Military Aircraft

I

Introduction

Military Aircraft, aeroplanes and other flying machines used for military purposes.

In the early years of the 20th century the military aeroplane was a frail structure of wood, wire, and fabric. It was intended as an aid to reconnaissance and was capable of carrying little in the way of defensive armament; it flew at a maximum speed of less than 120 km/h (74 mph). Aircraft could not carry any really useful armament until 1915. Attempts to carry one machine-gun severely affected the performance of the aircraft, which only had low-powered engines. Three guns were not feasible until late 1917, and then only on two-seater aircraft, such as the Bristol F2b Fighter—the problem being one of a lack of power and the vibration set up by the guns firing. In 1914, the aircraft could barely carry one machine-gun and then at the expense of altitude performance. Only when engines became more powerful did the machine-gun replace the rifle.

Since the beginning of World War I, the military aeroplane has evolved into a sophisticated weapons system of enormous complexity. Specialized aircraft fulfil a variety of roles, from reconnaissance and interception to air superiority and strategic bombing. Jet-powered aircraft can travel at up to three times the speed of sound, carrying an arsenal of weapons, including nuclear devices each capable of destroying an entire city.

The aircraft has continuously revolutionized the conduct of warfare. From the first experiments with aircraft as observation platforms directing artillery fire, through the invention of aerial bombardment and the consequent need for air defence, to World War II’s strategic bombing offensive and eventually nuclear deterrence, air power has dictated the conduct of modern war. Air power has provided military commanders with new means of gathering intelligence, dominating a battlefield, striking the enemy over great distances, and forging global lines of supply and communication. For the first time, aviation made civilians at home as vulnerable to attack as soldiers on the battlefield.

II

The Aeroplane and World War I

The American aviators Wilbur and Orville Wright made the world’s first powered, controlled, heavier-than-air flights on December 17, 1903. However, before long, unsophisticated kite-like aircraft were flying at Farnborough (now home of the United Kingdom’s biennial Society of British Aircraft Constructors air show), and the French and Germans were trying out a wide variety of designs, including the first monoplanes. Within six years leadership in the new technology had passed to Europe, where government leaders supported aviation through the sponsorship of races and competitions, subsidized programmes of research and development, the purchase of aircraft, and the establishment of the earliest military flying units. In Britain, pioneers worked on new designs at the Royal Aircraft Factory, set up at Farnborough. In Germany, while heavier-than-air flight developed slowly, Count Zeppelin was building giant hydrogen-filled airships at his factory in Ludwigshafen. The Imperial German Navy was quick to see the possibilities of the relatively fast and mobile airships for reconnaissance, with their relatively great lifting capability making possible bombing from the air.

Soon after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, pioneer military aviators demonstrated their value as aerial scouts and observers, although not, perhaps, to the complete satisfaction of members of the high commands, who had learned most of their tactics and strategy 40 years earlier. The early aircraft on both sides were mainly two-seaters carrying the pilot and an observer to spot the fall of artillery shells. Formerly the Royal Aircraft Factory, Britain’s Royal Aircraft Establishment, set up in 1918, produced the BE2 and FE2, the latter a so-called “pusher” design, with the engine behind the two seats, driving a rear-facing propeller. On the German side of the lines, early Rumplers and Aviatiks struggled into the air.

The need to prevent enemy fliers from observing activity behind the lines led to the development of the first fighter aircraft. For a brief period early in the war, high-flying aircraft were almost invulnerable from the ground, and fliers of both sides saluted one another as fellow pioneers. That soon changed as trench warfare bogged the armies down and fliers began to take guns aloft. Machine-guns were fitted to the planes, and the aerial duels began in earnest.

The appearance in 1915 of the German Fokker E-2 monoplane, which featured a machine-gun synchronized to shoot between the blades of the spinning propeller, opened the era of air combat proper.

The fight for control of the air over the trenches fuelled rapid technical development. Private companies had been producing aircraft since the early days of aviation, and names like Nieuport, Sopwith, and Fokker became famous, their aircrafts’ relative merits tested against one another in combat. Technical advantage shifted back and forth across the lines as new aircraft capable of flying higher and faster or of carrying more weaponry were introduced. By 1918, the skies were contested by superb fighter aircraft such as the German Fokker D.VII, French Spad 13, and British S.E.5 and Sopwith Camel, which operated at speeds of up to 200 km/h (125 mph), and altitudes of 6,100 m (20,000 ft).

The pilots who flew these aircraft became the best-known fighters of the war. The German ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as the “Red Baron”, ran up a total of 80 victories before his death on April 21, 1918. Rene Fonck, a French pilot with 75 victories, was the highest-ranking ace to survive the war. Other top fighter pilots of the war were Major Edward “Mick” Mannock (United Kingdom, 73 victories); Major William “Billy” Bishop (Canada, 72 victories); Captain Ernst Udet (Germany, 62 victories); and Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker (United States, 25 victories). While public attention focused on the fighter pilots, other fliers were exploring a variety of military roles for the aeroplane. Throughout the war, observation and artillery-spotting were the most critical tasks performed by aircraft. Light bombers began to attack troops on the ground, although their contribution to the thousands of tonnes of explosive rained down on northern France was small compared to that from the guns of the artillery. Bombs were small, filled with at most 112 kg (250 lb) of explosive; even so, few aircraft could carry more than two.

German Zeppelin airships bombed cities in Belgium, England, and France during the years 1914 to 1917. During the final year of the war, German fliers continued the air attacks on London and other cities with twin-engine Gotha aircraft and giant four-engine bombers like the Zeppelin R-16, with a wingspan of more than 42 m (138 ft) and a payload of 2,040 kg (4,500 lb). However, only six R-16s were used against Britain, and their ungainliness became apparent as landing accidents destroyed two of them. Britain’s response was the twin-engined Handley-Page 0-400, and then the four-engine 0-1500, a giant designed to reach Berlin. The night bombing of cities prompted attempts to shoot down the attackers with fighter aircraft. However, finding Zeppelins or bombers in the dark proved almost impossible, and the few occasions on which a lucky glance caught a doomed Zeppelin silhouetted against the fires below were hailed as major victories. Despite many (mostly untried) exotic technical schemes, the problem of the night fighter was not to be solved for 25 more years.

III

Military Aviation: 1918-1939

As the war drew to a close, the aircraft had proved its worth in combat, although many in positions of power in the military establishment were still sceptical. Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) was formed in 1918 by the amalgamation of the Army’s Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). The RNAS had been responsible for the air defence of the United Kingdom until February 1916, when the RFC regained this responsibility. The German air force was disbanded by the Treaty of Versailles, while air power advocates in the victorious Allied nations struggled to prove that the aeroplane was the weapon of the future. The spectre of bomb attack from the air was raised regularly in the 1920s and 1930s by all sides in the debate, since the failure of night fighters in World War I seemed to suggest that there was no defence, and that civilian populations would be under attack.

Military aircraft technology evolved slowly after World War I. Biplane construction was standard, since the braced structure was strong, robust, and proven. In Britain, a series of fighters and bombers from Hawker, Bristol, and Gloster pushed biplane design to its limits, but the two wings remained the standard. By the 1930s, fast, smooth monoplane designs such as the De Havilland Comet and Supermarine S-6 floatplane were being built to contest air races like the Schneider Trophy, but these lessons had not been transferred into military aircraft design. In Germany, Hitler’s rise to power and the elevation of ex-World War I pilots, like Hermann Göring, to positions of influence resulted in the design of a number of monoplane “airliners” and single-seaters. These monoplanes were rapidly to become the bombers and fighters with which the German Luftwaffe went to war five years later: the Heinkel He 111, the Dornier Do 17, and the Messerschmitt Bf 109.

Features such as retractable landing-gear, streamlining, and the use of metal for construction became the hallmarks of the new generation of aircraft. However, the RAF, the French Air Force, and even the United States Army Air Corps, the forerunner of the United States Army Air Force, were still largely equipped with wood-and-fabric biplanes. In addition, despite the fears about aerial bombardment, none was equipped with a genuinely heavy bomber.

Most of the genuine innovation in military aircraft construction between the wars came about as a result of unsolicited work in private companies. The legendary Spitfire, developed independently by the Supermarine Company, and only later sold to Britain’s Air Ministry, is only one example. With its smooth lines, load-bearing metal skin, and heavy eight machine-gun armament, the Spitfire was revolutionary.

As it became clear that appeasement had failed, Britain, France, and Germany began the race to build modern planes. The Spanish Civil War, in which the modern aircraft of Germany’s Condor Legion battled with older, less-sophisticated types, proved the point: the new aircraft destroyed the old in numbers. The bombing of Guernica and the first deployment of Germany’s Stuka dive-bombers were omens of the air war to come.

IV

Aviation in World War II

From beginning to end, World War II was an air war. Germany opened the conflict with drives across Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and France during 1939 and 1940. Despite the fact that the bulk of the ground troops of the German blitzkrieg relied on horses for transport, the airborne component was modern. Dive-bombing Stukas became a familiar sight in European skies. The might of the Luftwaffe was never seriously challenged over mainland Europe in that first year of war. The French Air Force, although finally equipped with modern aircraft in reasonable numbers, crumbled through lack of communications and strategy.

Britain’s Spitfires and Hurricanes, hurriedly flown to France to shore up its failing defences, were equally hurriedly flown home when it became apparent that the vital aircraft might be captured by the sheer speed of the German advance. Attempts to achieve air superiority over Britain in preparation for an invasion began with German attacks on shipping in the English Channel in July 1940, followed by aerial raids on British coastal installations and RAF bases, and day-and-night bombing attacks on London and other British towns and cities.

The fighter pilots of Britain’s RAF won the Battle of Britain in 1940 by a narrow margin. The quality of their solidly built Hawker Hurricane and speedy Supermarine Spitfire interceptors was one vital factor. Equally important, the RAF was operating in the skies close to its own airfields, while the Luftwaffe had to return to bases all over northern France. The fact that the Spitfires and Hurricanes could return home, refuel, and be back in the air within half an hour tipped the otherwise unfavourable numerical balance back in Britain’s favour. The vulnerability of German bombers such as the Heinkel He 111, Junkers Ju 88, and Dornier Do 17, with their liquid-cooled engines, relatively slow speed, and lack of defensive armament, also played a part.

Just as important, however, was the network linking radar stations to command centres that plotted the position of German aircraft and guided British fighter pilots towards their targets by radio. Electronic weaponry had emerged as a major factor in air warfare.

The high losses resulting from early attempts to bomb targets in Germany convinced the leaders of RAF Bomber Command to discontinue daylight precision attacks on specific targets in favour of night attacks. The RAF rapidly realized the need for heavy bombers to replace the twin-engined Wellington and obsolete Hampden, and by 1943 three new four-engined bombers were in service: the underpowered, slow, Stirling, the workman-like Halifax, and the outstanding Lancaster. However, despite up-to-date aircraft, the technology of bombsights and navigation was sadly lacking, and the night attacks tended to drop bombs over wide areas of Germany’s cities instead of precision targeting.

The USAAF, established in 1941, began a daylight precision bombing campaign from Great Britain against Germany with Boeing B-17 and Consolidated B-24 aircraft, equipped with the Norden predicting bombsight, in 1943. The American aircraft sacrificed bomb load in favour of heavy defensive armament—twelve 0.5-inch machine-guns aboard the B-17. However, despite their accurate name, the Flying Fortresses suffered appalling losses: over 8,000 of the 15,000 sent to Europe were shot down by enemy fire, and another 1,000 were destroyed in training accidents.

The appearance of long-range escort fighters like the Republic P-47, North American P-51, and Lockheed P-38 helped turn the tide of the great daylight air battles fought high over Germany in favour of the USAAF. At night, new electronic navigation aids, such as the beam-following Oboe and H2S radar-mapping, guided the RAF’s bombers more accurately to their targets—where the precision-bombing Pathfinder force had laid flare markers to ensure that the huge numbers of bombs dropped from up to 1,000 aircraft did the most damage. During 1944 and early 1945, the USAAF struck Germany during the day, while the RAF attacked at night. One by one, Germany’s cities were reduced to rubble.

Tactical air power also played a major role. Allied air forces, equipped with ever-improving versions of the Spitfire, the speedy P-51 Mustang, and new heavy fighters like the Hawker Typhoon and Tornado, had swept German aircraft from the skies over the Normandy beaches prior to the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. They would maintain battlefield air superiority for the remainder of the conflict. Bombers like the Martin B-26, and fighter aircraft doing double duty as ground attack machines, battered the German defenders in front of the advancing Allied armies.

In the Pacific, an entirely new kind of air war was being fought. Its reliance on carriers set the tone for naval warfare and aviation for the rest of the century. Japan opened the Pacific war with air attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and other United States and British bases in the Pacific on December 7 and 8, 1941. The real turning point of the Pacific war came on June 4, 1942, when American carrier-based aircraft sank four Japanese carriers and a heavy cruiser in the waters north-west of Midway Island.

For the next three years, Allied forces pushed the enemy back across the Pacific. Japan entered the war with the world’s finest torpedo bomber (Nakajima B5N2 Type 97) and long-range fighter aircraft (Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0). By 1944 the arrival of Grumman F6F Hellcats and Chance Vought F4U Corsairs had tipped the technological balance in favour of US naval aviators.

The final phase of the war in the Pacific was under way by 1944, when Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers began to attack targets in Japan from bases in China. The capture of the islands of Saipan and Tinian enabled the B-29s to range even farther over the Japanese islands. When high-altitude precision-bombing techniques yielded disappointing results, Army Air Force planners sent the B-29s in low and at night to conduct area fire raids of the sort pioneered by the RAF. The results were devastating—more than 83,000 residents of Tokyo lost their lives during a single raid on the night of March 10, 1945. The dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was quickly followed by the Japanese surrender on August 14, 1945 (see Nuclear Weapons).