fighter aircraft
-As a result, both sides used fighter aircraft to both attack the enemy’s two-seat aircraft and protect their own while carrying out their missions.
Growth of the Royal Flying Corps in numbers
At the start of the war the RFC had:
180 aircraft
150 officers
1000 men
By the end of 1916 the RFC had:
1,000 aircraft abroad and 1,700 at home (2,700 in total)
64 operational squadrons and 33 reserve squadrons
Total personnel count of 45,000 people
From 1917 the RFC had:
4,200 aircraft in France, 1000 in the Middle East, and 5,800 at home (11,000 in total)
115 operational and reserve squadrons, and 109 training squadrons
RFC structure divided in two
-January 1916
-A change to the structure of the air force with each army having its air forces divide between two types
-The Corps wings which would provide support directly to the ground forces with tactical photographic reconnaissance and artillery-spotting up to five miles beyond enemy lines
-The Army wings which would carry out operations called for by the Army Commander such air fighting, long-range reconnaissance and strategic bombing
RFC supporting infantry advances and artillery
-Artillery benefited from aerial photographs which showed them where to direct their fire
-Flash-spotting, which was observing muzzle-flashes from guns through aerial reconnaissance - At the Battle of Amiens during the 1918 Hundred Days’ Offensive, 95% of Germans guns were identified and hit by artillery in support of the advancing infantry
-Aircraft were increasingly used to provide support for the infantry in combat by bombing the enemy such as during the 1918 German Spring Offensive
‘shift’ in the conduct of the air war
-Bloody April marked the time that pilots became ruthless towards one another
-Air warfare was no longer humane, previously opposing pilots had respect for one another.
-Before the progression in technology, pilots would use handheld weapons to fire one another, causing a lower amount of kills from air battles.
‘Bloody April’
-What became known as Bloody April was the air mission to support the Battle of Arras in 1917
-Called Bloody April as the largely untrained British pilots had a much higher casualty rate then the far more experienced and highly trained German pilots
-245 British aircraft lost compared to 66 German and 400 British airmen becoming casualties
-It signalled new pilots were unequipped in skills and sent into combat in a highly untrained state.
policy of ‘no empty chairs’
-Killed pilots would be replaced that same day, having the “Chairs” replaced by eager volunteers
-Made to ensure as many British planes were active as possible
-The life expectancy of new pilots was 48 hours, since these replacements lacked experience.
Aerial reconnaissance - Airships and balloons
-In 1906 the German Army acquired its first Zeppelin
-British Army had its first reconnaissance airship in 1910, but the Army found the kite balloon, a sausage-shaped balloon that was tethered to the ground (the forerunner of the anti-aircraft ‘barrage balloon’), more useful over the battlefield
-Balloons were used on the Western Front for observation and artillery spotting with observers taking photos, checking maps, then reported on friendly artillery accuracy via telephone
-These observation balloons could see up to 15 miles and were defended by anti-aircraft and it wasn’t until incendiary ammo was invented in 1916 did balloons and airships suffer dramatic losses through catching fire
-By the end of 1916, German soldiers believed the British had a balloon superiority of 15 to 1
Aerial reconnaissance - Scout planes, observation, and identification issues
-In August 1914 the RFC took a step towards proving their worth when pilot Captain Charlton spotted German 1st Army moving to outflank the BEF
-Aerial observation was difficult for the pilot to identify troops and trenches such as Germans often reporting British soldiers running around frantically when they were actually playing football
-Roundels began to be used to identify planes after incidents of British troops shooting at British planes
Aerial reconnaissance - Communication and radio
-Planes using air-to-air morse code had be tested by the Army pre-war
-The RFC’s experimental wireless radio flight was operational in France from September 1914
-By 1915 each BEF army corps had an RFC reconnaissance squadron with three flights, one of which had wireless radio
-Radio allowed planes to almost immediately co-ordinate artillery fire on AA, artillery, and troops
Aerial reconnaissance - Communication and radio - Artillery Spotting
-Using the ‘zone call’ system from 1915, pilots were able to sent target information by radio to operators on the ground who were assigned to artillery batteries
-The system used maps which were divided up into numbered zones which artillery would fire at when requested by aircraft
-By May 1916, 300 British aircraft and 550 ground stations were using wireless radio
Aerial reconnaissance - Air photography
-Automatic film-loaded air cameras were a huge step forward by 1918
-At the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle in March 1915, pilot Lieutenant Darley photographed the German lines revealing new trench construction, intelligence that led to significant changes to the British plan of attack
-British made maps of German lines out of photos, making a very detailed 1:10,000 scale map by mid-1915
Aerial reconnaissance - Air photography - Mapping the battlefield
In 1917 the RFC took 127,000 aerial photos and developed 3.9 million prints
Over the period of the war, mainly in the later stages, 650,000 prints were made on the Western Front alone
Mainly reconnaissance to assist commanders of ground forces in the field
