On April 1, 1915, French pilot Roland Garros shot down a German Albatros airplane. Although this was not the first air-to-air kill, Garros’ airplane, a Morane Parasol, was the first airplane that was modified specifically for the purpose of aerial combat. Working with designer Raymond Saulnier, Garros had developed reinforced propeller blades that deflected bullets from a forward-firing machine gun (which made hitting the target easier). Over the next several weeks, Garros and his airplane scored three more victories until he was forced to land the plane in Germany territory. He was taken prisoner before he could burn the airplane, which fell into the hands of the Germans.

 

Garros and his airplane ushered in a new era of aviation—both the age of aces and the first aviation arms race. For the remainder of the war, the combatants competed daily for air superiority in order to fly over the enemy’s trenches unharrassed--photographing movements, dropping bombs, and strafing troops. But to gain air superiority, an army’s aerial wing had to have more airplanes and the best pilots. Governments spent the war pushing their designers to build planes that would be faster and more maneuverable than the enemy’s. This arms race, combined with advances in personnel training and aerial combat tactics, meant that when World War I ended on November 11, 1918, the airplane’s development had been accelerated to the point where it had become an integral part of military and civilian life.

 

But it all began with Garros and his Morane Parasol. When he was captured, his airplane was taken to Anthony Fokker so he could replicate the system for German fighters. After a few days of research, Fokker found the reinforced system to be inadequate and developed a synchronized propeller system in which the propeller would momentarily stop when the machine gun was fired. The resulting airplane, the Fokker E.III Eindecker, premiered on the battlefield with a kill for German pilot Max Immelman on August 1, 1915.

 

Allied pilots found themselves helpless against the planes. French bombing missions into German territory were halted. British pilot morale plummeted, as the pilots began to call themselves "Fokker fodder." The German pilots began to accumulate victories and medals steadily. Max Immelman and Oswald Boelke ruled the skies as they flew together, developing aerial combat tactics and techniques. The Germans carefully protected their advantage, never allowing the Eindecker to cross lines where it might be shot down, captured, and copied.

 

But the era of the Fokker Eindecker ended in 1916, when an Eindecker pilot became lost in heavy fog and landed in France. Soon after, the British debuted the Sopwith Strutter and the French introduced the Nieuport 17. Both airplanes used technology from the captured Eindecker but combined the synchronized propeller system with stronger engines. Beginning with the death of Immelman on June 18, 1916, the French and the British reigned over the skies.

 

To challenge the Sopwith Strutter and Nieuport 17, the Germans developed the Albatros D.I, the first airplane developed for the sole purpose of aerial combat. But production problems delayed the plane’s debut. As the Battle of Somme began in the summer of 1916, Allied airplanes flew freely over the Front. They strafed the enemy trenches and bombed munitions dumps and supply systems. The German ground troops felt besieged and grew panicky. Any airplane that flew overhead, even those with German markings, was perceived as a threat and would send the troops running for cover. German morale plummeted.

 

Germany’s loss at the Battle of the Somme proved to German military planners the necessity to gain air superiority. They scrambled to reorganize. National resources were directed toward Albatros production. Oswald Boelke was called back from a war bond propaganda tour. During the preceding year, he had been rallying for a reorganization of the fighter force with specially trained pilots and now he was being given the chance to make it happen.

 

Boelke organized the German aerial combat resources into Jagdstaffeln ("hunting squadrons") commonly known as Jastas. Jastas were not attached to any ground units but traveled as needed. They did not patrol but were mobilized in response to sightings of enemy aircraft, which they then hunted down. The Jastas defined their mission as "aggressive aerial warfare."

 

The pilots of the Jastas were trained to follow the Dicta Boelke, a series of aerial combat techniques Boelke had developed that covered both attack procedures and tactics. The Dicta included rules such as securing the advantage before attacking, firing only at short range, keeping the sun behind you, flying to meet an opponent in a dive, and always keeping a line of retreat. The Dicta also covered the basics of formation flying--between four and six airplanes was the desired number for an attack, and a plane was never to be stranded alone during a fight.

 

Boelke handpicked the pilots for the first Jasta, named Jasta 2. Among these men was a former aerial observer named Manfred von Richthofen, soon to achieve fame as the "Red Baron." The men were trained on the new Albatros airplanes. This emphasis on training and tactics made the Jastas such deadly fighting units.

 

Jasta 2 hit the skies in the fall of 1916. In the first five weeks, Boelke doubled his personal kill count to 40 until he was killed in a midair collision with a squadron mate. But the Allies had no time to rejoice while Germany mourned. The system Boelke built continued, and command of the squadron passed on to von Richthofen.

 

The height of the Jastas’ power came during April 1917 at the Battle of Arras, better known as "Bloody April." The French air squadrons had withdrawn to recover from the previous months of battle, but England had decided to fight on despite delays in delivery of the next generation of fighters to the Front. The English believed that their sheer numerical superiority--385 fighters over the 114 German fighters--was enough to ensure victory. During that month, England lost a third of its fighter force, and the flying life expectancy of an English pilot was 17½ hours.

 

"Bloody April" forced the British to revise its approach to aerial combat, as the Germans had done the year before. It had now been proven that well-trained pilots flying the best planes were more important than numerical superiority. Britain rushed to organize pilot training schools with experienced veterans as instructors. The students were taught using James McCudden’s Notes on Aeroplane Fighting in Single-Seated Scouts and Fighting in the Air. The Sopwith Camel had arrived earlier that year, but it was difficult to fly and there had been a high number of fatal accidents. The new training schools allowed enough training time for pilots to become familiar with the planes before being thrust into the chaos of combat.

 

"Bloody April" was the end of German air superiority. The British Sopwith Camel finally arrived in large numbers, and this small, light airplane with twin forward-firing machine guns flown by experienced pilots soon made a difference. The French returned to the Front with the Spad XIII-- a plane that became so popular that all the Allied forces flew them. And the Americans arrived. Trained at home on their beloved Curtiss Jenny, they also flew the Spad XIII as well as the Nieuport 28.

 

By the fall of 1917, the Germans had begun feeling the effects of the war. Shortages of materials such as metal and rubber were slowing down production. Fokker designed what was considered the best fighter plane of the war; the Fokker D.VII, but it was never manufactured in large enough numbers to make a difference. When the peace treaty was signed in November 1918, the D.VII was the only armament specified by name for destruction.

 

On February 15, 1918, Roland Garros escaped from a German prison camp. He returned to France where he was welcomed as a great hero. But on his return to the airfield, he found that the technological advances of the past three years had surpassed him and he had to learn to fly all over again. The pioneer of aerial combat had already become a part of history.

 

--Pamela Feltus

 

Sources and Further Reading:

Fritzche, Peter. A Nation of Fliers: German Aviation and the Popular Imagination. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992.

Grider, John MacGavock, et al. War Birds: Diary of an Unknown Aviator. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M Press, 2000.

Hallion, Richard P. Rise of the Fighter Aircraft, 1914-1918. Baltimore: The Nautical and Aviation Press, 1984.

Kennett, Lee. The First Air War: 1914-1918. New York: Free Press, 1991.

Lamberton, W.M. Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War. Fallbrook: Aero Pubs, 1964.

Lawson, Eric and Jane. The First Air Campaign, August 1914- November 1918. Pennsylvania: Combined Books, 1996.

Lewis, Gwilym H. Wings Over the Somme, 1916-1918. London: William Kimber, 1976.

Morrow, Jr., John H. The Great War in the Air:  Military Aviation from 1909-1921. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993.

Wohl, Robert. A Passion for Wings: Aviation and the Western Imagination 1908-1918. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994.

 

League of World War One Aviation Historians: http://www.overthefront.com

"The Aerodrome:" http://www.theaerodrome.com/index.html.

"World War I Aviation." http://www.wwiaviation.com

 

Educational Organization	Standard Designation  (where applicable)	Content of Standard
International Technology Education Association	Standard 10	Students will develop an understanding of the role of trouble shooting, research and development, innovation, and experimentation in problem solving.
International Technology Education Association	Standard 7	Students will develop an understanding of the influence of technology on history.
National Council for Geographic Education	Standard 1	How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to process information.