Aviation in World War I
World War I was the first major conflict involving the large-scale use of aircraft. Tethered observation balloons had already been employed in several wars and would be used extensively for artillery spotting. Germany employed Zeppelins for reconnaissance over the North Sea and Baltic and also for strategic bombing raids over Britain and the Eastern Front.
Airplanes were just coming into military use at the outset of the war. Initially, they were used mostly for reconnaissance. Pilots and engineers learned from experience, leading to the development of many specialized types, including fighters, bombers, and trench strafers.
Ace fighter pilots were portrayed as modern knights, and many became popular heroes. The war also saw the appointment of high-ranking officers to direct the belligerent nations' air war efforts.
While the impact of airplanes on the course of the war was mainly tactical rather than strategic, the most important role being direct cooperation with ground forces (especially ranging and correcting artillery fire), the first steps in the strategic roles of aircraft in future wars were also foreshadowed.
Aircraft of the Entente Powers
Aircraft of the Central Powers
a fictional WWI aviator
Biggles
Biplane
Dogfight
Flying ace § World War I
History of aerial warfare
History of aviation
List of American aero squadrons
List of Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons
List of Royal Flying Corps squadrons
Lists of World War I flying aces
Editors of American Heritage. History of WW1. Simon & Schuster, 1964.
Cheesman, E.F. (ed.) Fighter Aircraft of the 1914–1918 War. Letchworth, UK: Harleyford, 1960
The Great War, television documentary by the .
BBC
Gray, Peter & Thetford, Owen German Aircraft of the First World War. London, Putnam, 1962.
Guttman, Jon. Pusher Aces of World War 1: Volume 88 of Osprey Aircraft of the Aces: Volume 88 of Aircraft of the Aces. Osprey Publishing, 2009. 1-84603-417-5, ISBN 978-1-84603-417-6
ISBN
Herris, Jack & Pearson, Bob Aircraft of World War I. London, Amber Books, 2010. 978-1-906626-65-5.
ISBN
Jackson, Peter The Guinness Book of Air Warfare. London, Guinness Publishing, 1993. 0-85112-701-0
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Morrow, John. German Air Power in World War I. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. Contains design and production figures, as well as economic influences.
Pearson, George, Aces: A Story of the First Air War, historical advice by Brereton Greenhous and Philip Markham, , 1993. Contains assertion aircraft created trench stalemate.
NFB
Terraine, John White Heat: the new warfare 1914–18. London, Guild Publishing, 1982
VanWyngarden, Greg. Early German Aces of World War I: Volume 73 of Aircraft of the Aces. Osprey Publishing, 2006. 1-84176-997-5, ISBN 978-1-84176-997-4.
ISBN
Winter, Denis. First of the Few. London: Allen Lane/Penguin, 1982. Coverage of the British air war, with extensive bibliographical notes.
Wells, Mark: , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
Aircraft, Fighter and Pursuit
Morris, Craig: , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
Aircraft, Reconnaissance and Bomber
Mahoney, Ross & Pugh, James: , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
Air Warfare
at centennialofflight.gov
Bombing during World War I
Boris Rustam-Bek-Tageev (1916). . Рипол Классик. ISBN 978-5-87787-214-1.
Aerial Russia: The Romance of the Giant Aeroplane
– usaww1.com
The United States Air Service in World War I
– overthefront.com
The League of World War I Aviation Historians and Over the Front Magazine
First World War in the Air at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
– YouTube