Between 1914 and 1918 there was a revolutionary new war theater:
airspace.
It was an incredible spectacle result.
There were massive air battles.
I see it before me. It seemed a cloud of flying in the air.
They moved very fast course, and they surfaced.
There were horrific crashes, and survival rates were so low...
pilots almost certainly would sooner or later die.
I kissed m & apos; s mother, grabbed m & apos; s belongings and said:
Goodbye, Mom. I do not think we will ever see each other.
You just had to assume that you would die.
In the air war was used naval guns to take off.
It was also done a new invention : the aircraft carrier.
There was a technological arms race between the designers.
This race ushered in the era of fighters and bombers.
A new kind of hero appeared: the bait.
Now we can see this air war as the pilots saw it:
color.
While Europe went to war in the summer of 1914...
everywhere boys came forward to for a new way of waging war.
In Britain they stood in line for the Royal Flying Corps.
The minimum age for a pilot was 17 years.
These young pioneers were mainly take action over the Western Front...
once they left the recruitment office .
It had not occurred to us that someone else would sign .
We thought we only had come that idea, and nobody else.
We were very disappointed when we saw that there was already a long line.
Our hope vanished like snow in the sun.
& Apos; Reporting all those boys also? - That's what it looks like. & Apos;
Then it was quiet and the queue was getting shorter.
We tried to the guys who came out to see...
if they had saved the and compare ourselves with them.
The plane was only 11 years at the beginning of World War I.
Imagine how it was for those guys when they saw those machines.
They were at that time Ferrari & apos; s and the Harriers.
Airplanes were just and spent quite a stir.
In 1903, the Wright brothers made the first powered flight.
In the army they saw what the military importance of flies could be.
In 1909 the Frenchman Louis Bleriot flew...
the 32-kilometer-wide English Channel.
When he looked down, he saw the world from a new position.
That was the military objective:
Ensure that the commander on the ground had a good overview.
In the 19th century the air for first explored by hot air balloons.
Balloonists conducted a large part of the war reconnaissance.
But the gas-filled balloon was an easy prey.
From 1916 were balloonists parachutes bring on board...
that were invented 30 years earlier in America.
Allied pilots in World War I were no parachutes...
because they were perhaps inclined quicker to leave their plane.
Thanks parachutes emerged a new tactic.
Once a balloonist saw an enemy unit, he jumped down.
The ground crew tried balloon to win as quickly as possible.
That was not a satisfactory solution...
and soon became planes used for reconnaissance.
Using photography the enemy was spying.
On a picture you can see a lot more than a casual observer.
You take it, develops it, let magnifying and looks good at.
And then you see guns, roads and command posts.
In addition to shooting could also pilots by radio to pass what they saw.
The only way the enemy could prevent & apos; s pilot just passed...
was through him to get down. That was in the beginning rather difficult.
One of the problems was weight machine guns and bombs.
They were light planes with little power.
A pilot was difficult, let alone a machine gun and ammunition.
Another problem for the pilots was that the propeller was in the way.
In April 1915 the French pilot Roland Garros came up with a solution.
He put steel plates on the propeller...
so it does not afketsende by bullets could be damaged.
That was not ideal. Firstly by the extra weight of the armor.
And also could be your own plane deviated hit by bullets.
Despite Roland Garros overtook two weeks down five German planes.
Their pilots were completely surprised.
But when Roland Garros made an emergency landing in Germany.
The Germans immediately saw what was the secret...
how a plane could inflict so much damage .
Seeing this attempt to shoot by the propeller...
they called the talented Dutch designer Anthony Fokker it.
Fokker found a solution with far-reaching consequences...
through the machine and the propeller to align...
so the bullets would not touch the blades more.
Soon the German pilots had tactic that would sow death and destruction.
We saw that it was a German case. He sat over our middle unit...
and dove on top of him like a hawk at an unfortunate sparrow.
I was very happy when we got back.
Allied aircraft had no chance. 1915 & apos; t year of the & apos; & apos ;. Fokker Scourge
The average Allied pilot usually had not long to live.
The Fokker Scourge of 1915 left nothing whole of British and French pilots.
The army, however, could not without their eyes in the sky.
Deputies went directly from the flying school in France.
When I arrived in France to fly with a hunter...
I had not flown a time with that type...
let alone receiving flight instructions.
Some had practiced only five hours.
The guys I was on the boat, were shot down almost immediately.
Every day people were killed.
M & apos; s best friend disappeared from one day to another.
This went on all the time. There was no one with you.
No one who you could cheer or take care of you when you were hit.
You stood alone. You fought alone and died alone.
It sometimes happened that substitutes which & apos; s morning arrived...
same afternoon killed.
The head of the RFC, Hugh Trenchard, ordered...
the empty spots at the dinner table were immediately filled.
If you as a pilot no empty spots to see around you...
you think less about the fate of your friends who are gone forever.
You're busy treat the new arrivals to welcome them.
1915 was a disastrous year for allied pilots.
The Fokker Scourge lasted 9 months.
The average life expectancy of British pilots had just 11 days.
You did note that you could die anytime.
You did not think about life. You just did your job.
It became discouraged and there were many complaints about the aircraft.
Hugh Trenchard knew losses were inevitable...
and that the air war was comparable with the exhausting trench warfare.
A victory claimed huge casualties.
The Allies were in mid-1916 completely in the technological field.
She also had machine guns which you could shoot forward.
There were new models that were faster, lighter and more agile .
The Royal Flying Corps now consisted of 27 instead of 12 squads.
To the relief of the allies was the Fokker Scourge ended.
They had the Royal Flying Corps namely harder than ever.
The stalemate in the trench warfare lasted for almost two years.
Both the Allies and the Germans wanted to force a breakthrough.
In February, the Germans opened a major offensive at Verdun...
and French barely held firm.
To ease the pressure attacked the British in July at the Somme.
Reconnaissance flights were important to locate German targets...
and supporting artillery.
The allied pilots came with their new devices in action.
Some pilots became famous. For example, Albert Ball.
Albert Bali was a great inspiration for the RFC...
nothing because the statistics did to him what Trenchards approach reflected.
They did not care about statistics and the dangers never went out of the way.
They said I with 190 km / h crashed was...
and to see the landing gear was true.
The plane's been nearly repaired.
I thought m & apos; s had beaten last hour , but that was not so.
Bali was not the future of the RFC.
He had to have a lot of luck. Z & apos; s plane was riddled regularly.
Albert Bali died z & apos; s 21st. He had shot down 44 German planes.
The French were soon use of their aces.
By focusing on the air heroes...
one could divert attention from the carnage in the trenches.
Successful pilots were popular in the press and in the upper echelons.
The Germans cheered soon their aces.
The German army was used to keep morale high.
These heroes were there for the pilots, but also for the people at home.
Appeared many articles and it was a competition between pilots.
You got a medal if you had downed a certain number of boxes.
Their most famous ace was Manfred Von Richthofen, the Red Baron.
Von Richthofen took 80 aircraft down. That was more than anyone.
I am a hunter.
If I have downed an Englishman, I want after & apos; s quarters back into the air.
Von Richthofen was the icon of a romantic view of the air war:
Knights in & apos; s armor of flying steel which compete against each other.
Being alone, your life in our hands...
on your own fight against the enemy...
It was like a medieval joust.
The only place in this modern war where your enemy looked into the eyes.
The only place where it was chivalry and honor.
If you won, was that you own merit.
If you lost, was because the other was better.
Dear mother, the rules that apply on the ground, do not apply here.
You become a different person. You like to be on man. I certainly did.
You are a devil who enjoys best game that was created by God.
You want nothing more than to catch sleeves...
and they show that there is in the air no place for two.
At the front where the shells you to fly the ears and smoke everywhere...
change your self. Better said: you lose your humanity.
You're not a human being anymore, but a war machine.
In April 1917 the Germans again ahead in the arms race.
This was partly due to their tactics.
They went operate in squads of 14 aircraft: Jaster.
They sent three or four Jaster simultaneously on the front line.
These large groups were & apos; & apos flying circuses; mentioned.
Duels between aircraft were replaced by duels between squads.
These dogfights were & apos; & apos dogfights; mentioned.
Allied and German squads fought over the trenches...
until death ensued. Soldiers on the ground could hardly believe their eyes.
I see it before me. It seemed a cloud of flying in the air.
They obviously moving very quickly, and they emerged on the assembly line.
We could hear the shots, even though they were on as & apos; s high altitude.
I have seen wonderful dogfights between aircraft.
The problem was that we never knew who had won.
We closed bets with each other.
& Apos; Who's going to win today? One of those sleeves or one of us? & Apos;
The better German aircraft and tactics were a scourge for the Allies.
In April 1917, what would become known as & apos; Bloody April & apos;...
they lost 150 aircraft and 316 men.
Later in 1917, the first American pilots.
But the Germans remained supreme.
Allied airmen had to keep the army provide information...
associated with the summer planned offensives.
The commanders and the pilots knew they had no good stuff...
but they had to contribute a major offensive.
They knew that the Germans had better stuff and better tactics.
So there was a kind of inevitable tragedy where they could not do anything.
We got into a fight with new Breeders and which were really good.
There was a guy behind me which I shot all to pieces.
I moved back and forth all the time so he could not focus.
Despite the losses, the pilots knew that was only a fraction...
of the ever-increasing number dead on the ground.
The life of the airmen was short, but bad they do not have...
compared with the poor wretches of the infantry in the trenches.
If you're flying at 5000 meters altitude, you felt very excited.
You were lord and master. In addition, the war seemed far away.
In the infantry we were always under lice and we were often hungry.
The Flying Corps life was much better.
On the floor was the life of the pilots very strange.
In the air was living dangerously, but as they landed again...
they had a comfortable dining room, good food and a good bed.
It's wonderful to & apos; evening to fly back.
You know your day will be finished when the sun is low on the horizon.
I'm here to enjoy the sun enjoy a pleasant breeze.
Aside from & apos; t sound of the guns, the war seems far away. Thank God.
We sleep in tents and dining room stands out in a small forest.
That's very nice when it's as hot as the last time.
Guns nearby, but further notice nothing of the war.
I sit in the shade of the trees...
and the only thing we hear shots and our gramophone in the dining room.
Life is good here. We Boulogne bought a freezer.
We are the only soldiers on the front lines every night to eat ice cream.
We can die anytime, but we entertain our supreme best.
Cocktails, chicken livers to & apos; s javelin champagne, strawberry ice cream and cognac.
These young men took their because every day could be their last.
Many of them were suffering from nerves as they saw their death.
It was very hot and we made a lot of flight hours.
This combination greatly influenced by our mood.
We were & apos; all night thinking to patrol the next day.
End we kept it no longer and told each other about our fear.
We lit the candles and then felt a little better.
One of the pilots had a nightmare about a face.
It was faint and far away, but coming closer...
until the face near him was and they sat staring at each other.
Do not just stare.
Then he woke up.
Who was it?
Was it a man he had slain? Or was & apos; t the man who was going to kill him?
The seemingly invincible Red Baron knew no fear...
but he knew that death & apos; m lurked. He seemed to welcome the idea.
A glorious death. By Fighting and fly...
until the last drop of blood and the last drop of fuel.
Until the last heartbeat and the last turn of the engine.
The death of a knight. A celebrity among friend and foe.
Ironically, the Red Baron was not brought down by a plane...
but by a machine gun on the ground.
He was master over the country...
but the air war above sea was even more remarkable.
The Germans were initially in favor.
In their zeppelins they crossed easily over the North Sea.
The British had their own airship: the Submarine Scout.
Like the zeppelin he was mainly used for reconnaissance.
The English were at all costs can see the German submarines.
Early in 1915...
they were looking for volunteers for the Naval Aviation.
There was a message for all battleships and cruisers.
Each captain had to make a young officer a special unit.
The Admiralty we were led to the room of Lord Fisher.
The first thing he said was: & apos; You go into the air, gentlemen.
You can die or get an award.
You must set up an Aviation...
which the danger of the U-boat curbs.
If you do not want to fly, you must report it within 48 hours & apos;.
Few men beat proposal to fly off.
It was lovely to fly around on a nice day.
You were masters in the air.
You could go anywhere, as high and as fast as you wanted.
1 English airships were more sophisticated.
Besides tracking they also wanted to bomb German targets .
The technology was primitive.
We could long stay in the air, but really bomb did not go.
We had small bomblets that were rolling on the floor.
We hung them on strings on and cuts that than with a knife.
The balloons looked dainty, but they were not very lethal.
The Navy had better armed and faster aircraft needed.
Something had against the U-boats undertaken.
In 1915, Germany announced a unrestricted U-boat warfare off...
and many merchant ships were sunk.
Hundreds of ships sank.
Britain, dependent on trade, was thus in great danger.
U-boats were most of the time to the surface of the water.
Planes could locate them and bring them also sunk.
Ensure that airplanes could travel great distances over the sea...
was a huge technological challenge.
The Royal Naval Air Service used first aircraft at sea.
In & apos; t start which were seaplanes.
On the wheels of the aircraft were wooden floats so they floated.
It was very difficult to get these seaplanes into the air.
When the ship stopped, had the aircraft to be hoisted down.
That was a waste of time and energy.
To ascend you had a lot of power needed and the floats were very heavy.
The plane getting on board was also a feat:
Countries, the ship arresting and then hoist up the plane.
It was an incredible sight.
It seemed aircraft that had a day at the beach...
and huge galoshes wore to stay dry.
If we saw one, we shouted: There she goes with that thick boots.
No one knew how the seaplanes were to be transported .
This was a Russian version.
The Russians dragged their planes behind him.
On a calm sea went well, but a storm was hopeless.
The German fleet almost never chose the offing...
and so they used scaffolding.
For the pilots was a risky venture.
I was particularly afraid that I would be seasick.
I had hitherto only been twice in a rowboat...
and I thought everyone except sea dogs would be sick.
After a long run attracted you to send back...
and if you were lucky, you rose up and flew around on as & apos; s 100 meters.
Although, according to M & apos; s log we have reached a time 365 meters.
The first seaplane was built on a grand scale , the Short was.
This unit also had bombs on board.
This additional weight, getting the pilots not always to take off.
I taxied out to sea and was as smooth as the proverbial mirror .
Think ascended the device? Forget it.
I bounced like a wounded duck on the surface.
The radiator boiled over and the cockpit turned into a Turkish bath.
Those primitive aircraft could take off only if the sea was extremely calm.
They could only rise and countries if there were no waves.
The North Sea is not that common.
U-boats could also be contested by a plane...
which could operate from quiet harbors. Thus was born the flying boat.
The flying boat brought in 1917 first U-boat sunk.
But the pilots had no support.
Personally, I think the flying boat much riskier than fighting over the front.
In addition to the risk & apos; s of the fight itself...
put you before and after your fight a long journey on a deserted sea off.
The North Sea is best link. It is often foggy and restless than not.
If your engine goes down or something else happens...
is the chance that you drown a lot bigger than that you will be saved.
The problem would be solved if planes could land on ships.
There kinds of wild experiments were done with the Sopwith Pup.
The coffin on increased with the aid of a platform.
The boards came to the end gun.
If the guns made a certain angle , the platform was oblique.
The aircraft thus had a run of as & apos; s 25 meters.
If the pilot made no enough speed, he fell into the water.
Even if he did everything right, clipped plane along the surface.
It was extremely dangerous, and I thought it was very clever of the pilots.
I admired their courage and ability.
Navy was fortunate that a lot were employed brains.
People who were curious about what the machine could do.
Changed by these experiments maritime aviation radical.
The immediate result was namely the development of the aircraft carrier.
In August 1917 landed a Sopwith Pup on HMS Furious...
a cruiser that had been converted to England's first aircraft carrier.
We had to learn takeoffs and landings.
The captain said: You might as well shooting with a gun to your head.
The speed of the aircraft must be adapted to that of the ship .
Despite all the problems was & apos; s new way of warfare emerged.
Early 1918 brought the HMS Furious z & apos; s first surgery.
Planes took off from the aircraft carrier...
and bombed a number of zeppelins in Tondern.
This is the pioneer of modern warfare at sea.
The aircraft carrier was during this war arose.
At the same time on the mainland still a technological breakthrough.
The bomber's birth.
In the summer of 1917 had the Allies on the Western Front...
Germans technological again called in.
Both sides gave a lot of attention...
a new phenomenon that had caused this war.
Planes were already used for bombing...
but now, many old units converted into bombers.
In 1917, bombs were confirmed among all Allied devices.
There were six in cotton bombs wrapped in a box.
In the absence of instructions we turned the top of the bombs off.
If we & apos; s wanted detonator, we said: Give an igniter, Charlie.
I practiced day and & apos; at night, and under all kinds of weather...
of different heights up to 750 meters.
In the middle of the airfield was drawn in chalk circle.
You had to try to drop bombs anywhere in this circle striking.
They tried to disrupt the movements of the enemy .
Bridges, railways, stations and compounds were bombed...
To slow down the enemy.
Because the bombers were flying so low...
they were increasingly with anti-aircraft guns.
The English called it & apos; & apos ;. Archie
It was very difficult to shoot a plane from the ground.
They were so fast that you did not even have time to load your gun.
Only if you knew which side they came and you were ready...
then you had a chance to fire a bullet them. So fast they were.
There was increasing flak...
but few planes were downed. It was at the most disturbing.
It showed how the brave pilots , because they laughed at Archie.
At first she thought it was scary, then they were laughing...
but as they got more problems with their nerves, fears grew...
Their plane someday would be hit.
I wonder how long I file am against the bombs Archie.
I notice that many people less firm in their shoes.
We had a lot to endure and & apos; s few grenades just missed us.
The shrapnel whistled past us.
If that came out over the sound of the engine , the blast was close.
The arms race of WWI...
had a new and potentially devastating development result.
For the first were attacked civilian targets.
The Germans bombed in January 1915 the population of Norfolk.
The bombs were thrown down from a zeppelin.
In May 1915 London was bombed by zeppelin.
Seven civilians were killed.
& Apos; Look there, a long black cigar slowly coming our way. & Apos;
M & apos; s mother and I held each other. We were terrified.
People began to take preparations.
A wine salesman hired one of z & apos; s cellars.
Know of us slept in the basement with their coats and bags beside them.
Attacks the zeppelins had a great psychological advantage...
because the British saw their island always as an impregnable fortress.
& Apos; No one gives us what, as long as we have the power of the sea & apos;.
Compared to World War II there were not so many victims...
but the threat from the air was so new...
that the panic was bigger than you would expect.
Zeppelins were slow and vulnerable...
and so the Germans developed a new bomber, the Gotha.
In the summer of 1917 rose Gotha squads in Ostend...
to attack England.
I saw a lot of great handsets fly in formation to the east.
I fired up close & apos; s entire warehouse at the last power off.
I saw the bullets z & apos; s hull and wings pierced.
The Gotha hardly seemed to bother , which was not the intention.
I was very disappointed.
What were those Krauts yet brutal with their chests over England.
The idea that they just dared to bomb London , made me furious.
The Germans flew daytime white bombers over London...
to show that she could and that nobody could stop.
Just like the zeppelins was initially exists widespread panic...
because it was all so new.
The attack on London came 162 people.
To appease the population came an experienced squadron & apos; t Western Front...
to provide the capital protection.
The South African General Jan S cap took on the defense.
He introduced a number of warning systems:
flares which & apos; & apos maroons; Were called...
police whistles and placards, as well as new anti-aircraft guns.
These measures went Germans & apos; night bombing.
Mary is terrified, and so we have hair hiding in a safe place.
Then went Phyllis and I look out the window.
I had never seen anything like it. Grenades flew everywhere.
When it was dead quiet, which was very scary after all that noise.
When we heard the roar of engines in the east.
We wanted to see them dying, but it was too foggy.
English flak was & apos; at night so successful...
that the bombing stopped.
The last Gotha & apos; s came in May 1918.
There were also British bombers, as the Handley-Page...
who were able to attack German targets.
These new airplanes changed the nature of war.
In 1918 General Smuts wrote these prophetic words:
war aviation will grow by indefinitely into the future.
It will not be long before air operations...
and the attendant destruction of enemy targets...
key to war operations.
The most striking thing about the air war in World War I were rapid developments.
It started with very primitive observation balloons and aircraft.
It ended with bombing hunting squads, aircraft carriers.
It was launched all future developments.
Despite all strategy and technology behind the scenes...
air war consisted of individuals in small machines...
which modern man-to-hand combat contracted.
They paid a high price for it.
Although there were in the trenches more victims...
survival was equally low.
The American ace Raoul Loughbury summed up how she saw herself.
From z & apos; s poem says that the pilots knew that their life would be short.
We come together under & apos; s wooden roof walls around us are bare
A full laughter echo is heard it seems as though the dead are there
so take the glass firmly in hand the world consists of lies
let's toast to the dead long live next to them follow
[ENGLISH] NN1