BY AIR - Introduction
Remarkably, it was a mere ten years from the Wright brothers completing the first powered flight, to the start of WWI. Initially only used for aerial reconnaissance, airplanes quickly proved their worth as an offensive weapon. Modern air warfare, as we know it today, rapidly evolved to include air-to-air combat and aerial bombing.
Highly skilled "aces", who engaged in complex and dangerous "dog fights" became household names during WWI. Successful aces such as Eddie Rickenbacker (American) and Rene Fonck (French) were eclipsed by the infamous German pilot, Baron Manfred von Richthofen.
British Heavy Bomber, 1918
BY AIR - Resources
These are just a few the titles we have in the HPU Libraries, related to the WWI air war.
- The fighters: The men and machines of the first air war byCall Number: 940.44 F96fi 1965ISBN: B00005VWIEPublication Date: 1965
- The origins of air war: The development of military air strategy in World War I byCall Number: e-bookPublication Date: 2009
The Zeppelin in combat: A history of the German Naval Airship Division, 1912-1918. by Call Number: 940.44943 R56ze 1994ISBN: 9780887405105Publication Date: 1994
BY AIR - Zeppelins
The Germans successfully developed and flew giant helium-filled balloons (dirigibles) called Zeppelins. Used to bomb European cities, Zeppelin raids between 1914 and 1918, killed and injured over 1,800 British civilians.
German Zeppelin L13, 1916
Captain Eddie Rickenbaker
German Triplane, 1917
Baron Manfred von Richthofen & his pet, Moritz
