Many people envision World War I pilots as glamorous heroes geared up with goggles and silk scarves flowing in the wind. The truth is it was dangerous and scary.
Bill Fischer, historian at the Fort Scott National Historic Site and former U.S. Air Force officer, presented “The Realities of Great War Aviation,” Tuesday night at the Iola Public Library.
The military historian explained the early designs of aircraft used in the war and how it impacted the ending result.
Around the world designers in various countries were working diligently to create a successful aircraft. By November 1783 the first piloted free balloon left the ground in Paris. This sparked several other countries’ interest in air balloons.
Germany began flying airships, blimps made of helium, raising fear in many countries. Airships had the ability to release bombs.
In 1903, Orville and and Wilbur Wright of the United States successfully flew an airplane they designed. This led the government to continue better air travel and the Wrights showed off their design to other countries.
The first confirmed aerial victory was in October 1914 when a German Aviatik B.I. airship was shot down.
Fischer said many pilots were shot at by their own military. People were unsure who was friend or foe. This triggered pilots to paint their country’s symbol on the side of their planes.
Pilots eventually placed forward-firing machine guns on their planes but they had to be careful when shooting or bullets might hit the wing, gas tanks, or engine. French aviator Roland Garros created a deflector for the forward firing machine guns. This would deflect the bullets when firing and seemed to be successful. Garros was shot down in 1915 and fell on German soil. He failed to destroy his aircraft and German engineers took the plane to study. He was a prisoner of war until February 1918 when he escaped. Later that year he was shot down and killed a month before the end of the war. Garros was also a huge tennis fan and the French Open tournament is named after him.
Anthony Fokker, a German aircraft designer, worked on Garros’ design and created the developed interrupter gear. Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann were two German flying aces that were killed in 1916. Boelcke was considered the father of German fighter air force and taught Manfred von Richtofen, also known as the Red Baron.
Top fighter aces in the war were the German pilot Red Baron with 80 victories, French pilot Rene Fonck with 75 victories, Great Britain pilot, Billy Bishop, with 72 victories and American pilot Eddie Rickenbacker with 26 victories. Rickenbacker was ranked 108th highest WWI Ace.
Fischer said by the end of the war not one American plane had made it to Europe and the German Air Force had been dismantled. France had the largest air service with 3,200 planes.
The Kansas Humanities Council sponsored the program.
Historian pilots program on WWI aviation
