The airplane was a weapon that was used from the beginning of the war to the end of it. Many of the planes worked by flying in the air and observing the enemies trenches. More than a few times, fighter planes have had machine guns attached to them or they dropped bombs over enemy lines. This feat of technology changed how wars were going to be played out forever.
The first original model of the fighter plane was invented by French pilot Roland Garros. He is not the actual inventor of the airplane, but, he is credited with adding a machine gun to the plane. The way that the machine gun worked on the plane was that it was attached so it was fired through the spinning blades of the propeller. He didn't have this idea perfected, but he added steel armor plates that deflected bullets off of the spinning blades. After being credited with 5 kills in the air, Garros was shot down by the Germans and the Germans ordered Dutch aircraft manufacturer Anthony Fokker to learn how Garros installed and almost successfully had put an efficient machine gun onto his plane. Fokker soon learned that the French fighter planes position of the machine gun would eventually destroy the propeller. Upon learning this, Fokker began to experiment ways to have a machine gun on your plane without it ever hitting the propeller. Eventually, he perfected the fighter plane by having the machine gun whose rate of fire be controlled by the turning of the propeller. The organization guaranteed that the bullets would harmlessly pass through the spinning propeller blades.
Airplanes
Impacts and Consequences
Impacts and Consequences
The airplane had a major impact on the war because it changed how wars today are fought. In the beginning, planes were primarily used to spy on enemies and eventually began dropping bombs on soldiers that were on the ground. For the soldiers on the front line in Europe, the dropping of bombs greatly affected them because bombs were dropped so suddenly and the soldiers had no time to take cover, so they were often killed or seriously injured very quickly. For the leaders of each country, the airplane affected them by making them consider whether or not they should send out soldiers and planes to fight against opposing countries. The leaders of the country also had to decide how much training pilots needed and how much money to fund towards airplanes. Lastly, the citizens living near the front line were almost as greatly affected as the soldiers because bombs could accidentally or purposely dropped into their town and practically destroyed the towns.
Fun fact!!
- The British Naval Air Service were the first to drop bombs on zeppelin sheds in Koln and Dussledorf during September and October of 1914
- The Germans dropped bombs during the First Battle of Marne
Positive and Negative Consequences
- It was often hard to distinguish enemy planes from your own, so some people would shoot down their own planes
- In the beginning, many countries did not want to put a lot of funding and training for pilots and planes
- Young aces were considered idols, and they were used in their countries propaganda
- The top speed of the first planes were about 100 MPH, and they were made out of wood. When wooden planes would catch fire, they would spread quickly, and the pilots did not carry parachutes, which meant certain death
Connections to Today
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Instead of using a wooden airplane, advanced technology has now allowed us to use fighter jets. A fighter jet is still used for air combat. The top speed of a fighter jet is 7,000 MPH and they are extremely quiet. Fighter jets are also much easier to maneuver and they have precision engagement, which means that when they drop a bomb, even if they miss the "drop-off" zone, the bomb will still hit its target. For example, the United States is using this weapon in Iraq with the current ISIS situation.
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This page was created by Greta Planck :)