MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Origins to 1918 AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THEIR IMPACT Other Titles in ABC-CLIO’s WEAPONS AND WARFARE SERIES Air Defense, Shannon A. Brown Aircraft Carriers, Hedley Wilmott Ancient Weapons, James T. Chambers Artillery, Jeff Kinard Ballistic Missiles, Kev Darling Battleships, Stanley Sandler Cruisers and Battle Cruisers, Eric W. Osborne Destroyers, Eric W. Osborne Helicopters, Stanley S. McGowen Machine Guns, James H. Willbanks Medieval Weapons, James T. Chambers Military Aircraft in the Jet Age, Justin D. Murphy, Robert G. Mangrum, Matthew A. Mcniece Military Aircraft, 1919–1945, Justin D. Murphy, Robert G. Mangrum, Matthew A. Mcniece Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918, Justin D. Murphy Pistols, Jeff Kinard Rifles, David Westwood Submarines, Hedley Paul Wilmott Tanks,Spencer C. Tucker MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Origins to 1918 AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THEIR IMPACT Justin D. Murphy Santa Barbara, CA Denver, CO Oxford, England Copyright © 2005 by Justin D. Murphy All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Murphy, Justin D. Military aircraft, origins to 1918 : an illustrated history of their impact / Justin D. Murphy. p. cm. — (Weapons and warfare series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-85109-488-1 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-85109-493-8 (ebook) 1. Airplanes, Military—History--20th century. 2. Aeronautics, Military—History—20th century. I. Title. II. Series. UG1240.M88 2005 623.74'6'09041—dc22 2005003596 08 07 06 05 04 / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, Inc. 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in the United States of America CONTENTS Introduction to Weapons and Warfare Series, vii Spencer C. Tucker Preface and Acknowledgments ix chapter one 1 The Origins of Flight and Military Aviation chapter two 41 Military Aviation in World War I, 1914–1918 chapter three 103 Reconnaissance and Auxiliary Aircraft chapter four 129 Fighter and Attack Aircraft chapter five 161 Bomber Aircraft v vvii CCOONNTTEENNTTSS chapter six 183 Naval Aircraft 203 Aircraft by Country 205 Aircraft by Primary Role 207 Aircraft in Alphabetical Order 287 Glossary of Terms 291 Bibliography 299 Index 319 About the Author INTRODUCTION TO WEAPONS AND WARFARE SERIES Weapons both fascinate and repel. They are used to kill and maim individuals and to destroy states and societies, and occasion- ally whole civilizations, and with these the greatest of man’s cul- tural and artistic accomplishments. Throughout history tools of war have been the instruments of conquest, invasion, and enslave- ment, but they have also been used to check evil and to maintain peace. Weapons have evolved over time to become both more lethal and more complex. For the greater part of man’s existence, combat was fought at the length of an arm or at such short range as to represent no real difference; battle was fought within line of sight and seldom lasted more than the hours of daylight of a single day. Thus individ- ual weapons that began with the rock and the club proceeded through the sling and boomerang, bow and arrow, sword and axe, to gunpowder weapons of the rifle and machine gun of the late nine- teenth century. Study of the evolution of these weapons tells us much about human ingenuity, the technology of the time, and the societies that produced them. The greater part of technological de- velopment of weaponry has taken part in the last two centuries, es- pecially the twentieth century. In this process, plowshares have been beaten into swords; the tank, for example, evolved from the agricul- tural caterpillar tractor. Occasionally, the process is reversed and military technology has impacted society in a positive way. Thus modern civilian medicine has greatly benefitted from advances to save soldiers’ lives, and weapons technology has impacted such ar- eas as civilian transportation and atomic power. Weapons can have a profound impact on society. Gunpowder weapons, for example, were an important factor in ending the era of vii viii SERIES INTRODUCTION the armed knight and the Feudal Age. They installed a kind of rough democracy on the battlefield, making “all men alike tall.” We can only wonder what effect weapons of mass destruction (WMD) might have on our own time and civilization. This series will trace the evolution of a variety of key weapons sys- tems, describe the major changes that occurred in each, and illus- trate and identify the key types. Each volume begins with a descrip- tion of the particular weapons system and traces its evolution, while discussing its historical, social, and political contexts. This is fol- lowed by a heavily illustrated section that is arranged more or less along chronological lines that provides more precise information on at least 80 key variants of that particular weapons system. Each vol- ume contains a glossary of terms, a bibliography of leading books on that particular subject, and an index. Individual volumes in the series, each written by a specialist in that particular area of expertise, are as follows: Ancient Weapons Medieval Weapons Pistols Rifles Machine Guns Artillery Tanks Battleships Cruisers and Battle Cruisers Aircraft Carriers Submarines Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918 Military Aircraft, 1919–1945 Military Aircraft in the Jet Age Helicopters Ballistic Missiles Air Defense Destroyers We hope that this series will be of wide interest to specialists, researchers, and even general readers. Spencer C. Tucker Series Editor PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The heavens are their battlefields; they are the cavalry of the clouds. High above the squalor and the mud, so high in the firmament that they are not visible from the earth, they fight out the eternal issues of right and wrong. . . . Every flight is a romance; every report is an epic. They are the knighthood of the war, without fear and without reproach. They recall the old legends of chivalry, not merely by the daring of their exploits, but by the nobility of their spirit, and amongst the multitudes of heroes, let us think of the chivalry of the air. David Lloyd George 29 October 1917 Perhaps no aspect of the First World War has left such a last- ing impression upon the public memory than did that of the daring pilots who fought against one another in the skies over Europe. Ask people to identify the “Red Baron,” and the vast majority, even if they do not know his name was Manfred von Richthofen, will at least know he was the leading ace of the war; his image, after all, has been used to sell frozen pizza and he has served as the arch nemesis of the Peanuts character Snoopy. The Red Baron is remem- bered for what he did and because air power fascinated people dur- ing the First World War and has continued to fascinate them since for a few simple reasons. For one thing, air power was something new. The first heavier-than-air flight had taken place just 11 years before the outbreak of the war. In addition, civilians, who heretofore ix