Uses of the Airplanes

The airplanes World War I are used for certain things. Fighter Planes, Bombing Planes, and Reconnaissance Ships were used in World War I.

During World War I, there were two types of airplanes used. One type was a biplane which had two wings and the other was a triplane, which had three wings. These planes here driven by propellers and usually had either two or four wheels. Each plane had some type of machine gun.

Biplanes were the plane of choice for fighting. These had two men cockpits and cloth skins. Reconnaissance planes, or spy planes had two men cockpits, also, with a man using the machine gun in the back. Most of these planes had open cockpits. All of these planes were used for spying, fighting and bombing. There were racks under the planes that carried the bombs. They did not have radar, so they depended on their eyesight to see where their targets were located. This was not good for hitting the exact targets because fighter planes would use camouflage to blend in with natural surroundings.

Fighter Planes

Almost all fighter planes were one-seaters. These had a machine gun in the cockpit. These planes were used to shoot down and destroy the target. The targets were enemy planes. These air battles were called "dogfights". Fighter pilots were seen as the modern versions of the heroic knights of old.

The most famous fighters were of French, British, and German design. The French plane, the Spad VII, ranked tops and was used by almost all the Allied, friendly forces. England's leading fighter plane was the Sopwith Camel. It was called the "Camel" because of the hump-shaped design. It downed more than 1,290 enemy planes. The Fokker Drl. was Germany's number one fighter. The most famous fighter plane of World War I was The Red Baron. It was a German fighter and also a triplane.

Bombers

The bomber planes had to be heavier to carry the bombs. They had a rack on the bottom of the plane and it would open up to release the bomb. It was really hard to hit an exact target when the bombs were launched because they had to sight the bombs visually. Usually when they dropped the bomb, it landed several feet from the initial target. The bombs varied in size.

Reconnaissance Ships

Reconnaissance planes were used to spy. These were used more than observation balloons because they could go far past enemy lines. The planes were usually two-seaters. The back seat had a pair of machine guns and were used to defend if needed. The observation man sat here. His job was to find specific targets.