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The Air War 1914 - 1918

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The Air War 1914 - 1918 The Air War 1914 - 1918 A General Introduction by Hans Appel 1 / 19 16-11-19 © Hans Appel Air War 1914 - 1918 Preface The First World War (The Great War) receives much less attention in the Netherlands than, for example, in England, Belgium and France. In itself not so strange because the Dutch were not directly involved in the conflict. The Netherlands were neutral, but the consequences of this war in neighboring countries were enormous. If one delves into this war, the great technological innovation in aviation between 1914 and 1918 stands out. An unprecedented technical innovation from which we are still reaping the benefits. But you also look back with astonishment at the things that happened and with admiration for the people involved. In this article I want to share with you something of my surprise and admiration. This will not be a dry story with dates and battles that have been worked out in detail. This will be a more general approach to flying in those days. War In those days (1914) people still waged war with only ground troops, so infantry, artillery and cavalry. The third dimension, the sky, was not thought of. Remember, that in 1903, ten years earlier, the Wright brothers made the first manned flight. A 12-second flight at a height of 4.5 meters over a distance of 36 meters. Flying was seen as an insignificant activity, toys for daredevils and eccentrics. For professional officers it was bad for your career to focus on flying. Although it was precisely this group of people who were experimenting with the new phenomenon. At that time, many professional officers were both noble and rich. They bought planes, learned to fly, and tried to convince the Generals of the usefulness of planes. At the beginning of the First World War the Generals were very reluctant, but during the conflict they started to think differently. In the beginning, the aircraft was only used for observation and reconnaissance, but when the aircraft became more stable, faster and better armed, they also started fighting each other. They were confronted with fighters, bombers and seaplanes. Strategies were devised and set out. A great technological innovation took place during the war. In 1914 a plane needed 30 minutes to rise to 2000 feet (600 m), in 1918 it was possible in just 2 minutes. Fragile controls had made way for reliable, more robust systems. Fokker had constructed an interruption mechanism (more about that later) for machine guns and Hugo Junkers made the first all-metal aircraft, with a cantilevered wing (monoplane). Ultimately, many of these innovations would be invaluable for the development of civil aviation. 2 / 19 16-11-19 © Hans Appel Balloons The first steps of an "army in the air" were already taken in the second half of the 19th century with the use of the balloon. The balloon was used for artillery observation to track where fired shells were dropped. The observation balloon was anchored to the ground at around 1,000 meters behind its own lines. At the height of the war, there were about 170 balloons from the English channel to Switzerland with a gap of two miles (3 km). Almost the entire front could therefore be observed from the balloons. There was communication via a field telephone and from 1915 an AM radio system was used. Simplex first (like with a walkie-talkie, talking in turns) and later duplex (like with a telephone). Observation balloons were very sensitive to the weather and even rifle bullets could cause havoc. Photographs were also taken from observation balloons. The Kodak celluloid film was already available but the resolution and contrast were still insufficient, hence glass plates were used in the early days. Figuur 1: An observation balloon Airships Rigid airships that were controllable were deployed throughout the war. In the frame, which had the shape of a large "cigar", bags of hydrogen gas were attached. This gas is extremely flammable, making the airships very vulnerable. But because of this light gas, they were able to fly at an altitude of 15,000 feet (4,500 meters), an altitude that was certainly impossible to reach for fighter aircraft at the start of the war. When planes were able to operate at that height a little later, the air turned out to be so thin, that it was impossible to set fire to those airships with the standard grenades. Only 3 / 19 16-11-19 © Hans Appel when tracer ammunition (phosphorus) became available, were fighter aircraft effectively deployed to combat rigid airships. The first airial bombing ever took place from an airship: in January 1915 on cities in Norfolk. The shock effect was very great for the English because they thought they were unreachable on their island. However, that turned out to be an illusion. The following bombardment flights were carried out on England during the war: • 16 attacks were carried out with Zeppelins, resulting in 557 deaths and 1,346 injuries. • 32 planes during the day with aircraft, result: 358 dead and 841 injured. • With aircraft at night, 20 attacks were carried out with: 453 dead and 1,008 injured. Figuur 2: The airship ‘Graf Zeppelin’ Aircraft production At the start of the First World War on July 28, 1914, only Germany had a reasonable air force, with 450 aircraft. The English Royal Flying Corps (RFC) with 50 and the French with 142 aircraft had significantly fewer aircraft. Only two years later in July 1916 would the RFC be able to deploy around 410 aircraft at the front! This does not alter the fact that during the WWI huge numbers of devices were produced by the various countries (and huge numbers were also destroyed). (see table on the next page) 4 / 19 16-11-19 © Hans Appel Produced Destroyed After the war Percentage over destroyed France 67.987 52.640 4.500 77% England 58.144 35.973 3.300 62% Germany 48.537 27.637 2.390 57% All in all, it is a production of 175,000 aircraft, of which 115,000 were destroyed. 15,000 aircraft were destroyed during pilot training alone! Unimaginable numbers of destruction, not only on material but also on people killed or wounded in this air war. It may be clear that the necessary efforts had to be made to make as large a production as possible. Few companies were involved in building aircraft. The designers were also few. Remember that the plane as a phenomenon only existed for ten years. That also meant that aviation technology was still at an embryonic stage. From aerodynamics to wing construction, from engines to armament, from instruments to communication and navigation equipment, everything had to be invented in practice. In those days, the Netherlands was well known in the field of design and aircraft construction. Frits Koolhoven offered his services to the English during the First World War and designed successful planes for them. On the other side of the front, Anthony Fokker produced very successful aircraft for the Germans in his factory in Germany. Exploration and observation The first deployment of aircraft was exploration and observation. The various armies on both sides of the front were given a few aircraft under their command, which they could deploy at their discretion. In those first days of exploration and observation, the Germans, English and French, each remained on their side of the front. The pilots of all parties waved at each other when a meeting took place in the air. After all, they were gentlemen! Only after an Englishman realized that it was actually a war started shooting with his gun at an opponent, armament was considered. The first reconnaissance and observation aircraft had a crew of two: an observation officer and a pilot. The observer always had to be an officer, the pilot could be a petty officer. In the air the pilot was the commander, so that it could happen that an officer received instructions from a non-commissioned officer. An unprecedented situation! This clearly indicates that the differences with the air force and other parts of the army were big (and still are). The air force from then and now must operate as one team, lives are directly dependent on everyone's efforts. 5 / 19 16-11-19 © Hans Appel A reconnaissance aircraft in those days was equipped with two cockpits. The observer was in front of the pilot and the pilot was directly in front of the propeller. The use of a push propeller had the advantage that the observer had an unobstructed view and, moreover, that there was no wash from the propeller. The disadvantage was that the pilot had poor visibility, which was especially true at take-off and landing. Moreover, the aerodynamic profile of this configuration was poor. The observer therefore had to duck into his cockpit during starts and landings. Figuur 3: A reconnaissance aircraft An observer was not strapped in a safety belt. To be able to observe properly, he had to be able to move as much as possible freely. If the fragile device made an unexpected movement and he fell out of its cockpit, he would fall to its death, because a parachute was not available. The pilot also had no parachute at his disposal. An RFC committee had determined that parachutes should only be used in observation balloons. In airplanes, that would have a negative influence on the pilot's fighting spirit. He would leave his device earlier and not bring it back for repair. And besides that, a captain at sea also went down with his ship !! Parachutes were not allowed until 1918.
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