death from above: the life (and death) of a world war i pilot

8/17/2019 Death From Above: The Life (and Death) of a World War I Pilot

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Death from - and In - The Skies

Take the cylinder out of my kidneys,the connecting rod out of my brain, my brainfrom the small of my back take the camshaftand assemble the engine again.

- Royal Air Corp mess hall song

When you consider The Great War and the year it started - 1914 - you

realize that it had only been a mere 12 years since motorized flight had

become a reality. While there was a world of difference between the original

Wright brothers design versus the standard biplane, some things didn’t

change. As one American pilot writing home said:

“With only a slight exaggeration, it (the plane) seemed as if they weremerely gathered-up odds and ends of wood, discarded matchsticks, and

the like, which are wried together, catch as catch can fashion. Old

handkerchiefs (were) sewed together to cover the wings and that part of

the fuselage around the pilots’ seat. The reminder of the fuselage was left

naked, which gave the plane a sort of half-finished appearance .”

A crashed planeshowing the frame and

what remained of the

engine.

Aircraft design at this

time was primitive;

safety was hardly aconsideration. Fuel tanks were placed close to the engine and directly in

front of the pilot so as to simplify the feed and pump process, leaving the

pilot to fly his plane with a potential bomb directly in front of him. As the war

continued, more planes were gradually made of metal, but during the war,

the majority of planes were largely made of wood and canvas prone to

shredding and above all fire and engine failure, with planes often crashing


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not just because of being shot down, but with engines failing, wings and

wires breaking or some other mechanical failure.

Thus it is not surprising that the average life expectancy of a pilot in the

Great War was a mere 93 hours, or about 4 days. Just as planes were anew technology, training was naturally in it’s infancy, with training focusing

on the pilot being able to take off and land, perhaps do a couple of turns or

maybe a loop - and then being sent to the front. As described by one

student:

“Students were … encouraged to study the action of the motor before

starting on their first ride, and to keep the application of power as steady as

possible, since the slip stream of air from the propeller acting on the rudder

is the force that causes the latter to become effective.

The student's first trip was straight across the field, towards a soldier who

was stationed at the far end, whose duty it was to help him turn round and

to start his motor in case he stalled it, as frequently happened. The student

was not accompanied by a teacher in his wild ride. It was the duty of the

teacher to watch carefully the cause of any difficulties and observe whether

the student was avoiding trouble by going too slow, or was really learning to

make proper use of the rudder. The second trip was made at a higher rate

of speed, but with the control stick pulled well back and the tail held firmlyon the ground. When the pilot had succeeded in making a good round trip

with the tail skid helping to keep him straight by plowing through the field,

he was told to get the tail off the ground for a few rods and then make a

landing."

After having satisfied the instructors at the First Field of their ability to use

the rudder, the students walked over to Field 2, where dual control

machines, operated by experienced instructors, were ready to give them

their first experience in actual flying in France…"

For the novice, learning to do a loop involved the following:

“1) One dives to gain speed; 2) you pull back on the stick and go to full

power; 3) when past the vertical, reduce power; 4) as you approach straight

and level, slow down and add a little power going out of the loop.”


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As to shooting, trainees often received little shooting practice, with perhaps

a handful of lucky trainees receiving four fifteen minute opportunities to fire

a machine gun in a grounded airplane at a spot of sand on the ground.

Otherwise, as one pilot, a Charles Biddle training in France, detailed:

“An order came down from the colonel in command of the schools,

directing that no more pilots were to go to Cazaux (the shooting school).

His reason was that the school is intended for the training of aero-plane

machine gunners who shoot from the two-seater machines with movable

guns, and is only amusing but not beneficial for pilots, who are to use a

fixed gun on a one-seater (plane).”

Tactics were generally learned

on the job and often from theirfellow pilots - at least from those

who survived. The German air

forces learned this early in the

war, with the more experienced

pilots taking the time between

missions to teach the new

arrivals on live aerial

simulations, sharing their

experiences and offering theirpractical insights - something

which gave the Germans an

advantage early in the war.

Survival in a fighting plane

during the Great War often

consisted of pilots following their

instinct, knowing how to read the

clouds and the wind - and sheerluck. And more often than not, it

was instinct which often saved

the life of an experience pilot. The first rounds slam into your plane: what

do you do? Some would freeze, not knowing what to do, only to be sitting

ducks and sliced apart by bullets. It was those pilots who reacted - did

something, anything! - turning their plane, moving, diving - that would save


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their lives. More often then not, it was dumb luck and survival which

separated the living and the dead.

The plane engines of the time were not powerful and often tended to fail.

Planes had an average speed of 95 mph, with faster planes coming outlater in the war, some reaching as fast as 140 mph. Practical flying tactics

required the pilot attain higher altitudes as soon as possible so as to give

themselves a speed advantage through a controlled dive when necessary,

as overtaking one’s opponent at level flight was not easily achieved. Picture

yourself in a speeding car trying to overtake another speeding car on fact

highway. Depending on your plane you may have an advantage of 10 or 15

mph; but you could ill afford using up your fuel going at faster speeds.

Thus pilots attained higher altitudes so as to surprise their opponents and

come down on them in greater speeds in attacks while saving their fuel forthe return flight. But reaching higher altitudes took time, and thus the first

hour of flight was critical for a pilot, for otherwise they were easy prey for

the enemy. As one British pilot described it:

“This is the worst moment of the day. You usually don’t sleep very well if

you are down for a Dawn Parol. The batman calls at 4:30 am with cocoa

and biscuits. I am wide awake then. When it causally comes to the point -

warming up, take off, getting into formation and so on - you find yourself

doing these things automatically. But (later) then you see Archie(Antiaircraft flak) below! It looks much worse in the dark, as you can see

the explosions and this remains with you as you try to rise above it,… ”

As to be expected, during the initial phase of the war, command’s attitudes

on both sides toward planes were far from progressive. Within the German

General staff, for example, a report was disseminated in September of

1914, which stated:

“Evidence has shown that real combat in the air, such as journalists andromancers have described, should be considered a myth. The duty of the

aviator is to see and report, and not fight .”

Rather ironic considering how German pilots quickly take the initiative and

initiated training amongst themselves, enhancing their chances of survival

and insuring Germany’s early lead in the war.


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It was a new war using new technology - and many “firsts” soon arrived.

For example, during a bombing raid over Kragujevac on September 30th,

1915, Private Radome Ljutovac of the Serbian army successfully shot

down one of the three attacking aircraft. Ljutovac used a slightly modifiedTurkish cannon captured some years previously, and with proper aim was

able to shoot down Austrian air attackers. This was the first time that a

military airplane was shot down with ground to air fire - a crucial moment in

anti-aircraft warfare.

As for the allies, the French military aviation exercises of 1911, 1912, and

1913 had pioneered cooperation of get air forces with the cavalry for

reconnaissance and artillery for spotting, but otherwise it was not until well

into the war that flying’s tactical and strategic abilities was not fully realizedby either side.

Great Britain had "started late" and initially relied largely on the French

aircraft industry (especially for aircraft engines) along with some of their

applications. The initial British contribution to the allied air war effort in

August 1914 (of about 184 aircraft) was three squadrons with about 30

serviceable machines; it would be the French pilots who largely carried the

burden in the early years, with some help from foreign volunteers with the

Lafayette Escadrille.

As for the American air services, they were hopelessly behind. In 1917,

when the United States entered the war, American air forces were almost

totally dependent on the French and British aircraft industries for combat

aircraft and initially were given second rate planes (rather disappointing

considering the role of the American air developers Wilbur and Orville

Wright). The American command, however, learning from the experiences

of the British and French, trained their pilots longer before being released

to the front, with American pilots often receiving as much as 120 to 140hours of flight time - more than most British and French airmen.

Doing the beginning of the war, planes were primarily focused upon three

purposes: photo reconnaissance, artillery spotting and contact patrol.


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The first was photographic reconnaissance. Planes would fly over a given

target area taking multiple pictures, building up a complete mosaic map of

the enemy trench system. This was not easy to do as the first air cameras

used glass plates, and effort had to be taken in order to switch out the

plates during flight and protect the plates from damage during flight andupon landing (Kodak cellulose film had been invented, but early in the war

did not have sufficient resolution to be readily used in battle analysis).

Another use of planes was that of artillery “spotting", enabling the ranging

of artillery on targets invisible to the gunners. Aircraft radio was not yet

practical owing to the size of the transmitters, so communication was a

problem. By March 1915, a two-seater on "artillery observation" duties was

- at best - typically equipped with a primitive radio transmitter transmitting

using only morse code, but had no receiver. Regardless, the impact ofartillery spotting by aircraft was often significant. In one incident reported by

Bert Hall, one of the founders of the Lafayette Escadrille:

“The weather was very cloudy and the ceiling was low. We cross the lines

so low that they shot at us with everything they had. Our wings were

punctured in a dozen places. Under cover of the fog and the low clouds the

Germans were bringing up some reinforcements. Headquarters has been

advised of this,… Finally, after almost giving up our search we discovered

that the report was well founded… The roads were were jammed with allkinds of equipment, but mostly marching columns. This was our meat. We

signaled our batteries and the long-range gunners who knew to a meter the

location of every square foot of that country opened up. The slaughter was

something awful. Whole columns of Boche disappeared and wagon trains

splintered into mere heaps of tangled twisted junk. By flying back and forth,

we gave the batteries closer ranges and rather regulated their shows with

amazing precision . “

Another usage of planes was that of "contact patrol”, whereby planesattempted to follow the course of a battle by communicating with advancing

infantry while flying over the battlefield. As radio contact was either primitive

to non-existent, however, the methods of signaling were necessarily crude,

including dropping messages from the aircraft. Soldiers were initially

reluctant to reveal their positions to aircraft, as they (the soldiers) found

distinguishing between friend and foe problematic.


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Planes were generally divided into three types: single pilot fighters, multi

crew bombers and observers planes.

Bombers were slow and unwieldy, and far from being the dangerousweapons they later on became, often delivered mixed results.

Observer planes were also slow, consisting of the pilot and a rear gunner

who protected the plane while conducting it’s missions of photography and

observation. But far from being defenseless and slow, two-seaters had the

advantage of both forward- and rear-firing guns. Typically, the pilot

controlled fixed guns behind the propeller, similar to guns in a fighter

aircraft, while the observer controlled one with which he could cover the arc

behind the aircraft. A tactic used by enemy fighter aircraft to avoid fire fromthe rear gunner was to attack from slightly below the rear of two-seaters, as

the tail gunner was unable to fire below the aircraft. However, two-seaters

could counter this tactic by going into a dive at high speeds. Pursuing a

diving two-seater was hazardous for a fighter pilot, as it would place the

fighter directly in the rear gunner's line of fire. Many pilots made the fatal

error of attacking two-seater craft, often paying with their lives.

As to single pilot fighters, it was only a matter of time aerial combat -

commonly known as ‘dogfights’ - would take place as each army sought tosecure dominance in the sky. With escort fighters engaging one another,

attitudes toward single pilot / fighter planes changed, and with that the role

of the single pilot plane evolved from escort and observer to a forward

offensive machine, sending havoc behind enemy lines and attacking their

opponents’ planes.

Early in the war, The German air forces organized their flying forces into

Jagdstaffeln or “Jastas” (which literally mean ‘Hunting Squadrons’) whose

sole purpose was to seek out and destroy enemy aircraft without thedistraction of escort, renaissance or other missions. But the Jastas were

more than just hangers with pilots; the Jastas were flying schools,

(sometime referred to as ‘circuses’) with Germany soon turning out some of

the greatest fighter pilots. When not flying, more experienced pilots

schooled their novices, thus insuring a better chance of survival. The


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impact was immediate, as the Jastas soon cut wide swaths into the Royal

Air and French Corps.

As the stalemate developed on the ground, with both sides unable to

advance even a few hundred yards without a major battle and thousands ofcasualties, aircraft became greatly valued for their role, gathering

intelligence on enemy positions and attacking the enemy's supplies behind

the trench lines. Large aircraft with a pilot and an observer were used to

scout enemy positions and direct attacks against the enemies’ supply

bases.

In July 1915, fighter plane technology took a dramatic turn with the German

Fokker E.I., the first aircraft to enter service with a “synchronization gear”

which enabled a machine gun to fire through the arc of the propeller withoutstriking its blades, became operational. This gave an important advantage

over other contemporary fighter aircraft, enabling the German air forces to

cut into the Allied air forces early in the war (ironically, Fokker, a Dutchman,

had offered his technology to the French army initially, but was turned

down).

Thus it was not surprising that late 1915 the Germans had achieved air

superiority, restricting Allied access to the vital intelligence derived from

continual aerial reconnaissance more dangerous to acquire. Combined withthe ruthlessness conducted by the Jastas and their constant practice and

training, the tide turned sharply in favor toward the Germans. It was during

this time that the first German “ace” pilots, notably Max Immelmann, had

begun their careers, with the Germans instructing and fine tuning their new

battle tactics. Immelmann, for example, introduced his famous ‘Immelmann

turn, in which a plane being attacked would suddenly pull up into a loop,

appearing behind their opponent and shooting them in turn. Other aces -

such as Oswald Boelcke - continued their training, bringing out other aces -

such as Manfred Von Richthofen, the dreaded ‘Red Baron’.

But the allies had their cadre of aces as well. The frenchman Guynemer,

the American Lufbury, the legendary Canadian ace Billy Bishop, the English

ace Albert Ball along with the later American ace Eddie Rickenbacker

appeared; all gave the German air forces trouble.


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When the battle of Verdun began on February 21st, 1916, air superiority

initially enabled the Germans to establish a blockade (luftsperre ) on the

French air squadrons. However the French were already arming their

specialist fighter squadrons, the Escadrilles de chasse , with a new

emphasis toward training combined with a new aggressive offensivestrategy, initially overcoming the luftsperre , establishing air superiority by

April of 1916. But as with war, things change and the Jastas adjusted. The

first half of 1917 developed into a successful period for the jagdstaffeln

once again, and the much larger British and French air forces suffered

significantly higher casualties than their opponents.

Losses of aircraft and their crew were very heavy on both sides –

especially to light anti-aircraft fire. However, by the time of the death of

Manfred von Richthofen, the famed Red Baron on April 21st,1918, thegreat German offensive had largely stalled and with the American air

forces, the Allies regained air superiority.

We speak of the air war in terms of movements, technology and training.

But it’s also important to understand the real potential consequences of

fighting in the air. Among the pilots, there was only two types of death: ‘wet

or dry’. Wet with the burning of the gasoline upon you as you went down

with your plane; or dry, as you choose to simply end it all by stepping out of

the plane and falling to your death - or in some cases, shooting yourself inthe head.

A pilot who chose the ‘dry’

method of dying.

No one who had flown combat

could forget the terrible sight of

pilots in a burning plane,

watching the last wild frenzies


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of the crew as the flames enveloped them, burning them alive. Some would

try to beat out the flames with their hands; others stood up and cried or

screamed, while others would simply step off the plane and fall to their

death. Some pilots carried guns ostensibly for use in case they landed

behind enemy lines; many knew otherwise, knowing that at least one bulletwas set aside for their own deaths should their plane catch fire. Often, with

the pilot dead, the planes would continue their dive to the ground, with the

propellor rotating with its’ own inertia and the force of the wind forcing the

flames to grow even bigger while the magneto would continue to emit

sparks, causing even more fuel to catch fire and ignite any fuel in the fuel

lines or from broken feed pipes.

The experienced pilots learned how to go into a forced stall to extinguish

the flame with a back draught, although this technique had it’s own dangersas the plane could then simply become uncontrollable, crashing to the

ground.

Pilots in The Great War were not permitted to use parachutes. Command

on both sides believed pilots with parachutes might impair a pilot’s nerve

and thus ‘encourage’ pilots to abandon their planes when they could

continue fighting. One general of the Royal Air Force (General R.M.

Groves) even wrote that “smashed aircraft generally fall with such velocity

there would hardly be time to think about the parachute .”

When looking at the famous pilots - the ’aces’ - more often you can see

within them an attraction to the newly formed air forces, sometimes seeking

a place to fit in, with combat changing them in ways they did not anticipate.

The french ace Guynemer’s father begged him to stop flying and instead

take the opportunity to become a trainer, as during one of Guynemer’s visit,

his father could see within him the ‘distant look of death’ which sadly later

came true. Raoul Lufbury, the American ace, was also a flawed, sad

character. Abandoned by his father at the age of six and never knowing hismother, Lufbery later left at a young age, travelled about the world, doing

odd jobs until the start of the Great War, volunteering in the Lafayette

Escadrille and later transferring over to the American air forces where he

served until he was shot down chasing a two seater plane. It was said

Lufbury flew hard and fast, trying to impress the father he never knew.


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All pilots knew the odds were against them and that it was only a matter of

time before they were killed; the psychological impact tremendous. One

pilot, Read Chamber, described the ‘terrors of sleeping’, tormented by a

constant dream:

“…tormented by a nightmare: a face. The face would appear vague and

distant, and would slowly come closer until it seemed as if the face and I

were literally nose to nose, staring at each other. That’s all; just staring.

Then I would wake up, my sleep spoiled. Who was it? I was not

superstitious, but it was a torment not to know to whom this disembodied

face belonged. Was it a man I had killed? Or was it a man waiting for me in

the sun? ”

Pilots were a superstitious lot. Some pilots carried with them on flights theirgirlfriends or wives unwashed underwear as a protection, while others

believed the underwear to be something they held close as they fell to they

death.

As to honor in the sky?

Few pilots lived to tell the tale of what happen when their engine would give

out during a dogfight, a total silence marked only by the sound of air

moving one the wings and the wire rigging, while all around the exhaust ofthe other planes and machine guns continued on. A pilot could try to land,

‘dead sticking it’, but more often than not, pilots in such situations were

doomed to be killed, either by the novices eager to gain more ‘notches’

while the professionals simply and mercilessly killed to remove any

possible future threat.

There was no honor in the air: there was only survival. Honor was only

given when pilots landed. As Quentin Roosevelt, the son of Theodore

Roosevelt and a pilot in the American Air Force, described a funeral:

“..Just as they were lowering the coffins (of the dead pilots), another

Frenchman dropped down in a long swoop, his motor almost dead,

dropping a wreath on them and then swung off. All the time we were above,

flying at about five hundred meters in formation. They say that from them

ground it was very impressive .”


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As to the dead, memories were short. Given the rather high mortality rate,

air personnel came - and went. In one account by a pilot, a Cecil Lewis,

regarding a comrade:

“As far as we were concerned, he was gone - the dead or wounded nevercame back to us - and in the swiftly changing pattern of the days we forgot

him .”

Gradually, the air war changed, especially during the second half of 1918,

with the United States involved. While American volunteers had been flying

in Allied squadrons since the early years of the war, not until 1918 did all-

American squadrons begin active operations. Technically, America had

fallen well behind the European powers in aviation, and no American

designed types saw active duty, with the exception of the Curtiss flyingboats. At first, the Americans were largely supplied with second-rate and

obsolete aircraft while inexperienced American airmen initially stood little

chance against their seasoned opponents. As their numbers grew and

equipment and training improved near the war's end, the Americans came

to hold their own in the air.

American air ace,Eddie Rickenbacker,

a founder of Eastern

Airlines, one of the

earlier passenger

plane services . Note

he pilots a more

modern plane made

out of metal which

appeared later in thewar.


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Casualties overall on both sides were heavy, especially in the last

desperate fighting of the war as each sought to gain an upper hand.

During the course of the War, German aircraft losses accounted to 27,637

by all causes (shot down, anti-aircraft fire, accident, etc.) while the British

and French losses numbered over 88,613 lost (52,640 for France and

35,973 for Great Britain).

The impact of the Great War on future warfare left an indelible mark. As

American General William “Billy” Mitchell once described it:

“The day has passed when armies on the ground or navies on the sea canbe the arbiter of a nation's destiny in war. The main power of defense and

the power of initiative against an enemy has passed to the air .”

In 1924, following The Great War, General Mitchell predicted the attack on

Pearl Harbor through the use of aircraft. For his continued debate and

concern on this very issue, he was eventually demoted to Colonel. It wasn’t

until after World War II and his death, that he was posthumously promoted

back to General: his prediction having been proven true.

As with all new technology, it took time - and many deaths - to fully

understand the deadly potential of airplanes.

References:

Aces High, Alan Clark

The Unsubstantial Air: American Fliers in the First World War, Samuel Hynes

http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/AirWWI.html

death from above: the life (and death) of a world war i pilot

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