In the development of vehicle transport over roads, the breakthrough in terms of a practical power plant came with the invention of the internal combustion engine. Destined to revolutionize war, this small, reliable, and much more efficient power plant utilized oil as a fuel. The internal combustion engine produced one of the most profound paradigm shifts in the history of warfare, as machine power replaced human and animal muscle power as the primary source of battlefield mobility.
In 1882 German Gottlieb Daimler invented the first successful lightweight gasoline engine, and to him belongs principal credit for the development of the automobile. In 1895 another German, Rudolf Diesel, invented an engine that helped to solve the fuel problem by using low-grade fuel oil. The diesel engine proved to be a tremendous boost to the submarine, which needed an internal combustion engine that did not give off dangerous explosive fumes.
These developments led armies to begin to experiment with motorized transport. In August 1914 at the start of World War I, however, all armies still relied on the horse to a considerable degree (as was indeed the case for many armies, including that of Germany, in World War II), and on the battlefield most infantrymen moved on foot.
World War I provided the first major test for military trucks and demonstrated the importance of motor transport in modern warfare. In September 1914 General Joseph S. Galliéni commandeered some 600 Parisian taxicabs to rush 6,000 French troop reinforcements to the front, where they helped turn the tide of the First Battle of the Marne in favor of the Allies. Two years later some 3,500 French trucks braved German artillery fire to transport men and supplies along the 35-mile Voie Sacrée (Sacred Way) to the French fortress of Verdun and then carry out the wounded.
By war’s end, the major warring powers boasted a combined total of more than 200,000 trucks. The French built the most; by 1918 they had almost 70,000 trucks and steam tractors in military service. World War II completed the revolution in transport.
Further Reading
Green, Michael. Military Trucks. New York: Grolier Publications, 1997.
O’Malley, T. J. Military Transport: Trucks and Transporters. London: Greenhill Books, 1995.
Armies soon made use of the internal combustion engine in motorcycles for communication and trucks for the movement of men and supplies, but it was inevitable that some sort of internal combustion engine–powered fighting machine would also appear. In 1902 Englishman F. R. Simms demonstrated his fully armored Simms Motor War Car, armed with two machine guns and a 1-pounder gun. In 1906 the German firms of Daimler and Ehrhardt and the French firm Charron-Girardot et Voigt each produced armored cars, the latter design being a four-wheeled lightly armored truck topped by a rotating turret that was sold to Russia.
In the United States, Colonel R. P. Davidson designed an armored weapons carrier in 1898, but it elicited little interest from the army. In 1915 Davidson led a column of eight Cadillac combat vehicles by road from Chicago to San Francisco. These included the first U.S. fully armored car. Capable of a speed of 70 miles per hour, it mounted a .30-caliber machine gun. The vehicles also included a kitchen car, a hospital car, a quartermaster car, and a balloon-destroyer car with an upward-firing machine gun. Although the trip brought Cadillac considerable publicity, the army was not interested, and Davidson’s efforts seem to have accomplished little more than eliciting interest in improving the quality of the national road system.
The Italians were the first to use armored cars in war. Their Bianchi armored cars saw service in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912 and the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913. The Isotta Fraschini, another Italian armored car, was a large boxlike vehicle with a revolving turret mounting a single machine gun.
The Belgians were the first to use armored cars in World War I: two Minerva Tourers armored and employed in scouting and reconnaissance. Their success encouraged the Belgians to armor other cars, but it was the British who led the way in the development of armored cars and ultimately the tank.
Royal Navy commander Charles Samson partially armored both a Mercedes and a Rolls-Royce belonging to the Royal Navy Air Service. They were the first armored cars to see action in the war. Each mounted a rearward-facing machine gun. The Rolls-Royce weighed 3.9 tons, had 8mm armor and a crew of three men, and was armed with a Vickers machine gun.
Armored cars continued to undergo refinement and performed a variety of functions during the war, including reconnaissance, convoy protection, and serving as mobile strongpoints. Armored cars were also occasionally employed to rescue downed fliers in no-man’s-land. Some, including a truck equipped with a 3-pounder gun, took part in infantry operations. Armored cars proved particularly useful in the flat, open terrain of the Middle East.
The Germans also produced armored cars. Despite a lack of encouragement from the German General Staff, Ehrhardt produced a turreted armored car in 1915, and Daimler built a Panzer Wagen. Both saw action, principally on the Eastern Front.
For a variety of reasons, chiefly their inability to cross torn-up ground and their light armament and armor, armored cars were not the answer to the impasse of trench warfare. That came in the tank. Armored cars nonetheless possessed certain advantages. Along good roads and on firm ground, they were much faster than tanks. They were also much cheaper to produce.
A French Renault Model 1915 armored car, complete with tree-branch camouflage, operating in support of British forces in the area of Ypres, Belgium, on the Western Front in World War I. (National Archives)
Armored cars also saw action in World War II, when some received larger guns and were employed as tank destroyers. During the war the U.S. M3 scout car, which shared many characteristics with the M2/M3 half-truck, saw considerable service. Some 21,000 were produced, a number of which were sent to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease. The M8 (Greyhound in British service) was perhaps the best medium armored car of the war. Weighing 7.68 tons and powered by a 110-horsepower engine, it could reach speeds of 60 miles per hour. It had a four-man crew and mounted one 37mm (1.46-inch) gun and two .30-caliber machine guns. By war’s end, 8,523 had been built.
Cold War–era U.S. armored cars include the V-100 Commando, which saw extensive Vietnam War service in convoy and base protection. The M1117 armored security vehicle entered service with the U.S. Army only in 2000. Armored cars have also proven useful in riot control.
Further Reading
Foss, Christopher F., ed. The Encyclopedia of Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles. San Diego: Thunder Bay, 2002.
Hunnicutt, R. P. Armoured Car: A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles. Novato, CA: Presidio, 2002.
Terry, T. W., et al. Fighting Vehicles. London: Brassey’s, 1991.
Armored vehicles existed in ancient times, but the idea of joining firearms with an armored vehicle found fruition in the early 15th century when Bohemian John Žižka, a follower of the Protestant revolutionary John Hus, modified four-wheeled, horse-drawn farm carts to carry small guns. Hundreds of Žižka’s so-called battle wagons served effectively in the Hussite Wars (1419–1434).
The internal combustion engine made possible the modern tank, which arose from the need to break the military deadlock of the Western Front. While the Germans relied on tactical innovation, the British and French sought to break the impasse through technology. Armored cars were not the answer. They were unsuited to rough terrain and lacked a trench-spanning capability. Some means had to be found to smash through enemy lines and overcome the barriers of barbed wire and trenches defended by rifles, machine guns, and artillery. The solution lay in a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine but one that was tracked and armored as opposed to wheeled. Tracking was essential both for traversing the battlefield and distributing the heavy weight of an armored vehicle over a greater area.
In 1915 both Britain and France began development of armored and tracked fighting vehicles. Neither coordinated with the other, and the result was a profusion of different types and no clear doctrine governing their employment. Only Great Britain, France, and Germany manufactured such machines that saw combat service in World War I, and Germany produced but few.
Britain and specifically first lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill took the lead. Churchill had discussed with retired rear admiral Reginald Bacon, former director of Naval Ordnance and then general manager of the Coventry Ordnance Works, building large 15-inch howitzers to be moved in sections by large field tractors. Such weapons were indeed built and took part in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915.
Churchill and Bacon now discussed whether such tractors might be used to span trenches and carry guns and infantry. Bacon produced a design for a “caterpillar tractor” able to cross a trench by means of a portable bridge, which it would lay beforehand and retrieve thereafter. Early in November Churchill ordered Bacon to produce an experimental model. It showed promise, and in February 1915 Churchill ordered 30. The War Office tested the first of Bacon’s machines in May 1915 but rejected it because it was unable to meet certain conditions, including climbing a four-foot bank or going through three feet of water (a feat not achieved by any tank to the end of the war).
Churchill’s order had already been canceled by the time of the first test because a better design had appeared. Advanced by Lieutenant Colonel Ernest D. Swinton of the Royal Engineers, it was based on the Holt farm tractor with caterpillar tread.
Swinton, assistant secretary for the Committee of Imperial Defence, became the principal figure in British tank development. Churchill called for tractors with “small armoured shelters” for men and machine guns that were able to flatten barbed wire for following infantry and to span enemy trenches. Meeting with opposition from the War Department, in February 1915 Churchill formed the Landships Committee at the Admiralty. The next month on his own responsibility and at a cost of about £70,000, he ordered construction of 18 “landships.”
Although Churchill was forced to resign as first lord in May 1915 over the failure of the Dardanelles/Gallipoli Campaign, his successor, Arthur Balfour, was sympathetic to the project, as was Minister of Munitions David Lloyd George. The Landships Committee at the Admiralty then became a joint army-navy group, chaired by the War Office director of fortifications.
Balfour approved construction of an experimental machine. The contract went to William Foster and Co. William Tritton, managing director of the firm, had already designed a 105-horsepower trench-spanning machine as well as models of other armored vehicles and howitzer tractors. The prototype for the British government contract became known as “Little Willie.” Designed by Tritton and Major William Wilson, who was assigned as a special adviser, it had its first trial on December 3, 1915.
Little Willie, the first tracked and armored vehicle, bears a remarkable resemblance to its successors, or at least to armored personnel carriers, into the 21st century. It weighed 40,300 pounds, had a 105-horsepower gasoline engine and a road speed of 1.8 miles per hour, and was protected with 6mm steel plate. Its set of trailing wheels, designed to provide stability in steering, proved unsuccessful. Although Little Willie was never armed and served only as a training vehicle, the top of the hull sported a ring with the intention that it would mount a turret.
At the same time, William Foster and Co. was already completing work on a war version. Tritton and Wilson designed a lozenge-shaped design with a long upward sloping high hull and all-around tracks that carried over its top. This design maximized trench-crossing ability. Because a turret would have made the machine too high, its designers mounted the guns in sponsons, or half turrets, one on either side of the hull. The resulting machine was first known as Centipede, then Big Willie, and finally Mother.
Mother first moved under its own power on January 12, 1916. Some 32 feet long and weighing 69,400 pounds, it met expectations placed on it, even crossing a 9-foot trench with ease. Although British secretary of state for war Field Marshal Horatio Kitchener found it little more than “a pretty mechanical toy,” he was in the minority, and shortly thereafter the British government ordered 100 of them, a number later increased to 150.
Unfortunately, the perceived need to rush the new weapon into production meant that design flaws remained largely uncorrected. For one thing, Mother was underpowered. With its 105-horsepower Daimler engine, it had only 3.7 horsepower per ton of weight. Also, half of the crew of eight men were engaged simply in driving and steering the vehicle through the clutch and brake method of controlling the tracks. The remaining four men manned two 6-pounder (57mm) guns and two machine guns. The new machine was also insufficiently armored.
The Mark I production model that first saw combat was almost identical to Mother. It weighed 62,700 pounds and had a top speed of only 3.7 miles per hour (half that over rough ground) and a range of some 23 miles. Its two-wheeled trailing unit assisted with steering, but this was ineffective over rough ground and in any case was vulnerable to enemy fire. While it could span a 10-foot trench, the Mark I was only lightly armored in the (mistaken) belief that this would be sufficient to protect its crew against rifle and machine-gun fire. Armor thickness varied from 6mm to 12mm.
The Mark I came in two types. Half mounted four machine guns as well as two 6-pounder naval guns in sponsons on the sides, which provided a considerable arc of fire. These were known as the “Males.” The “Female” version mounted only five machine guns and was intended to operate primarily against infantry.
The name “tank,” by which these armored fighting vehicles became universally known, was intended to disguise the contents of the large crates containing the vehicles when they were shipped to France. The curious would draw the conclusion that the crates held water tanks. The French dubbed their new weapon a char (chariot).
The Mark I was the mainstay of tank fighting in 1916 and early 1917, but it had notable defects. The stabilizer tail proved worthless, its fuel tanks were in a vulnerable position, the exhaust outlet on the top emitted telltale sparks and flame, and there was no way for a ditched tank to retrieve itself. Some of these deficiencies were addressed in Marks II and III that appeared in early 1917. Produced in the same versions and almost identical to the Mark I, they differed only in details such as wider treads and improved armor. The Mark IV model was a slightly better-armored and more powerful version.
The French built many more tanks than did the British (4,800 to 2,818), but unfortunately for the Allies there was no design coordination or joint plan for their use. In December 1915 French artillery colonel Jean E. Estienne suggested that the French build caterpillar-type vehicles similar to the Holt tractors used by the British to move about their artillery. Estienne proposed an armored box that would mount a quick-firing gun. Throughout, the French regarded their tanks as “portable artillery” operating in support of infantry.
The first French tank was the Schneider Char d’Assaut 1 (CA1). Ordered in February 1916, a total of 400 were produced. Weighing 32,200 pounds and powered by a 70-horsepower 4-cylinder gasoline engine, it was capable of 3.7 miles per hour. It had a crew of six men, was armed with a 75mm main gun and two machine guns, and had maximum 11.5mm armor protection. The CA1 had poor cross-country mobility and trench-spanning ability, and its gasoline tanks were vulnerable to enemy fire. The CA1 first saw action on April 16, 1917, during the Nivelle Offensive.
The best French medium tank was the St. Chamond of 50,700 pounds, with a 90-horsepower engine and a maximum speed of 5.3 miles per hour. It too entered service in the April 1917 Nivelle Offensive. The St. Chamond mounted a 75mm main gun and four machine guns and had 17mm armor.
The French had already shifted priority to a light tank to accompany assaulting infantry. This new tank, the Renault FT-17, was the simplest, least expensive, and most produced (4,000 ordered) of the war. The two-man Renault was powered by a 39-horsepower gasoline engine and was capable of five miles per hour. This was not deemed a problem, as it was designed to move at the pace of advancing infantry. It had maximum 22mm armor. The Renault also boasted a fully rotating turret, the world’s first, mounting an 8mm Hotchkiss machine gun, later changed to a short 37mm gun. The Renault first saw action in May 1918. Throughout the remainder of the war the tiny Renault became the commonplace image of the World War I tank. The Americans began production of a Renault clone, but none was delivered in time to see action, and the American Expeditionary Forces in France were equipped with the FT-17. Other countries also produced variants, and it became the most common armored fighting vehicle between the two world wars.
The lone German production tank of World War I was the A7V Sturmpanzerwagen. The Germans dismissed the tank on the basis of the performance of British tanks as both unreliable and a waste of effort. The A7V was an armored box on top of a Holt-type tractor chassis. Although 100 were ordered, only 20 were ever built. Weighing 65,900 pounds and thoroughly unwieldy, the A7V was nearly 11 feet high. Powered by two 100-horsepower engines, it had an optimum speed of eight miles per hour and a crew of 18 men. It sported 30mm poor-quality plate armor and was armed with one 57mm main gun at the bow and six machine guns, two on each side and to the rear. It first went into action on March 21, 1918, the opening day of Germany’s great Spring or Ludendorff Offensive. Total German tank strength never exceeded 40 tanks, and the majority of these were machines captured from the British.
Further Reading
Chamberlain, Peter. Tanks of World War I: British and German. New York: Arco, 1969.
Crow, Duncan, ed. AFV’s of World War I. Windsor, UK: Profile Publications, 1970.
Macksey, Kenneth, and John H. Batchelor. Tank: A History of the Armoured Fighting Vehicle. New York: Scribner, 1970.
Tucker, Spencer C. Tanks: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2004.
The antitank rifle is essentially a large-caliber, high-velocity rifle utilizing special armor-piercing ammunition designed to penetrate thin-skinned armored vehicles. The contest between armor and projectiles has been a long one in history, and in the period from the introduction of the tank to about 1940, tank armor was as little as 6mm in thickness. Even the French Renault, the most widely produced tank of World War I, had only maximum 22mm armor protection. Generally speaking, special bullets had a fairly good chance of penetrating the armor of World War I tanks.
As they were the ones who first had to contend with the tank, the Germans developed a special steel-cored, armor-piercing bullet, the Patrone SmK Kurz 7.92mm. Its cartridge had a higher powder charge. This ammunition was generally issued only to snipers or to specially trained marksmen. The rounds posed some difficulties, including far greater wear on the rifle firing them.
Large-caliber high-powered rifles had appeared by the end of the 19th century for big-game hunting. They were also pressed into service. The first true antitank rifle was the German 13mm Mauser T-Gewehr of 1918. Other important antitank rifles included the Polish Karabin Przecipancerny wz 35 Ur, which incorporated a four-round magazine; the Soviet 14.5mm Simonov PTRS-41 and Degtyarev PTRD-41; the Swiss Sollothurn 20mm S-18/100; the German 7.92mm Pz B 39; and the Finnish 20mm Lahti L-39. The U.S. Browning M2 .50-caliber machine gun, introduced in 1933, proved highly effective against light-skinned vehicles. It remains in service today. The Japanese introduced the Type 97, which was a 20mm automatic rifle weighing nearly 116 pounds. In 1937 the British brought into service the .55-caliber Boys antitank rifle. It could penetrate up to 21mm of armor at 300 yards and was thus effective only against the thin-skinned German PzKpfw (Panzerkampfwagen, or tank) I and II early in World War II.
Although obsolescent by 1940–1941, the antitank rifle was subsequently used to touch off unexploded bombs and for long-range sniping. Other more effective antitank weapons appeared, including the rifle-fired antitank grenade, the German Panzerfaust, and the U.S. bazooka. The successor to the antitank rifle is today’s antimaterial rifle.
Further Reading
Fleischer, Wolfgang. Panzerfaust and Other German Infantry Anti-Tank Weapons. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1994.
Gander, Terry J. Anti-Tank Weapons. Marlborough, UK: Crowood, 2000.
The antimaterial (antimateriél or equipment) rifle is the successor to the antitank rifle of World War I and early World War II. Essentially a large-caliber, high-velocity rifle firing special armor-piercing ammunition, it is designed to operate against enemy equipment, such as thin-skinned and lightly armored vehicles. The weapon can also be used for long-range sniping. Antimaterial rifles are often favored by special operations military units.
The U.S. Army Browning M2 .50-caliber machine gun, which cam be fired single shot as a sniper rifle, fits in this category. The Austrian Steyr 25mm antimaterial rifle, with a claimed effective range of 1.2 miles, features both a muzzle brake and a hydropneumatic sleeve to lessen recoil. The weapon has a bipod and can be broken down for ease of transport by its crew. Among other such weapons is the South African Mechem NTW-20. This 20mm bolt-action rifle features a 3-round side-mounted box magazine. There is also a 14.5mm model. To reduce recoil, the NTW-20 utilizes a hydraulic double-action damper along with a double baffle muzzle brake. Among other such weapons are the U.S. Armalite AR50 and Barrett M82A1, both of which fire the 12.7mm NATO (.50-caliber) round; the British Accuracy International AW50F, firing the 12.7mm NATO (.50-caliber) round; the Hungarian Gerpard M1(B) and M2(B) 12.7mm rifles, which with changed barrel can also fire the .50-caliber round; and the Russian KSVK 12.7mm rifle.
Further Reading
Gander, Terry J. Anti-Tank Weapons. Marlborough, UK: Crowood, 2000.
Hogg, I. V., and J. Weeks. Browning M2 Heavy Machine Gun. London: PRC Publishing, 1999.
Hogg, I. V., and J. Weeks. Military Small Arms of the Twentieth Century. New York: Hippocrene, 1994.
Wright Brothers’ Military Flyer
Although men had flown in gliders, balloons, and lighter-than-air ships, the first powered, manned, heavier-than-air flight was achieved by Wilbur and Orville Wright, two bicycle builders from Dayton, Ohio. In their accomplishment they owed substantial debt to others, most notably Samuel Langley, who made significant advances in aerodynamics. On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright accomplished the first manned powered flight. During a 12-second span, he flew the biplane Flyer a distance of 120 feet. (Since 1949, Flyer I has been displayed by the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum as the world’s first piloted powered airplane in which man made controlled and sustained flight.)
The Wright brothers continued to improve their design. In 1908 they built the Military Flyer. Purchased by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in August 1909 for $30,000 ($25,000 and a $5,000 bonus, as it flew faster than the 40 miles per hour required), it was designated Signal Corps Airplane No. 1 and was the world’s first military heavier-than-air flying machine. Employed in pilot instruction, it was retired in March 1911 and is also in the Smithsonian Institution.
The Military Flyer has a wingspan of 36 feet 6 inches and a length of 28 feet 11 inches. A biplane, it has a double horizontal front rudder. It stands 7 feet 10.5 inches high and weighs 740 pounds. Powered by a 4-cylinder 30.6-horsepower engine, the Military Flyer was capable of a speed of 42 miles per hour and had a maximum endurance of approximately one hour.
Further Reading
Chandler, Charles deForest, and Frank P. Lahm. How Our Army Grew Wings. New York: Ronald, 1943.
McFarland, Marvin W., ed. The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953.
The first military heavier-than-air flying machine was the Wright brothers’ Military Flyer of 1908, purchased by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in August 1909. Four years later the U.S. Army organized a squadron of aircraft. The United States was also the first to experiment with naval aviation. In 1910 Eugene Ely flew a plane off the cruiser Birmingham, and the next year he landed one on the cruiser Pennsylvania, the first time such feats had been accomplished.
Aircraft first went to war in the Tripolitan conflict of 1911–1912. Most were unarmed and employed for reconnaissance only, although some dropped handheld bombs. Although aviation made rapid strides, by 1914 generals and admirals still persisted in regarding aircraft, if useful at all, to be employed for observation and scouting. French Colonel (later marshal of France) Ferdinand Foch summed up the feelings of many when he remarked that “aviation is a good sport, but for the army it is useless.” Nonetheless, all powers built aircraft. In August 1914, including seaplanes but not airships, Britain had 270, Germany had 267, Russia had 190, France had 141, Austria-Hungary had 97, and Belgium had 24.
Aircraft made an impact early in World War I. At first they were employed for reconnaissance, the value of which was shown early. On September 3 a French aviator provided critical intelligence to the Allies on German troop movements that played a key role in the subsequent Allied victory in the First Battle of the Marne. As aircraft proved their worth in observation roles, it became necessary for the other side to shoot them down. Pilots and observers on both sides began carrying small arms and taking occasional shots at enemy aircraft. Not long afterward, they also carried machine guns aloft. These were mounted either for an observer to fire or fixed in order that the pilot could aim the plane at a target. The machine gun became the key weapon of the air war.
Two-seater aircraft were the mainstay for observation purposes, with a pilot and an observer. There were also single-seater scouts, fighting scouts, or fighters as they came to be known. They were used to shoot down enemy aircraft in dogfights and were also used in ground attacks.
Fighter aircraft underwent rapid evolution during the war, and there were as many as five generations during the conflict. The first aircraft, still in service as late as September 1915, included prewar designs modified for air combat. Among them were the German Fokker Eindecker (monoplane) E.I through E.III, the French Morane-Saulnier Types L and N, and the British Vickers FB 5 and Royal Aircraft Factory FE 2b. Most of these aircraft used wing warping for lateral control rather than the more efficient ailerons.
All of the second-generation aircraft were biplanes. Designed from the outset as gun platforms, they included single- or two-seater tractor or pusher aircraft such as the French Nieuport 11 Bébé, the British Vickers FB 5 and de Havilland DH 2, and the Fokker D I, II, and III. Appearing as early as February 1915, they remained in service over the Western Front as late as August 1917.
A new generation of fighters appeared in the late spring and summer of 1916. They took advantage of lessons learned in early air combat over the Western Front. They were more powerful than their predecessors, of stronger structural design, and more aerodynamically streamlined. These aircraft were also effectively armed, including synchronization gear (first introduced by the Germans) to enable a machine gun mounted on the front of the fuselage to fire through the arc of the propeller. Two-seater aircraft featured rotating or ring-type mounts for a machine gun that could be fired by an observer.
These third-generation fighters entered service beginning in April 1916, and many continued in use until the end of the war, although they were clearly obsolescent by then. Among these were the excellent French Nieuport 17 through 27; the German Albatros series; Halberstadt D II, III, and V and Spad VII; and the British Sopwith 1½ Strutter and Pup and the de Havilland DH 5. The Germans were the first to use large numbers of aircraft specifically to strafe enemy ground troops, during the Third Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele Campaign of July–November 1917.
Excellent 1917–1918 designs included the British Bristol F 2B, Royal Aircraft Factory SE 5, and Sopwith F1 Camel and the German Albatros D III and V, Halberstadt CL II, Fokker D VII and VIII, and Siemens-Schuckert D III. Triplanes included the British Sopwith Triplane and the Fokker Dr. I.
The final fighter aircraft of the war included two German monoplanes—the Junkers D I and CL I—and the biplanes Roland D II and Pfaltz D XII. The Austrian Phönix D I also appeared in 1918. On the Allied side, the last aircraft of the war included the British Sopwith 7F Snipe (probably the best Allied fighter in service at the time of the armistice) and Austin-Ball AFB 1, the Ansaldo A1 Balilla (the first Italian-designed fighter of the war), and the U.S. Packard Le Père-Lusac (designed by French Air Service captain G. Le Père, it appeared too late to see combat in the war). In addition to more powerful engines and better designs, some of the final aircraft of the war saw metal replace wood and fabric as the aircraft skin.
Bombers developed later than fighters. Early bombing more often than not was random. The British Royal Naval Air Service may have conducted the first effective strategic bombing raids of the war in September and October 1914, when planes carrying 20-pound bombs flew from Antwerp to strike zeppelin sheds at Düsseldorf and there destroyed one airship. During the March 1915 Battle of Neuve Chapelle, the British were the first to use bombers as an extension of the land campaign. Hoping to disrupt the flow of men and supplies to the fight in progress, the British sent bombers against railway installations.
The planes used for these missions were former observation aircraft adapted for that purpose. The French were the first to form units of aircraft specifically dedicated to bombing missions. Most early bombing was, however, extraordinarily inaccurate, and problems grew with increases in antiaircraft guns and fighter aircraft.
Actually, the Russians were the first to introduce large bomber aircraft. Their four-engine Bolshoi Bal’tisky (Great Baltic) Type B first flew in 1913 and achieved excellent results. It was followed by the two-engine Sikorsky Ilya Mourometz A in 1914 and the four-engine Sikorsky Ilya Mourometz V in 1915. The first French bomber aircraft appeared in 1915 in the Caudron G 4, Breguet BR M5, and Voisin 5. Bombers of 1916 included the British Sopwith 1½ Strutter and the French Voison 8. Heavy bombers of 1916 intended for strategic bombing included the German Allgemeine Elektrizitätis Gesellschaft GI V and the British Short Bomber and Handley Page O/100. In 1917 the Allies introduced a number of light bombers, including the French Breguet 14, the Italian Caprioni Ca 5, and the British Airco DH 4. Heavy German bombers of 1917 included the workhorse Gotha G IV and V, the Friedrichshafen G III, and the Zeppelin Staaken R VI. In the last year of the war, the French brought on line the Caudron R 11, while the Italians brought the Caproni Ca 42 and the British brought the Vickers Vimy and Blackburn Kangaroo and the Handley Page V/1500.
Purpose-built ground-attack aircraft also appeared at the end of World War I. The Germans led in this. Their Junkers J 1 was not only the world’s first practical all sheet-metal aircraft but also the first purpose-built for ground attack. Another purpose-built ground-attack model was the Hanover C-III. By 1918 the Germans had entire ground-attack squadrons, called Schlachtstaffeln, that were distinct from Jagdstaffeln (fighter squadrons) and Kampfstaffeln (bomber squadrons).
By the end of the war, the airplane had proved its worth. During the conflict, the warring powers built more than 161,000 aircraft of all types. April 1918 saw the world’s first independent air force, the Royal Air Force. Formed of the Royal Navy Air Service and Royal Flying Corps, it had 22,000 aircraft and 291,175 personnel, a far cry indeed from the 270 planes of 1914.
By 1918, military aircraft had not only undergone great evolution but were fulfilling virtually all the major roles of nearly a century later. From a military curiosity dismissed by most generals, the airplane had become a major weapon of war that could provide reconnaissance and adjust artillery fire, attack enemy command centers and ground installations, and provide close air support to ground forces. Strategic bombing had also begun, with raids mounted on major civilian centers. At sea, aircraft helped locate enemy ships and adjust naval gunfire and even attacked enemy ships. Land- and sea-based aircraft would reach their full potential in World War II.
Further Reading
Hallion, Richard P. Rise of the Fighter Aircraft, 1914–1918. Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1984.
Kennett, Lee. The First Air War, 1914–1918. New York: Free Press, 1991.
Munson, Kenneth. Bombers 1914–19: Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft, 1914–1919. New York: Macmillan, 1968.
Fokker E.I Eindecker Fighter Aircraft
The German Fokker E.I Eindecker (monoplane) was the world’s first true fighter aircraft. Closely resembling in appearance the French Mourane-Saulnier monoplane in both structure and appearance, the E.I was powered by an 80-horsepower 7-cylinder Oberursel U O rotary engine that gave it a speed of 80 miles per hour. It entered service on the Western Front in June 1915. E series aircraft were armed with one fixed Spandau 7.92mm machine gun forward, offset to starboard of the fuselage centerline and equipped with interrupter gear designed by Anthony Fokker that enabled the machine gun to fire through the propeller arc without damaging the blades. This yielded a tremendous increase in firepower.
An improved, slightly stronger Eindecker entered service in September 1915, but only several dozen of this model were built. The most important E series model was the E.III. Powered by a 100-horsepower Oberusel U.I 9-cylinder rotary engine, it had a maximum speed of 87.5 miles per hour, a ceiling of 11,500 feet, and a flight duration of 1.5 hours. Although never deployed in large numbers, the Fokker E series aircraft enjoyed great success.
Eindecker pilots relied on tactical surprise, attempting to attack Allied aircraft from behind. During the winter of 1915–1916, E series aircraft wreaked havoc against Allied two-seat reconnaissance aircraft, especially the British B.E. types with the observer in the front cockpit. These planes became known as “Fokker Fodder.” This period was known to the Allies as the Fokker Scourge.
The Allies then developed their own practical synchronization gear, but it was not until the spring of 1916, when the British FE 2b and DH 2 and the French Nieuport 11 Bebe were deployed in sufficient numbers, that the Allies regained air superiority. In all, Fokker built approximately 423 E-type aircraft.
Further Reading
Angelucci, Enzo. The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, 1914–1980. New York: Military Press, 1983.
Fredriksen, John C. International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914–2000. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001.
Gray, Peter, and Owen Thetford. German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam, 1992.
Hallion, Richard P. Rise of the Fighter Aircraft, 1914–1918. Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1984.
Interrupter gear allowed a fixed machine gun to fire through the arc of a rotating airplane propeller without damaging its blades. A typical World War I propeller rotated at about 1,200 rounds per minute, and since the usual rate of fire for a machine gun was 400 to 600 rounds per minute, some mechanism was required to ensure that a bullet did not damage the propeller blades.
Before the war, several engineers had worked independently on the concept of an interrupter gear. In July 1913 Franz Schneider, a Swiss national working for the German aircraft manufacturer L.V.G. (Luft-Verkehrs Gesellschaft), patented an idea for an interrupter mechanism but experienced some difficulty in making it work. A synchronization mechanism of his design was eventually fitted to a single L.V.G. E.IV monoplane in 1915, but the aircraft was destroyed in an accident on its way to the front. In 1914 Frenchman Raymond Saulnier of the firm of Morane-Saulnier almost certainly invented the first successful synchronization mechanism and had some success with static trials, but he was hampered by an unsuitable weapon and faulty ammunition.
French fighter pilot Roland Garros suggested fitting steel plates to the propeller blades to deflect stray bullets that would otherwise hit the blades. Garros had a Morane type L aircraft fitted with a Hotchkiss machine gun and the triangular-shaped deflector plates and scored three victories in two weeks during April 1915. The French press made much of his success, and he was the first pilot to be labeled an ace. On April 18, 1915, however, Garros’s aircraft suffered engine failure. He was forced to land behind German lines and was unable to destroy the aircraft before capture.
The Germans investigated Garros’s mechanism and took it to the Fokker works in Schwerin, where they discovered that the firm already had such a device completed. Anthony Fokker subsequently claimed to have personally designed and built a working synchronization mechanism in just 48 hours, but as he had no prior experience of automatic weapons, it is almost certain that the actual design of the mechanism was the work of Fokker’s engineering staff at Schwerin sometime before April 1915. Indeed, in 1917 Franz Schneider successfully sued Fokker for patent infringement, but Fokker refused to pay.
In common with all successful mechanisms, Fokker’s interrupter gear was actually a synchronization gear; it used a cam driven from the engine to actuate a plunger on the gun that, when tripped, fired a round if the mechanism was ready to fire. From mid-1915, Fokker E.I Eindecker fighters were fitted with the mechanism and began to shoot down increasing numbers of Entente aircraft, leading to what became known as the Fokker Scourge through the winter of 1915–1916.
Other designers quickly followed suit, and there were many variations of synchronization mechanism, the most advanced and reliable of which was probably the British Constantinesco-Colley hydraulic synchronizing gear that was eventually adopted as standard by the Royal Flying Corps, later the Royal Air Force.
Further Reading
Grosz, Peter M. Windsock Datafile 91, Fokker E.I/II. Berkhamsted, UK: Albatros Productions, 2002.
Munson, Kenneth. Fighters, Attack and Training Aircraft, 1914–19. Poole, UK: Blandford, 1976.
Woodman, Harry. Early Aircraft Armament. London: Arms and Armour, 1989.
De Havilland DH 2 Fighter Aircraft
The fragile in appearance yet rugged de Havilland 2 biplane was the first true British fighter aircraft. Its arrival over the Western Front early in 1916 marked the beginning of the end of the so-called Fokker Scourge of the winter of 1915–1916, when German Fokker E series Eindecker (monoplane) aircraft had ruled the skies. Designed by Geoffrey de Havilland, the single-seater DH 2 evolved from his earlier DH 1 single-seat observer aircraft. The rotary pusher engine and propeller were immediately to the pilot’s rear. Booms beyond the propeller arc connected the wings and fuselage to the tail section.
Whereas the Eindecker had been conceived as an observation aircraft, the DH 2 was intended from the beginning as a fighter to carry a machine gun. Powered by a pusher 100-horsepower Gnôme Monosoupape rotary engine, the DH 2 had a maximum speed of 93 miles per hour, a ceiling of 14,000 feet, and a range of 250 miles. The plane was built around a pusher engine because the British still lacked the synchronization gear to enable a machine gun to fire through the propeller. Armament consisted of a single .303-caliber Lewis machine gun. At first the gun was mounted to the left side of the fuselage forward, but it was later moved to a rotating centerline mount. Because it was so difficult to fly the plane and fire the machine gun at the same time, most pilots chose to regard the gun as semifixed, turning the aircraft rather than the gun to aim.
Highly maneuverable and as fast as the Eindecker, the DH 2 nonetheless suffered from the problem of entering a sudden spin during abrupt maneuvers. Nonetheless, the DH 2, along with another British pusher fighter, the Royal Aircraft Factory FE 2b, and the French Nieuport 11 Bébé, ended the reign of the Eindecker. The DH 2 remained in service into 1917 and the appearance of the German Albatros D Is and DII fighters, which greatly outclassed it.
Angelucci, Enzo. The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, 1914–1980. New York: Military Press, 1983.
Fredriksen, John C. International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914–2000. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001.
Hallion, Richard P. Rise of the Fighter Aircraft, 1914–1918. Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1984.
The French Nieuport 17 single-seater biplane was one of the outstanding fighter aircraft of World War I. Designed by Gustave Delage as an improvement on his Nieuport 16, it was manufactured by the Société Anonyme des Etablissements Nieuport. Improvements over the Nieuport 16 included greater wing area, strengthened lower wing, and more streamlined appearance. The Nieuport 17 was powered by a Le Rhône 9J 9-cylinder air-cooled rotary 110-horsepower engine that produced a maximum speed of 110 miles per hour, a ceiling of 17,390 feet, and a range of 186 miles. It was armed with a single 7.7mm fully synchronized machine gun on the fuselage centerline forward of the cockpit.
Entering service in the summer of 1916, the Nieuport 17 easily handled the remaining German Fokker E.III Eindecker fighters and could hold its own against the newer Albatros and Halberstadt D I fighters appearing that fall. The Nieuport 17 remained a frontline aircraft until 1917, when it was superseded by the SPAD VII. The Italians manufactured the Nieuport 17 under license, while both the Belgians and Russians imported and flew it. It also served as the principal aircraft of the American volunteer squadron in France, the famous Lafayette Escadrille.
Further Reading
Angelucci, Enzo. The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, 1914–1980. New York: Military Press, 1983.
Fredriksen, John C. International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914–2000. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001.
Hallion, Richard P. Rise of the Fighter Aircraft, 1914–1918. Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1984.
Sopwith F.1 Camel Fighter Aircraft
The Sopwith Camel was probably the finest British fighter aircraft of World War I. Designed by Herbert Smith of the Sopwith Aviation Company, the prototype first flew in December 1916 and entered service in July 1917. Smith placed the heaviest elements of the aircraft very close to the nose section. That and its powerful engine provided excellent turning capability. The name came from the humped shape of the fairing that covered the two machine guns.
A Sopwith F.1 Camel. Entering service in July 1917, this highly maneuverable aircraft had a top speed of 115 mph and was probably the best British fighter of World War I. (National Archives)
The Camel had a single 130-horsepower Clerget 9B 9-cylinder air-cooled rotary engine that gave it a maximum speed of 115 miles per hour, a ceiling of 19,000 feet, and an endurance of 2.5 hours. It was also the first British aircraft to mount two machine guns (Vickers .303 caliber) that fired through the propeller arc. The Camel was not an easy aircraft to fly because of the great torque from its rotary engine, but at the hands of an experienced pilot it could outmaneuver all opposing aircraft, except possibly the German Fokker Dr.I triplane. A naval version had shorter wings and disassembled for ship storage. Camels flown by the Royal Flying Corps as well as the Royal Navy destroyed some 1,294 German aircraft in little more than a year of operation, more than any other Allied fighter. A total of 5,490 Camels were built. The aircraft remained in service only until 1919, when it was superseded by the Sopwith Snipe.
Further Reading
Angelucci, Enzo. The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, 1914–1980. New York: Military Press, 1983.
Fredriksen, John C. International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914–2000. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001.
Hallion, Richard P. Rise of the Fighter Aircraft, 1914–1918. Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1984.
Sikorsky Ilya Mourometz Heavy Bomber
The Sikorsky Ilya Mourometz was the world’s first four-engine bomber. Ultimately produced in a half-dozen models, it both preceded World War I and was built in Russia, whose industrial base was the least advanced of the major aeronautical powers. The plane was designed by brilliant young aeronautical engineer Igor Sikorsky, chief designer for RBVZ, the Russo-Baltic Railway Factories. Sikorsky envisioned a large multiengine transport aircraft. The resulting two-engine design first flew in May 1913 but was found to be underpowered. Fitted with four 100-horsepower Argus engines in separate gondolas between the wings and known as the Russkyi Vitiaz, it was test flown in July 1913 and proved a success.
Sikorsky then designed a larger four-engine aircraft with new fuselage. With Sikorsky himself at the controls, in February 1914 it carried aloft over Moscow 16 men and a dog. The plane reached 6,560 feet on a flight of five hours, averaging 62 miles per hour. The military implications of the giant plane (wingspan of 113 feet and length of 67 feet) were obvious, and the Russian government immediately ordered 10 (subsequently increased to 80), to be adapted for military use.
Named the Ilya Mourometz for the legendary medieval Russian folk hero, the aircraft was produced in a number of different versions. The A model went to the Russian Navy as a floatplane. The B model was a land type with more powerful engines. Thirty bomber-variant Mourometz Vs were built in 1915, followed by 30 G Model aircraft with stronger wings and enhanced armament. The Type E had a smaller (124 feet) wingspan and engines mounted in tandem. The final variant was the most successful, with the E model receiving four more powerful Renault engines, built under license in Russia.
The Ilya Mourometz E of 1917 had a crew of seven. Its four Renault 12-cylinder, liquid-cooled, in-line, 220-horsepower engines provided a speed of 85 miles per hour. It had a ceiling of 13,120 feet and endurance of five hours aloft. Armed with seven machine guns, it could carry 1,760 pounds of bombs.
Employing the Ilya Mourometz V, the first Russian bomber squadron carried out a bombing raid from Poland into East Prussia on February 15, 1915. From that point until Russia left the war at the end of 1917, Ilya Mourometz bombers mounted more than 400 raids into Germany and Lithuania. Amazingly, only 3 of the big bombers were lost. The bomber squadron claimed to have downed 10 German aircraft, possibly the only time in history when a bomber aircraft held a positive kill ratio to fighter aircraft.
Further Reading
Angelucci, Enzo. The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, 1914–1980. New York: Military Press, 1983.
Fredriksen, John C. International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914–2000. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001.
The Gotha G IV and G V bombers were no doubt the best-known bombers on the Central Powers side in World War I. Along with the Friedrichshafen G III, the Gothas conducted the bulk of German strategic bombing during the war.
The Germans carried out their first air raids against London with zeppelins, but by 1916 these large airships were taking prohibitive losses from British defenses, and the German high command called for production of large bomber aircraft to replace them. The German firm of Gothaer Waggonfabrik had already been working on the design of such aircraft. The Gotha G I first flew in July 1915 and was both a land plane and a seaplane. The twin-engine G I had a crew of three and two machine guns. Gothas G II and G III differed only in their interior details. Appearing in 1916, they were tested on the Western Front but were found to have inadequate range and bomb payload. Only 25 production-model G IIIs were built.
The first major Gotha production bomber, the G IV, proved to be a success, however. It entered service in the spring of 1917. This large biplane G IV was a two-engine pusher aircraft constructed largely of wood with plywood covering. Powered by two 260-horsepower Mercedes D IVa 6-cylinder, in-line, water-cooled engines, it was capable of a maximum speed of 87.5 miles per hour, a ceiling of 21,320 feet, and a range of 305 miles. It carried from 660 to 1,100 pounds of bombs on external racks and was armed with two 7.92mm Parabellum machine guns.
A German ground crew attaching a 220-lb bomb to a Gotha G IV bomber. The G IV was the principal German strategic bomber of World War I. (Corbis)
The G IV had a crew of three (the pilot and two gunners). As with the GI, the front gunner occupied his own cockpit in the nose of the aircraft and had an unparalleled range of fire, while the rear gunner was able to fire his machine gun upward and backward but also downward through a special opening in the bottom of the fuselage. Bombs were carried externally in removable racks. The bomber’s chief drawbacks were that the landing gear and fuselage were weak. About 230 G IVs were built. The G V entered service late in 1917. It received a front pair of wheels to prevent the plane from nosing over in night landings.
G IVs carried out the first daylight aircraft raids on London on May 25, 1917. The normal bomb load for these raids was six 110-pound bombs. Their usual high flying altitude of 15,000 feet made it difficult for British interceptor aircraft to attain sufficient altitude before the Gothas had departed. Although Gotha raids killed hundreds of people, they caused little physical damage and hardly affected the British war effort. Their principal effect was to cause the British to relocate some fighter squadrons from France for home defense.
When they began taking unacceptable losses, Gothas switched to night attacks. Their last daylight raid was on August 22, 1917. Their first night attack occurred on September 3. Gotha raids against Britain were halted altogether from May 1918, when the giant bombers were switched to supporting the German ground effort in France. Altogether, the Gothas dropped nearly 187,000 pounds of bombs over England in 22 raids. Twenty-four Gothas were shot down, while another 37 were lost in accidents. Some Gotha-built aircraft were provided to Austria-Hungary.
Further Reading
Angelucci, Enzo. The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, 1914–1980. New York: Military Press, 1983.
Fredriksen, John C. International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914–2000. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001.
Gray, Peter, and Owen Thetford. German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam, 1992.
Handley Page O/100 and O/400 Bombers
The Handley Page O/100 was Britain’s first strategic bomber. In December 1914 the Admiralty issued a requirement for a strategic bomber, a “bloody paralyser of an aeroplane.” Specifications called for a two-seater with a speed of at least 75 miles per hour and a minimum bomb load of six 112-pound bombs. Forty of the aircraft were ordered before the first flight in December 1915.
The Handley Page O/100 entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service on the Western Front in December 1916. This twin-engine biplane had a long boxlike fuselage and a large biplane tail section. The O/100 was powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle II, 250-horsepower, 12-cylinder, liquid-cooled, in-line engines. Mounted between the wings, they provided a speed of 85 miles per hour. The plane had a ceiling of 7,000 feet, only one-third that of its German Gotha G IV counterpart, but its endurance time of eight hours was twice that of the German bomber. The O/100 had a crew of four, was armed with four to five machine guns, and could carry a bomb load of 1,792 pounds.
A British Handley-Page O/400 bomber. Entering service in 1917, some 607 were built in Britain and the United States. It remained with the Royal Air Force until 1920. (National Archives)
The Royal Naval Air Service initially used the planes in daytime reconnaissance missions off the Flanders coast. Losses, however, forced a shift in April 1917 to night bombing of major German targets, such as submarine bases and railroad centers. Most flew with the Royal Flying Corps. Several saw service against Ottoman forces in Palestine, and one took part in a raid on the German battle cruiser Goeben at Constantinople. In all, 46 O/100s were built, and a number were still in service at war’s end.
The Handley Page O/400 entered service in France in April 1917, concurrent with the shift of the O/100 to night bombing operations. The O/400 was itself shifted to night bombing that October. The chief difference of the O/400 compared to the O/100 was the shift of fuel storage from the engine nacelles to the fuselage. The O/400s also received successively higher-powered engines, chiefly the Rolls-Royce Eagle IV, VII, and VIII. The VIII of 360 horsepower produced a speed of 97.5 miles per hour, a ceiling of 8,500 feet, and eight-hour endurance. Nearly 800 O/400 aircraft were ordered, with 550 actually built in Britain to November 1918. Another 107 were assembled in the United States by the Standard Aircraft Corporation and powered with the 350-horsepower Liberty 12N engine.
From September 1918, the Royal Flying Corps carried out both day and night raids with 40 or more O/400s each. They carried bomb loads up to a single 1,650-pound bomb against industrial targets in the Rhineland. The Handley Page O/400 remained in service until 1920.
A far superior and good deal larger Handley Page O/1500, Britain’s first four-engine aircraft, was armed with up to six machine guns, including for the first time one located in the tail. It had a bomb load of up to 30 250-pound bombs or two giant 3,300-pound bombs, and it could stay aloft for 12 hours. Although 250 O/1500s were ordered, only 35 left the factory by the end of the war. Three were being readied for a raid on Berlin when the armistice intervened. Had the war continued into 1919, the Allies would have launched massive bombing raids against Germany.
Further Reading
Angelucci, Enzo. The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, 1914–1980. New York: Military Press, 1983.
Fredriksen, John C. International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914–2000. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001.
Munson, Kenneth. Bombers: Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft, 1914–19. New York: Macmillan, 1968.