Congressional appropriations for aviation were also much lower than government appropriations in other countries. Conversely, France’s military had 260 airplanes and 171 pilots, Germany 46 airplanes and 52 pilots, and the U.K. When the war began in Europe, the United States military had very few airplanes – only six airplanes, and fourteen trained pilots, were available for use.
2, Romorantin Aerodrome, France, July 24, 1918 As the war developed, European militaries called for increasingly specialized airplanes that could scout enemy positions, pursue enemy fighters, and bomb enemy positions, types of airplanes that did not exist before the war.Įxterior of assembling plant showing DH-4 airplane, Air Service Production Center No. Though they began 1914 with small air forces poorly integrated with existing branches of the military, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom were among the countries where air corps grew rapidly after Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in Sarajevo. Government – and specifically military – support was vital to the development of aviation throughout the world, and the course of the First World War in Europe demonstrated this. Often costing between $5,000 and $10,000 apiece (between roughly $87,000 and $173,000 in 2015 dollars) and requiring extensive space for takeoffs and landings, only the rich and governments could afford to purchase a piece of an invention just over a decade old. A battle over patent infringement between Orville Wright (and his brother Wilbur, before his death in 1912) and Glenn Curtiss, especially, held back technological development in the United States, as did a limited market for airplanes. Congress’s declaration of war in April 1917, researchers and engineers in France and Germany, especially, created important developments that transformed a fledgling industry into an important component of military operations.ĭevelopments in aviation in the United States lagged far behind those in Europe.
Having entered combat nearly three years before the U.S. Significant developments in aviation occurred across Europe and North America during the First World War.
To read about more war heroes, check out 5 Real Life Soldiers Who Make Rambo Look Like a Pussy.94th Aero Squadron SPAD XIII, Focaucort Aerodrome, France, November 1918
WW1 FIGHTER PILOT MOVIE
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The Australian infantry that held the area he landed in stripped the plane for souvenirs, the British carried his flower-covered body to a hangar, where hundreds of soldiers filed past to pay their respects, and the next day, his former enemies buried him with full military honors. Because when the Baron was finally shot down in his last dogfight, the RAF ended up treating him like their own royalty. But it wasn't until after his death a year later that everyone really appreciated what an impact Richthofen had made on the fledgling German and British air forces.
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