By Susan Morris - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

By Susan Morris

Airplanes in WWISlide2

The Beginning of WWI

Originally, planes were not used in

trench warfare

for WWI and thought to be completely useless for fighting. At the beginning of the war, they were used to take pictures of the enemy’s land and warn armies of oncoming attacks from the enemy. The pilots navigated by maps and landmarks. The entire point of airplanes before combat was to feed information to their side so their country would know where to place troops most effectively.Slide3

The Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force

The Royal Flying Corps were the men that were a part of the army but got their own branch, the Royal Air Force, with ranks and such by 1918. However, men were more likely to die in training than in combat in the Corps because the planes were worse.

Men in the Royal Flying Corps stand in front of a planeSlide4

Hazards of the Planes

Men were not allowed to wear parachutes in their planes because then they would be more likely to use them; however, the cockpit was so small, it was impossible to fit one in there in the first place. Planes at this point were very simple and easily broke, usually killing the pilot and/or

copilot. According to World War I airpower, “

The overall life expectancy for pilots flying in World War I has been reported as 6 weeks.” However, once the Germans began to create machine guns that synchronized with the propeller, “The British officially calculated the life expectancy of pilots at 17.5

hrs

of flying time

.”

Some pilots would jump from their planes after their plane got destroyed and began to fall; others brought a gun if worse came to worse.Slide5

Dogfights

A dogfight is a close range, aerial combat between pilots. Although they appeared in WWI, they were also frequent in World War II (namely the Battle of Britain) and was often seen in all wars up until 1992. Before dogfights, there was little a pilot could do other than shake a fist or shoot a bullet or two.

The “first dog fight” is impossible to say for sure, but in each story, the pilot waves at his enemy and flies home. One story is of a Serbian and Austrian while others are between the

G

erman and French. In one story, it is about two friends that were on the other sides of the war and shot to miss while another mentions a man who shoots at another after exchanging waves. Slide6

Fighter vs. Bomber

The bomber was used to destroy factories or other important places. Originally, bombers would chunk a bomb and hope for the best, but long range bombers helped with accuracy later on

This is a

Sopwith

camel; it was a later WWI fighter plane but it developed a good reputation for being more reliable than most of the planes made in that time. Fighters were usually participating in dogfights

Bomber: a

Caproni

Ca.1

Fighter:

Sopwith

CamelSlide7

Machine guns

In the beginning of the war, planes had no machine guns because they were not meant for fighting; the only way of defense was for the pilot to carry a pistol to shoot at the enemy or a mounted machine gun for the rear gunner.

A French pilot named Roland

Garros used armor for the propeller so if the bullets hit it, the propeller would remain unharmed/altered.However, Germany Fokker’s company, specifically Anthony Fokker,

made a synchronizing machine gun that prevented the gun from firing when the propeller was in the way; this gave Germany a huge advantage in the war

. April 1917 was named “bloody April” because the British had four times the number of regular casualties

Parts of a planeSlide8

Pilot’s clothing

Although apparel in the Air Force depended on the country, all of the nations had similar clothing; most of it was made out of leather and wool.

Goggles and a hat, both were lined with fur and were made from leather to help block out the wind. Leather gloves were also often used

Pilots also wore long, leather jackets to be protected from the wind and the freezing temperatures.Before planes were considered for combat, pilots would sometimes bring a gun in case of emergency.

This pilot, however, is wearing a parachute because in WWII, pilots were allowed to wear themSlide9

Aces

To become an ace, a pilot had to shoot down at least five planes but sometimes, pilots would take down a plane and not destroy another until a month later.

Aces were considered celebrities for accomplishing such an act of bravery while staying alive for so long; however,

“heroes of the air became glamorous because they were clean and deemed noble while their infantry counterparts remained an anonymous mass, stuck in the mud of the trenches.” (Aerial W

arfare in World War I)This created tension between the two forces.

Some famous aces are the Red Baron from Germany, Georges

Guynemer

from France, Albert Ball from Britain, and Eddie Rickenbacker from America.Slide10

The Red Baron, Eddie Rickenbacker, and Albert Ball

The Red Baron was the most famous ace pilot in World War I and shot down around 80 planes in his lifetime. His squad, called the Flying Circus (because of the bright colors on their planes), preformed countless tactics and impressive maneuvers to take down his enemies but died in April 1918 after being badly wounded. However, Manfred von

Richtofen

was a cavalry officer before joining the air force in 1916 with his first kill that September. Slide11

Albert Ball

While Albert Ball only ended up having 44 kills, the ace was very likely to have been Britain’s favorite fighter pilot in World War I. He was a quiet man who had apparently liked to garden and live alone, but he had a huge fighting spirit. Usually, Albert Ball flew solo in the skies to stalk and even engage in dogfights when severely outnumbered. However, Ball often struggled with depression from the war and died when fighting the Red Baron’s “Flying Circus” when he was only 20 in May 1917.Slide12

Eddie Rickenbacker

Eddie Rickenbacker was formerly a race car driver who had set land speed records in Daytona. Although he was 27, two years older than the cut off date, Rickenbacker somehow talked his way into getting his wings in 1918. He was had knack for being a fighter pilot. Rickenbacker was a daredevil who shot his guns only after getting

fightingly

close to the enemy but was considered to be the “ace of aces”. He was a man who “cheated death” by surviving terrible crashes single handedly took on seven German planes before taking down two then retreating . He also served in WWII.Slide13

Impact on World War I

Planes improved by leaps and bounds in World War I; these inventions added to planes, such as synchronizing machine guns, played an important role in World War II. In the beginning of World War I, a BE2c (a type of plane) could fly 72 miles per hour, but by the end of the war, a SE5a fighter could fly 138 mph. The rotary engine was invented. The rotary engine was air cooled and therefore very light, but the plane still had plenty of power. Inventions such as these helped pilots carry more ammunition, fly longer, etc. Slide14

Quiz

World War I planes originally used for _________.

What are the two types of planes?

Pilots were not allowed to wear parachutes in their planes because of _________ and __________.Which nation was the first to create synchronized machine guns?True or False, there are multiple stories of the first dogfight.

Which came first, the Royal Flying Corps or the Royal Air Force

?

What was “Bloody April?”

The most famous ace in World War I was _______.Most commonly used material on a pilot’s uniform was ______ because it helped keep the pilots warm in freezing temperatures and wind.