This is the beginning of a small series of posts giving you an insight into aviation during the First World War. For the next eleven days, I will be giving you an insight into the planes that the British used in the First World War. At the end of the eleven days, I will be telling you a story about one pilots story after being captured by the Germans.
Aviation was a very new concept at the outbreak of war. The were two parts to it within Britain. There was the Royal Flying Corps & the Royal Naval Air Service, which in 1918 merged to become the Royal Air Force we know today under the Air Ministry.
The First World War was really the start of aviation in Britain. German had their Zeppelins to cause terror in the sky and had started to build planes that would be used in combat. We needed to keep up with the latest tactics if we were to stand any chance in the war.
At the beginning of the war, planes were used for reconnaissance missions to get a better understanding of how the war was progressing and keep an eye on where the enemy were to. The planes didn't have any markings and ended up being fired at by friend and foe. It was then decided to paint the St George Cross on the wings but this didn't help either as it was too similar to the German markings. By late 1915 the roundel marking was adopted in reverse colours to the French so that the allies on the ground new not to fire at their own.
In 1914, aerial bombing was also just beginning but was worlds away from what it is today. The bombings that took place first of all consisted of the pilot dropping hand grenades or homemade petrol bombs over the side of their plane down on the enemy below. It wasn't until 1915 that the idea of bombs straped underneath planes to then be released were thought of but even then it was highly dangerous and none of the safety precautions and proper testing that we know today where in place.
By 1917, planes were being used for more than just reconnaissance. They were helping the army in battles with the first being the Battle of Messines where the pilots were ordered to fly low and strafe all available enemy targets. The Third Battle of the Ypres saw over 300 aircraft drop bombs onto the enemy trenches, artillery positions, strongholds and large groups of enemy troops that were probably reinforcements on their way to the front line.
In 1914 there were 2073 personel with a very small amount of planes. Yet by 1919 there were 114,000 personel and 4000 aircraft. During the First World War a total of 9378 personel had been killed or were missing presumed dead, 7245 personel had been wounded, 900,000 hours of flying on operations had taken place, 6,942 tons of bombs had been dropped and 7054 German planes had been shot down.
Everyday for the next eleven days, I will be telling you about one of the planes used by the British in the First World War. This will include their top speed and heights as well as the amount of weapons used. I therefore thought I would end todays post by putting that information into perspective so that you can refer to it and see how far we have come. Below are an example of a fighter and bomber from the Second World War and from todays aviation to show you just how dangerous it would have been in the First World War.
Spitfire Fighter
Maximum Speed: 450 MPH
Maximum Height: 20,800 feet
Could carry: Eight machine guns placed all along the wings and in the nose each with 300 rounds of bullets to fire
Lancaster Bomber
Maximum Speed: 287 MPH
Maximum Height: 24,500 feet
Could carry: 14,000 pounds of bombs at any one time
Typhoon Fighter
Maximum Speed: 768 MPH
Maximum Height: 55,000 feet
B-2 Stealth Bomber
Maximum Speed: Estimate 650 MPH (Exact not disclosed)
Maximum Height : 50,000 feet
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