WARFARE: war in the air

• PRE-WAR ATTITUDES IN BRITAIN

  • In 1914, the British military saw aircraft as ‘scouts’ for reconnaissance.
  • They had unreliable engines, often crashed and were unable to fly in bad weather.
• THE GROWTH OF AIR POWER

  • In 1914, at the start of the First World War, Britain had only just over 100 military aeroplanes; by 1918, the new Royal Air Force (RAF) had more than 22,000 for various roles.
  • Britain’s aircraft industry in 1918 employed almost 350,000 workers.
  • London suffered its first big raids in 1917.
  • The morality and efficacy of bombing cities became controversial in the post-war years.
• THE AIR REVOLUTION

  • Reconnaissance aircraft to locate the enemy and update intelligence
  • Artillery spotters to direct the fire of guns at unseen targets
  • Fighters to control the skies and prevent enemy reconnaissance
  • Ground-support planes for low-level battlefield attacks
  • Tactical bombers to ‘isolate’ a battlefield by striking transport and reinforcements
  • Strategic bombers to attack the enemy homeland.

  Aircraft revolutionised reconnaissance, altered the way land and sea battles were fought, and brought the war to people’s homes – forever changing people’s conception of ‘going to war’.
• RECONNAISSANCE, OBSERVATION AND COMMUNICATION

  • There were three key aspects: reconnaissance; observation; and communication.
  • 1780s, armies used manned balloons as aerial ‘high points’ for observing the enemy.
• AIRSHIPS AND BALLOONS

  • 1900 and, in 1906, the German army acquired its first Zeppelin.
  • The British army had its first reconnaissance airship, Beta 1, in 1910, but found the kite balloon more useful over the battlefield.
  • Balloons were useful on the Western Front for observation and artillery spotting.
  • Ascend as high as 4,000 feet and see up to 15 miles.
• FIRST RECONNAISSANCE BY AEROPLANE

  • The RFC was to support the army by ‘scouting’ and artillery spotting.
  • On 19 August 1914, Gilbert Mapplebeck and Philip Joubert de la Ferté flew the first RFC reconnaissance mission.
• SCOUT PLANES, OBSERVATION AND IDENTIFICATION

  • The first military aircraft were called ‘scouts’, an indication of their anticipated use.
  • Reconnaissance was important for intelligence gathering.
  • Aerial observation was often difficult since pilots could not identify accurately soldiers and trenches below, which all looked much the same.
  • Soldiers on the ground tended to shoot at any aeroplane.
• COMMUNICATION AND RADIO

  • Communication was at first primitive, using hand signals and messages dropped from the air – or delayed until the pilot could report in person.
  • Morse code had been tried by the military in pre-war tests of air-to-air signals from aeroplanes.
  • By 1915, each British Expeditionary Force army corps had an RFC reconnaissance squadron with three flights, one of which had wireless.
  • The first airborne radio transmitter was so bulky that it filled the second cockpit on a two-seater plane.
• ARTILLERY SPOTTING

  • A key role for aircraft was artillery spotting; pilots could locate targets that gunners could not see.
  • By May 1916, some 300 British aircraft and 550 ground stations were using wireless.
• AIR PHOTOGRAPHY

  • Enabled army commanders to see the whole battlefield as the fighting evolved.
  • Frederick Law- army air photography- first army cameras were flown in very slow, but stable, BE2 aircraft.
  • Later cameras, pointed down through a hole in the floor.
  • British photographers envied German camera technology.
  • Air photographs were assembled into ‘mosaic maps’ of the German lines.
  • By mid-1915, the British army had detailed 1:10,000 scale maps derived from air reconnaissance.
• MAPPING THE BATTLEFIELD

  • Air photos supplied intelligence for the Somme offensives of 1916.
  • In 1916, the RFC took more than 19,000 aerial photographs.
  • By 1918, planes were taking air photos from 15,000 feet.
• CAMOUFLAGE

  • Air reconnaissance compelled ground forces to disguise what they were doing.
  • In 1915, the French set up the first camouflage unit.
  • Most tricks were to fool snipers on the battlefield.
  • Camouflage schemes included painting buildings, concealing aircraft on airfields, and covering artillery guns in netting.
• ARMED RECONNAISSANCE AND AIR SUPERIORITY

  • Air reconnaissance became vital for intelligence gathering.
  • The struggle for air superiority, led to a rapid development of fighter aircraft and air-battle tactics.
  • By 1915, aircraft had largely taken over the reconnaissance role on land formerly carried out by cavalry.
  • Limited number of scout planes- In 1915, the RFC only had 85 aircraft in France.