JWB Posted October 29, 2014 Posted October 29, 2014 This could be good. When World War I began in 1914, the air forces of the opposing nations consisted of handfuls of rickety biplanes from which pilots occasionally took pot shots at one another with rifles. By the war’s end, the essential blueprint of the modern fighter had emerged: it was now an efficient killing machine that limited the average life expectancy of a front line pilot to just a few weeks. To trace the story of this astonishingly rapid technological revolution, NOVA takes viewers inside The Vintage Aviator, a New Zealand-based outfit of aviation buffs dedicated to bringing back classic World War I fighters such as the SE5A and Albatros DV. NOVA joins the team as they discover the secrets of some of aviation’s most colorful and deadly early flying machines and explores how their impact played a key role in the nightmare slaughter on the Western Front.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/first-air-war.html
bojan Posted October 29, 2014 Posted October 29, 2014 (edited) This could be good. .... pilots occasionally took pot shots at one another with rifles.....Revolvers and pistols at first. Rifle was advanced version.OTOH both Serbia and Bulgaria had MG armed planes in 1912 1st Balkan War but there was no air-air action. Edited October 29, 2014 by bojan
BillB Posted October 29, 2014 Posted October 29, 2014 Later on they were using grenades as well....Don't forget the rope and grapnel. BillB
Yama Posted October 29, 2014 Posted October 29, 2014 Revolvers and pistols at first. Rifle was advanced version. Advanced is the right word, IIRC Germans used Mondragons. The legend goes that at first, the opposing aviators were content to just salute each other if they happened to meet upon the battlefields. Then one day, a particularly unsportsmanlike pilot threw a rock at his colleague. Things escalated quickly after that...
bojan Posted October 29, 2014 Posted October 29, 2014 Germans had Mandragons and Mauser 1916 self-loaders, French had Winchester 1907 as did Brits and Russians.
MiloMorai Posted November 4, 2014 Posted November 4, 2014 I wasn't that impressed. It jumped from the DH-2 to the SE5.
MiloMorai Posted November 4, 2014 Posted November 4, 2014 Windsock Data Files http://www.windsockdatafilespecials.co.uk/datafiles-10-c.asp
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