15.3.10

The War in the Air

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The War in the Air

Most fighting took place on land, but airplanes were crucial to the war effort too.

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Early developments

  • At the start of the war, both sides mostly used planes for observation.
  • The first aeroplane innovation was on the German side.
  • The Germans began to use machine guns on the propellers of planes.
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Fighter aces

  • Fighter aces were military aviators (pilots) who had shot down five or more enemy aircraft in aerial combat.
    • Adolphe Pegoud was a French pilot.
      • He downed seven German aircraft.
    • The Red Baron was a German fighter pilot called Manfred von Richthofen.
      • He shot down 80 enemy aircraft in 17 months. This was the most of any aviator (pilot) during the First World War.
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Bombing raids

  • Germany began to bomb Allied cities with zeppelins.
  • Gotha IV bombers began to raid Britain in 1917 AD.
    • They caused over 800 deaths.
  • Britain bombed Germany in response.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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