Comparison of the Planes
the Red Baron and his Enemies Flew
When WWI started airplanes were not used for fighting. When the French got airplanes they used them for spotting enemy movements. Soon all sides used that tactic. When the airplanes first came out they were very light. The Germans used car engines and they could go 27,500 feet up and stay up 24 hours. This was a record. As the war progressed the planes began to change as each side tried to out do the other. Guns were being added in different ways and the airplanes were used in warfare.
World War I Planes
| German | Allies |
| Albartos BII "Apple Barge" | British |
| Big, clumsy bomber | de Havilland DH2 |
| Can't see bombs hit the ground | Single-seater rear engine |
| (spinning incinerator) | |
| Albatros CIII | FE2B |
| Lighter, nimbler than the BII | Rear engine |
| Observer sat behind the pilot with a | |
| swivel machine gun | Sopwith Cub |
| Albatros B type | Sopwith Camel |
| Was not a maneuverable plane | |
| SE5 | |
| Fokker Monoplane | |
| Very fast and highly maneuverable | French |
| Machine gun shot through the propeller | Farman |
| Nieuport machine gun | |
| Fokker DIII | above the pilot |
| Fokker DRI Triplane | BE2 Bomber |
| Two 7.92 mm spundau L.MG. machine guns | An all around plane |
| Top wing span 32 ft. 7 in. | |
| Middle wing span 20 ft. 5 in. | FE2 Scouts |
| Bottom wing span 18 ft. 9 1/2 in. | Swivel mounted lewis |
| Empty 894 lbs. | guns on front and rear |
| Loaded 1,291 lbs. | |
| Maximum speed 115 mph. | Martinsyde Elephant |
| Ceiling appr. 23,000 ft. | Clumsy |
| Height 9 ft. 8 in. | BE12 Bombers |
| Gnome | |
| Goes 90 mph | |
| Fastest French plane |
Red: German planes; Green: Allied planes; Blue: Country