THE WAR IN THE AIR

THE INTRODUCTION OF THE AEROPLANE

THE ROLES OF RECONNAISSANCE AND SURVEILLANCE

Acknowledgements

Diagram: grc.nasa.gov Trenches: slideplayer Targets: warmuseum.ca Photographer: dronecenter.bard.edu Etrich Taube: dreamstime.com Balloon: en.wikipedia.org Combat: wallpaperflare.com Zeppelin: national archives.gov.uk Dog Fight: appadvice.com

    When war broke out in August 1914, the aeroplane had only been in existence for eleven years. There was a great deal to be learnt about its present capabilities and its potential on the battlefield and way beyond. Constructed from wooden frames covered with canvas; clumsy to handle on the ground; far from reliable in the air; and for ever open to attack; it was to be a sharp and rather expensive learning curve. Aeronautics, as one observer noted, was “an emerging technology” and casualties were bound to be high. Aircraft in this primitive form had been employed “with limited effect” in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911 and the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913. However, the Western and Eastern fronts were to provide a much greater challenge, and aircraft were also to play no small a part in the Italian campaign and the battles in the Balkans and Middle East. The use of aircraft as a weapon of war – virtually an unknown quantity at this stage – was destined to expand rapidly over the next five years of intense warfare.

     At the beginning of the war, just 66 pilots of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) flew their aircraft across the English Channel to support the army at the front. They were in action just six days after leaving the UK, but their first major engagement – including the dropping of bombs – was at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. By then the RFC was 27 squadrons strong, a force of over 400 aircraft. In the first year of the war, however, these flimsy machines were mainly confined to reconnaissance and surveillance purposes. The first role was a fairly short, sharp mission aimed at gaining an overall view of the enemy’s position or movements at the front, and getting this vital information back to base as quickly as possible. On occasions, hoping to save time, the pilot would drop the message – adequately weighted! – in the vicinity of Battle HQ, but it wasn’t always found as quickly as required! As we shall see, following the intensive Battle of Loos in the autumn of 1915 – an encounter in which the RFC clearly earned its place – a transmitter was installed to provide contact by morse code, and by May 1916, 306 aircraft and over 540 ground stations were equipped with wireless. This allowed for the transmission of short, simple messages, and, in addition, enabled the pilot to adjust the range of the artillery bombardment at the beginning of an offensive, known as “artillery spotting”. Often the gunfire would go beyond the enemy’s lines, leaving its trenches and defences virtually untouched. This was a marked improvement, as was the more frequent use of photographs as a means of confirming the visual findings.

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    At this stage, the small light planes that were in action were unarmed, but given the possibility that they would encounter an enemy aircraft on reconnaissance, the pilots began to take their own pistols and rifles onboard. There was the occasional mid-air shoot-out, but, as we shall see, these encounters were to escalate at an alarming rate as command of the air became the pathway to success. The machine gun was to replace the hand weapons ….. with dire consequences.

     There is no doubt that by the end of 1914, air power – though limited in scope at this stage – had become an important part of the planning and conduct of the land battles. Indeed, at the opening engagements of the war, reconnaissance missions furnished commanders with information which, quickly acted upon, gained victory out of likely defeat. After the battle of Tannenburg, for example, General Hindenburg admitted that it was only by learning that the Russians were massing for a counter-attack that he was able to readjust his plans and gain an outstanding victory. And even more significant, as we have seen, were the findings of Allied reconnaissance aircraft as the Battle of the Marne approached – a conflict which could well have ended in the capture of Paris and French submission. A gap was noticed between the 1st and 2nd Armies, closing in from the north-west, and Allied forces took full advantage of this weakness. Both armies were severely punished and delayed. The Germans did eventually reach the Marne, but they did not cross it in sufficient strength. The Allies counter-attacked and pushed them back to the River Aisne and, as it so happened, four years of static trench warfare.

    As aerial operations extended, the importance of gaining and keeping control of the air became ever more imperative It prevented the enemy from carrying out intelligence missions and, at the same time, provided freedom of action in the skies above the enemy. And this was to became much more significant with the beginning of tactical support on the battlefield itself. As we shall see, this struggle for air superiority was to lead to a furious period of aerial combat, beginning mid-1915, in which the Germans were to gain a clear advantage. But well before this, at the beginning of January, the Kaiser sanctioned a series of bombing raids – terror attacks – against Britain, France, Italy and Poland. It was the first strategic bombing campaign in history. At this stage, there was no aircraft capable of a sustained and profitable role in such an operation. The harbinger of death was to be the Zeppelin airship. It was huge in size and slow in movement, but it was capable of carrying a large bomb load and flying well above the range of contemporary aircraft. For a time it was very successful in its mission.

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     The task of surveillance was a more prolonged activity, carried out to prepare for future actions, be it an all-out attack on a particular area, or the selection of a strategic target, such as a rail junction or military depot. A two-man crew was required so that photographs could be taken. At first the camera was hand-held, but it was later fixed to the side of the fuselage or operated through a hole in the floor, thereby giving it the means by which it could easily scan the terrain below. Given time, the photographs produced, taken by both sides, provided a detailed overview of the enemy’s trench system and the precise position of reservextroops. One of the best aircraft for this particular work was the German Etrich Taube (pictured here). Built just before the war, it was very stable in flight and, given the translucent nature of its linen covering, it was almost invisible at a height above 1200 ft. The French called it “the invisible aircraft”. It can be seen as the world’s first “stealth plane”!

     On the EasternxFront, given the vast areas to be covered, these reconnaissance and surveillance flights were particularly demanding and, potentially, far more dangerous. To meet this challenge the Russians created the Esdadra Vosdushykh Korablei (the EVK), a squadron of “Flying Ships” equipped with the II’ya Muromets airplane. This was produced as a large four-engined passenger plane by Igor Sikorsky, the Russian aviation pioneer, in 1913 (and the inventor of the first helicopter in 1939). The following year, however, the Il’ya Muromets (named after a Russian folk hero), was converted into a long-range reconnaissance aircraft to track German troop movements. Defended by a rear gunner (the first of its kind), it served its purpose well, and, later – capable of carrying 1,100 lbs of bombs – was widely employed as a long-range bomber. It was not so successful in that role.

    Incidentally, despitexthe advent of these surveillance aircraft, the observation balloon (first employed during the French Revolution and put to good use ever since), still had a significant part to play in ground combat. In a static situation – such as that pertaining on the Western Front – these aerial platforms were of real value. Able to stay in the sky for long periods of time, they provided a constant supply of intelligence about the enemy’s immediate territory. By their nature, they appeared quite vulnerable, but they were well defended from the ground and in the air. Very few enemy pilots risked their lives to bring one down.