On June 28, 1914, the heir to Austro-Hungarain throne Franz Ferdinand and his wife were murdered by Serb terrorists (World). The ensuing struggle in the nations of Europe caused the "Great War," or World War I. World War I "cost 11 million lives and accomplished nothing" (Funderbunk). Generals wanted to fight the war the old way with elaborate plans and sweeping cavalry charges. While ignoring realities, they thought that a war could be fought and won before the next Christmas (Funderbunk). In fact, Max Immelmann one of Germany's greatest pilots, "deepest fear was that the war would end before he had a chance to fight in it" (Jackson).
Airplanes had a overwhelming effect towards the end of the war, but at the beginning they were a recent invention and had not been exploited by the military machine as of yet. They had a limited acceptance when the armies had experimented with aerial reconnaissance before the war (Funderbunk). France mustered one hundred and twenty aeroplanes while Britain added one hundred and thirteen to bring the allied side total to two hundred and thirty. Germany had exactly as many planes as the allied forces, and had more recent and better militarized planes. The beginning of the war brought small under-powered rickety aircraft to the skies to provide often misleading reconnaissance for ground troops in the trenches. The cavalry, the traditional reconnaissance troops, laughed at undependable aircraft. However, by the end of the war aviators were much admired heroes of the war who were responsible for much more than just transmitting accurate reconnaissance.
Names like the Red Baron and the Blue Max are some of the many Aces still known today. However, who were the aces and aviators on the allied and enemy side such as Frantz, Garros, Fokker, Boelcke, Immelmann, Richtofen, Guynemer, and Ball and how did they influence the rapid progression of aviation during World War I?
Early pilots of World War led a much different life than pilots later in the war. Pilots often were not issued an armament whatsoever in the early stages of the war. Pilots would simply wave to each other when they saw an enemy plane and go about their own business. On October 5, 1914 the first air battle took place when the pilot Frantz alerted his observer and friend Quenault of an enemy German plane. Quenault had recently mounted a Hotchkiss (fig. 1) machine gun to the top of plane so Frantz tried to move in behind the Germans for a kill. About that time the observer in the German plane began firing with his under-matched carbine rifle. Quenault unloaded forty eight shots on the Germans before Quenault's machine gun jammed. Never the less, this was enough to send the Germans careening to the ground in flames (Matloff). This simple confrontation began the battle for the skies.
Garros, a pre war aviator, brought the next advancement in militarized aeronautics. Garros had heard of attempts to attach a machine gun to the speedy single-seater N monoplane. He devised a scheme in which he would place a metal deflector plate on the propeller in front of a Hotchkiss (fig. 1) machine gun. Thus he would be able to fire a machine gun through the propeller without damage to his machine, "because the gun was close to the pilot he could fire, reload, and fix jams very easily" (Ricken). All of this plus the fact that the gun was attached to speedy plane able to maneuver with ease unlike the slower less maneuverable two passenger planes. Garros had great success with his invention getting his first kill in February of 1915 (Funderbunk). Garros made air combat possible in better suited planes allowing him to gain an advantage over the Germans.
Tony Fokker, an aviator and plane builder for the Germans, took over where Garros left off after Garros was captured behind enemy lines. Once Garros's plane was captured, it was sent to Fokker to be analyzed and replicated. The Germans wanted a plane that could fire through the propeller as well. However, Fokker found that Garros's method was very ineffective and that the only way to gain an advantage would be to have a gun and propeller synchronized. Thus no longer needing the deflectors on the propeller, because the gun would only fire in the gaps of the propeller. The "Fokker Scourge" began in 1915 because of the superiority of the new synchronized machine gun attached to the Fokker Eindecker (Reynolds). The Allied side took heavy losses for the next few months because they were without Fokker's ingenious technology.
This new era brought with it Germany's first great ace in the Blue Max and his tutor Boelcke. Max Immelmann, or the Blue Max, was the first to receive media propaganda a technique used by the Germans to help boost morale. Immelmann learned from the great teacher and organizer Boelcke. The both benefited from the Fokker Eindecker planes. Imelmann's chief quality of initiative allowed him to create new unheard of tactics such as the now famous Immelmann turn (fig 2).
Immelmann began racking up more victories until his controversial death on June 18, 1916. On the day of his death, Immelmann was phoned that there was a British two seater plane in the air above the lines. Immelmann went after the plane, but slowed and then was fired upon. He broke up in the air, and came down to his death in pieces. However, there is some controversy to how he really died. The British gave credit to the gunner in their plane, Corporal Walker. The Germans were shocked by the loss, and thus rumors circulated that Immelmann's Fokker plane had malfunctioned due to engineering problems. Herman Becker put together a theory about the accident from personal knowledge, and the accounts of people he knew who were there (Funderbunk). According to Becker, Immelmann's propeller was shot off, but it was not the designer's fault. The Max's propeller had just been changed before the battle, and in the rush to get the Blue Max in the air, the gun and the propeller were not properly synchronized. Wild rumors still circulated because many could not believe that the darling of the German press had finally perished ( Funderbunk). Controversy still lingers behind his death, as with other great World War I pilots. His death and national idolization paved the way for other German aces like Boelcke and Richtofen.
After Immelmann's death, Boelcke took over as Germany's great ace, and he began to receive the media attention that his pupil had once had. Boelcke is responsible for teaching another of Germany's finest. In fact that man's name is Manfred von Richtofen or the Red Baron. Boelcke had met Richtofen on a train once during the early stages of the war, and when the German government asked Boelcke to organize a new special fighter squadron Richtofen was chosen. The Germans had recently been suffering losses ever since the synchronized gun technology had been learned by the Allied Forces. They thought if their master Boelcke could teach his tactics they could regain their superiority. They were right in the case of the Red Baron, for he had eighty confirmed victories by the end of the war, by far the most of pilots on both sides. However, it was not easy for the Red Baron, "after taking to the air on his first solo flight he promptly destroyed his plane while trying to land" (Funderbunk). Only after hard work and determination did Richtofen become Germany's best. His flying with Boelcke was cut short on October 28, when Boelcke and a fellow German collided sending Oswald Boelcke, Germany's greatest mentor to his death. After Boelke's death the Baron became a mad man possessed, intending to kill the entire allied side...
After Boelcke's death, Richtofen became Germany's greatest through the help of the media and technology. With Boelcke and Immelmann, gone the press rallied behind Richtofen much the way they had done before. Adding to Richtofen's success was the advent of the double sychronized machine gun, allowing two guns in the air for more fire power. And another thing that helped Richtofen was his collabration with Tony Fokker which produced the Dr. I or the Fokker tri-plane, Richtofen's most famous mount. Richtofen had told what he wanted in a superior figher machine and Tony Fokker transferred his ideas to a tri-plane. The plane had twin Spandau machines guns, the latest military enhancement of the time. The three sets of wings gave it superior climbing time only taking it eleven minutes to reach 13,000 feet (Simmons). The tri-plane was a small plane spanning only 23 feet allowing it to be the most maneuverable plane in the air. Richtofen had his tri-planes marked with red paint to have them easily identifiable thus earning him the name the Red Baron. The Baron used the plane's assets to his advantage by flying head on to his enemy. If his twin Spandau's did not get his enemy's plane on the first pass, the Baron would use his nimble plane to turn around and be on top his enemy before the other plane had half a chance. Thus, he would be behind his enemy ready for a kill before his enemy knew what hit him (Simmons). The Baron's skills and Fokker's new technology brought air combat to an entire new plateau.
Allied pilots have not received as much credit for revolutionizing air combat, however this is not to say that their were not any great pilots in the Allied ranks. George Guynemer fighting with the French had fifty confirmed victories by the end of his life, leading all other allied fighters. Albert Ball, showed that American creativity and ingenuity are important traits possessed by airmen: He zoomed upward and to the left, and now saw that there were three uninvited guests at the joust. It was five against one now. He tried to pick off one or two but the Germans were wily fliers. Theoretically he shouldn't have remained alive for more than a minute. Then he improvised perhaps the most unorthodox and apparently suicidal maneuver ever attempted by a cornered airman. He put his plane into a crazy spin, the Germans of course thought that he had been hit. He brought his Nieuport out of the spin and fluttered toward the ground. He landed. Two of the German planes swooped down to land on the field; the other three flew over it, and went on to their nearby airfield to spread the story. As they (pilots) approached, Ball opened up his throttle, pulled back on his stick and the plane shot down the field, rose in the air and Ball headed for home without having received a scratch (Reynolds).
The Allied forces had great airmen that could do battle, but they were usually behind in the technology race. They didn't have an aviator or builder like Tony Fokker to innovate new ideas, instead they resorted to capturing planes and emulating them. Only towards the end of the war when the Allied sides had Spad 7's and Nieuports were they able to finally compete in the skies.
Many important aviators contributed to early aeronautics. They were pioneers who revolutionized air combat. From Frantz, Garros, Fokker, and Boelcke, to Immelman, Richtofen, Guynemer, and Ball these were the most influential aviators of World War I.
Their influences in the rapid progression of World War I aviation is unmatched. These were the men who came up with new turns and tactics like Immelmaan, these were the men who shot down eighty planes like Richtofen, these men were the innovators and plane builders like Tony Fokker; they were the aviators of World War I. They brought aviation from a humorous novelty at the beginning of the war, to a deadly reality by war's end. All of these aviators before mentioned have paid the ultimate sacrifice; their life. War is conflict, and the cost of conflict is the lives of soldiers. Aviators were no exception, at some parts of the war they had an average life span of three weeks which is reasonable considering there were no parachutes (Lawson). These men gained respect for their heroics, and thus started the never ending battle that will be forever waged in the earth's skies.
See also the pages on WW2 airplanes.