Page 226 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

warfare, air 2003

Bombs do not choose. They will hit
everything. • Nikita Khrushchev
(1894–1971)

observation on 23 October 1911. An Italian aircraft
Warfare, Air dropped the first bombs, had the first aviator wounded

in combat, and developed the first use of radio commu-
ir warfare refers to military operations above the nications in flight. As the experimental stage of aviation
Aground, including tactical support of land forces, ended, the organizational structure was in place for the
transport of troops and matériel, and enemy observation sky to become the next battlefield.
through reconnaissance. In military history, air warfare Several small European wars in 1911 and 1912 pro-
has had the most profound impact over the shortest time. vided the testing ground for the airplane as a war
Early beginnings may be traced to late-eighteenth-century machine. These included Italians and Turks fighting in
France, where paperhangers Joseph and Etienne Mont- Libya, the Mexican Revolution in 1910, a 1912 uprising
golfier launched the first hot air balloon.The French Rev- in Morocco that was put down by France, and incidents
olutionary army incorporated a corps of balloonists, and in the Balkans between 1912 and 1913.
the concept of air warfare was born. It was utilized ex-
clusively for observation purposes for a century. By 1900 World War I
all major armies included balloon sections and experi- (1914–1918)
mented with dropping some form of bombs. Air warfare came into its own with the first major war of
David Schwarz, a German, built and flew the first dir- the twentieth century. In 1914, 1,000 airplanes were in
igible in 1886. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin perfected the service of the major powers. Five years earlier there
the new technology, and demanded that his design specif- had been none. Observation balloons marked Allied
ically be applied in warfare. Another German, Otto and German fronts.Their purpose was to direct artillery
Lilienthal, was the first to scientifically study wing struc- fire. Once the war bogged down in trench warfare, sta-
tures and mathematical formulas explaining lift, but it tionary balloons became easy targets of enemy aircraft.
was the American brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright The mobility of the airplane came to the forefront, in
who brought about the instrument that became the pri- areas that ranged from intelligence gathering to directing
mary weapon for air warfare.Their airplane hit the world artillery fire. Two-thirds of the French resources were
stage with the first flight on 17 December 1903 at Kitty used for artillery spotting.
Hawk, North Carolina. Air power had no precedent in military history. Two-
Formal military use dates from 10 February 1908, thirds of the French resources went to artillery spotting
when the U.S. Army Signal Corps ordered the first air- use.Aircraft was something new, and while commanders
plane and hired the Wright brothers to instruct two offi- understood some of its functions, full recognition of its
cers. The Frenchmen Henry Farman and Louis Bleriot strategic value came slowly. The French formed the first
proved the airplane’s long-range capability by flying bomber group in late 1914, but both they and the
across the English Channel in 1909.They established the British concentrated on developing slow and stable
first flight schools in France, which took the initiative observation craft like the BE2 and Voisin for photography
among all nations in the promotion of aviation. Germany and artillery spotting, while the Germans developed
pursued the development of airships, but in 1911 the bombers to attack Allied trenches. Even before the war,
government contracted with Albatros to build airplanes military strategists recognized the psychological and
for military use. England followed, creating the Air Bat- material damage that could result from bombing.Targets
talion of the Royal Engineers. All European nations fol- were supply and communication lines, transportation,
lowed suit with some form of aviation. and troops. Bombers became an extension of the artillery,
Italy claims a series of firsts in the use of aircraft in mil- because with aerial observation, enemy troops could no
itary situations, all achieved when it used an airplane for longer shelter from artillery fire.