Air Power II
The Men, Machines, and Ideas Which
Revolutionized War from Kitty hawk to Iraq.
Air Power
By Stephen Budiansky
In 1909, same year
the Wrights offered to sell their flier for 100,000, Louis Bleriot, a French
aviator, inventor, engineer and entrepreneur flew
his Monoplane across the English Channel.
His plane boasted a 25 HP radial engine.
From that event, the British began thinking about how to protect
themselves from attack coming from the continent.
Bleriot Monoplane
The Great War was but
a few years in the future, July 28, 1914 – November 11, 1918. It was fought in the air by mainly biplanes
not monoplanes like Bleriot’s. The
monoplane became prominent in the Second World War as it started. This Part of the book is about the transition
the Great War wrought on the uses and design of aircraft and vise versa.
The three roles of
flying in those days were spotter, fighter, and bomber. The first of which, spotter or reconnaissance,
caught on immediately. The war planners,
who directed the ground war, needed the information the reconnaissance planes
returned to visualize the activity of the enemy. The reconnaissance role was essential. It was the roll solidifying the use of
heavier than air craft in war. Soon the
spotter aircraft were used for aerial photography.
Speaking of Heavier-than-
air, reminds me to tell you that lighter-than-air craft, zeppelins, were also
in operation before and at the beginning of the Great War. They were flown and built by the
Germans. The Germans used them to drop
bombs. They could carry a heavy load for
the time. They continued to be a part of
the battle until near the end of the GW.
Back to heavier than
air. The second role, fighter, was used
to destroy the reconnaissance craft before they could return their information
to the generals planning the ground war.
The fighter usage evolved beginning with revolvers, rifles, shot guns and
machine guns. Earlier, the fighter
planes had two seats in line. The
rearmost seat was occupied by the photographer capturing images, or a gunner
using a weapon, later a machine gun.
The third role
started with passengers throwing incendiaries, grenades, and bombs over the
side. Soon, the problem became how to
hit anything while doing this. This issue was addressed throughout the Great
War. People decided that a bomb site was
needed to enhance the chances the bomb would hit the target. This problem was also there for the zeppelins
whose bombing was not considered a great danger of hitting the target by the
British who received many bomb attacks from them. Eventually the main British fear came from
the populace. It became known as morale
bombing, because the bombers, Zeppelin or heavier than air craft, could not hit
the target but it frightened the civilian population.
The problem, to bomb
the target, was addressed throughout the Great War. The culmination of the different bomb sites built
and used during that period was the CSBS, Course Setting Bomb Sight, introduced
by Wimperis from England. This bomb site
was used during the last two years of the Great War and into the 1920’s. It was an improvement but not the solution.
The author follows
the development of bombing accuracy throughout the book. He mentions many instances where science was
applied after the fact to determine the accuracy of the bombing. He cites science stating how many thousand
bombs would need to be dropped to hit a target.
I, personally, have come to the opinion that
“Daylight-precision-bombing” was a sham.
I think they sent many planes and men on the errand of bombing who were
sacrificed to the cause. The problem was
not solved until much later. Much later!
Another development
happening during this period was expediting the use of the aircraft, fighter in
this case, being used as an all in one weapon.
The pilot could fly his aircraft directly at a target and eliminate it
if he had a gun aimed directly in the direction the plane was flying. This would not work if the gun was too low
because it would cut off the propeller.
Initially, they solved this problem my mounting the gun on top of the
highest wing. The pilot would then have
to stand to clear jams in the bullet feeds, not an easy thing to do while being
shot at in a dog fight. Some pilots had
their propellers covered with metal so they could not be cut off. That development came from the French. It was effective until the Germans shot a
French plane down and discovered the modification. The Germans than built their own plane with
an interrupter which caused the gun to cease firing when the propeller was in
front of the gun. The name of the German
plane with the interrupter was the Eindecker III aka E.III and it was built by
Anthony Fokker. It created a sensation
in battle because the pilot could aim his plane at the target and shoot. He could hit them more often. The Eindecker was a monoplane. And other than the interrupter, it was a difficult
plane to fly in combat.
During the Great War
the men found it difficult to agree on the use of air craft in war. In many countries both the Navy and the Army
had aircraft. The Army wanted ground
support on call for the troops as the action progressed. The Navy had a more progressive
viewpoint. They wanted enemy ships sunk
by heavy bombers.
The builders of the
aircraft sent representatives to the front lines to ask the pilots what they
needed in a plane. The pilots who had
the most clout were those who shot down five or more enemy planes and were
aces. One of them could walk into a
factory and request certain modifications and additions for their particular
plane and they got it even if it they wanted their favorite gun accommodated in
the plane. The Army and Navy were
constantly squabbling about funding.
Near the end of the
Great War, the RAF gained independence from the Army and Navy. The independence was financial as well as
administrative. That was a big change to
occur during a world war!
The problem of bombs
hitting the target was an ongoing problem throughout the war as I mentioned
before. The USA came into the war in
1917. The main basis for bombing was the
daylight precision bombing which was in direct opposition to the British carpet
bombing. As bomb delivery developed
during the war the Germans fielded a two engine Gotha bomber. It could carry a lot of weight and traveled
speedily alongside Zeppelin-Staaken
R.VI, a four engine bomber. The
British populace having been morale bombed demanded that the government
retaliate with a large fast bomber. It
was in the works when the war ended in Nov. 1918 but was never deployed.
As a sort of summary
of this section, Budiansky says, “It has often been said that the effect of the
First World War on aviation was greater than the effect of military aviation on
the war. Aviation played a vital but
never decisive role, though it came closest in the last great battles, when the
Allies gained overwhelming air superiority through concentration and force of
sheer numbers.
Next time we’ll talk
about the inter war years and their developments.
