— Ch. 1 · Ancient Origins And Early Experiments —
History of aerial warfare.
~7 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
In the third century, a manned kite was set off to spy for military intelligence and communication in ancient China. This earliest documented aerial warfare took place when humans first used flight to gather secrets from above. By the second or third century, a prototype hot air balloon known as the Kongming lantern served as a military communication station in China. These early devices relied on simple physics rather than complex machinery. The technology remained rudimentary compared to modern standards but established a foundation for future military applications.
Balloons later appeared in Europe during the infancy of aeronautics. The French Aerostatic Corps used a tethered balloon named L'entreprenant at the Battle of Fleurus in 1794 to gain a vantage point. They could not fly in bad weather, fog, or high winds. Their large size made them very vulnerable targets for enemy fire. Despite these disadvantages, they provided commanders with expansive views of battlefields extending up to three and a half miles away.
The first aggressive use of balloons occurred in 1849 when Austrian imperial forces besieged Venice. They floated some two hundred paper hot air balloons each carrying a twenty-four to thirty-pound bomb over the city. Some balloons were launched from land while others came from the side-wheel steamer SMS Vulcano acting as a carrier. Most missed their target due to changing winds, and some drifted back over Austrian lines. At least one bomb fell inside the city, proving that aerial bombardment was possible.
The Birth Of Powered Combat
Airplanes entered actual war service in 1911 during the Italo-Turkish War. Italian Army Air Corps Blériot XI and Nieuport IV monoplanes bombed a Turkish camp at Ain Zara in Libya. This marked the first time aircraft dropped bombs on an enemy position. The United States Navy conducted experiments showing practicality of carrier-based aviation starting in August 1910. Civilian pilot Eugene Ely took off from a wooden platform installed on the scout cruiser USS Birmingham near Hampton Roads, Virginia. He landed safely on shore minutes later and proved it was also possible to land on a ship months after his initial flight.
World War I saw both sides initially make use of tethered balloons and airplanes for observation purposes. Enemy pilots simply exchanged hand waves before a desire to prevent enemy observation led them to attack other airplanes. French pilot Roland Garros added deflector plates to the back of propellers in the Morane-Saulnier monoplane. This allowed him to fire through his propeller and score three victories in April 1915. Dutch aircraft designer Anthony Fokker developed a successful gun synchronizer in 1915 resulting in German Leutnant Kurt Wintgens scoring the first known victory for a synchronized gun-equipped fighter aircraft on the 1st of July 1915.
The Allies quickly developed their own synchronization gears leading to the birth of aerial combat commonly known as dogfighting. Tactics evolved by trial and error until German ace Oswald Boelcke created eight essential rules of dogfighting called the Dicta Boelcke. By 1916, aerial combat had progressed to where air supremacy could be achieved using doctrines like the Dicta Boelcke. New designs led to air supremacy shifting back and forth between Germans and Allies throughout the war.