Air power

Each RFC squadron had 12 aircraft and with spares this was 63 planes and 900 men

The RNAS looked after home defence

Admiral Fisher saw the potential threat to the fleet from German Zeppelin airships and the RNAS had been given responsibility for coastal patrols, scouting for the navy and attacking airship bases.

Bombing Germany 1914

Churchill supported an aggressive strategy for the Eastchurch squadron (the RNAS base in Kent)

They were sent from their base in Belgium to bomb the Zeppelin factories in Dusseldorf. Only one plane made it and it dropped 3 bombs. 2 failed to explode and the other missed.

21 Nov 1914 the RNAS bombed sheds at Friedrichshafen

11 bombs dropped 2 hit the airship base damaging one zeppelin and blowing up a gas works.

1 plane had to land. The pilot was attacked but later taken prisoner of war

RFC on the Western Front

Initially there for reconnaissance to support ground offensives

Activities became wider ranging: air bombing (grenades / homemade petrol bombs) 1915, aircraft were fitted with wing racks that held the bombs and the pilot released by pulling a cable.

Hugh Trenchard

commanded the RFC

His policy was:

Attack whenever possible

Co-operate with the army through reconnaissance and low level bombing

maintain British morale and weaken the morale of the Germans

Impact on ground troops

was Considerable

Friendly planes cheered up soldiers in the trenches, enemy planes terrified them.

A German ex-soldier, Arthur Goldammer, recalled being constantly harassed by British planes when the weather was clear.

The effect was to make soldiers crouch in the trench

Haig and Trenchard

New strategy:

New logistical considerations: airfield, store depots, front line link to France

Supply aircraft

fuel

ammo

pilots

wireless

cameras

Adapt quickly: e.g. 1918 fitted with bomb racks in a hurry to counter German offensive

Robert Brooke-Popham

In charge of logistics in France and responsible

for much of the success

Sir David Henderson

Director-general of military aeronautics

Trenchard nagged the government

better planes

better trained pilots

Haig supported Trenchard. Aircraft could continue /sustain his continuous offensive

Air power was a battlefield partner for artillery

attack!

End trench deadlock

RFC was asked to win the battle over the Western front

1917 RFC lost 700 planes and 473 pilots were killed

1918 Air superiority

Haig and Trenchard criticised

wasteful of lives and materials because of their policy

1916

27 squadrons 600+ aircraft

1917 RFC and RNAS experienced in using combat aircraft and bombers

1916, Asquith set up a committee, headed by Lord Derby, to report on reorganising the air forces

Lord Curzon

Air ministry

An Air Board was set up

January 1917 Air Board, Admiralty, ministry of munitions and War office agreed to streamline research, production and operation of aircraft

17th August 1917 Jan Smuts presented Government report on the future of British airpower

'No limit' to the use of aviation as an independant military arm

Smuts suggested that...

Aircraft would carry out the principal operations of war

Long range bombing

Politicians and military agreed the need for a separate air service

Air Ministry set up January 1918

Lord Rothermere was the head, resigned April 1918 and Sir William Weir took over

1st April RFC and RNAS merged. = RAF

End of the war, 300,000 personnel and more than 22,000 aircraft

German Albatros C1 scout inflicted first air to air casualty

Its observer wounded the RFC pilot with a rifle shot

What could the pilots do about this new risk?

Lewis gun mounted on plane

The pilot from No. 6 squadron was told to remove it.

Solution? Lighten the gun. No need for a cooling system

Vickers also fitted.

Germans adapted the Spandau water-cooled machine gun

Adapting planes for gunnery

Most planes were biplanes

Guns were mounted on top of the wings to avoid

the propeller

Or, used on 'pusher planes'

Vickers two seat FB5 'Gunbus'

July 1915

Lewis gun fired 500 bullets per minute and swivelled on a pivot mount

Two men crews fought as a team but extra weight = slower

How to avoid the propellers?

Roland Garros (Fr) fitted metal plates to the propellers to deflect the bullets.

Germans captured one such plane, April 1915 and Dutch engineer Anthony Fokker improved this by linking the gun's firing mechanism to the engine

The first 'interrupter gear' was produced.

The Technology Race

July 1915 Fokker EI Eindecker monoplane

Superior to British planes because of the interrupter

'Fokker Scourge'

British response

Vickers-Challenger synchronised firing gear

RFC pilot could hit a plane at 800 yds

fire 600 bullets per minute (reload after 250 rounds)

Interruptor gear = cutting edge technology : Scarff-Diborski, Ross and Sopwith

1918 most British planes used the Constantinesco oil-hydraulic interrupter gear

Result of the Technology Race

Rapid changes but modest improvements in speed, altitude and fire power

What mattered was how easy a plane was to fly (20 hours flying experience prior to war)

How easy it was to fix

How well it could perform a variety of roles whilst taking off from a grass airfield

Fighter planes

Bristol F2B 1916 - 2 man crew

SE5 1917 - single seater, flown by ace pilot, Albert Ball. He angled his lewis gun to shoot the enemy's underside

Sopwith F1 Camel - the best all round fighter July 1917: Dive bomber / could be the aircraft on carriers at sea / air defence fighter against bombers over England

Top speed 120mph

Max. altitude of 22,000ft

1914-1918

60 mph - 150mph

70 hp to 400hp

Line Astern (slightly different heights)

Line Abreast ( next to one another)

Echelon (aircraft slightly to the side of the one ahead)

Dog Fights

portrayls of battles as individual dog fights with scores idealised violence and gave the fighter pilot heroic status

Most pilots were officers - higher class, this enhanced popular appeal

Fact finding: 5 facts about

The Red Baron

Major Edward 'Mick' Mannock

Trenchard / Ludendorff disliked the cult of the individual

Main job of the pilot was artillery spotting

Technology forces adaptaion

Air forces had to update because of improved AA defences

Air bursting shells were a deterent, incendiary bullets threat to balloons, machine guns threatened low flying aircraft

Therefore aeroplanes needed metal armour to protect the pilot and the fuel tank

Night raids countered by searchlights (1916), sound detection equipment,

bombers

first bombers had 2 engines or more

First raids were unsuccessful - pilots missed, plane crashed or got shot down, bad weather foiled attempts

Bomb aiming was unsuccessful / unsophisticated. 1915, bombsight was developed , enabled targeting taking speed and wind into account

1916 Wimperis Drift Sight