TYLERS+WORK!!

Aviation During WWI  Not too long before the First World War, flying was unheard of in warfare. It was only in 1903 when the first airplane was flown by the Wright Brothers, but only for a very short distance. From this point onwards many records involving flight times and speeds were beaten as an increased interest of aviation spread across the world. This interest in aircraft really helped with the progression of aviation and caused nations around the world to start incorporating aircraft into the military because of the potential that some military officers realized. Pilots started becoming military members and countries started to really notice the potential military power of aviation.  In the very early years of military aviation, there was a large amount of debate over the usefulness of aircraft in combat situations and there were lots of skeptics, most of whom were conservative, senior officers. Also, many soldiers and leaders in Germany believed that Zeppelins, a large gas-powered blimp, were the future, as they were “lighter then air” unlike these new air-heavy aircraft being proposed. Additionally, Germany had been extremely successful in the past using Zeppelins. During the beginnings of air combat, planes did not have guns (or at least guns that worked), so they would throw rocks, bricks, sometimes grenades at each other and even, rope to try and jam their propeller. Later, soldiers brought guns on to the plane with them to fire at other aircrafts. Really, these actions led to very little air combat at the start of the war. However, but the fact that planes could easily shoot down Zeppelins during bombings runs in 1914 demonstrated that airplanes were a potential super weapon. Despite what some people believed, Zeppelins became the more popular means of long range bombing because they could carry much more weight than the airplanes of the time. Airplanes would be designed to destroy balloons and Zeppelins responsible for bombing and reconnaissance missions. However, airplanes were much more capable of avoiding anti-aircraft weaponry, so each aircraft had its own pros and cons. In later years, airplanes had to be used because Zeppelins were way too vulnerable to be used for bombing runs.  Throughout the war, the two opposing forces, the Central Powers and the Allied Nations, fought for air superiority. Each year during the war, air supremacy would switch between the two powers as they came out with new technology and sent out more pilots. In 1915, Germany dominated the skies because they had invented the machine gun capable of shooting through a propeller with a device that delayed the propeller when the gun was fired. However, once this technology was acquired by the Allied Nations, they gained air superiority until 1917 when the Germans increased there amount of aircraft and had the infamous Red Baron on their side. By the end of the war, the allies were regained superiority yet again, and it remained this way until the end of the war. Air supremacy had a large affect on warfare allowed the respective nation to scout the battlefield, conduct offensive operations, and prevented the opposition from reviewing your position. .  In the end, the extremely fast progression of aviation during the First World War did not have a huge impact on warfare at the time because it was new technology. However, it changed warfare forever as it completely opened up the battlefield and added an entire new element of combat. Strategies and tactics now had to be modified in order to prepare themselves for bombs, reconnaissance and air transport. The Second World War was a completely different type of warfare due to all the advances in aviation during the First World War that led to the extreme use of strategic bombing by aircrafts. Also, the artillery used was changed due to the fact that airplanes could survey areas before a strike and get a lay of the land. This led to much more precise artillery attacks, but in some cases it was less effective because if an enemy knows where all your artillery positions are, then they can advance and avoid their range as much as possible. At the time people were completely unaware that the sky would become the next biggest battlefield for years to come and this still holds true today.