The Thomas-Morse Scout became the favorite single-seat coaching plane for U.S. Pilots during World War I. The Scout first appeared with an order for one hundred S4Bs in the summertime of 1917. The U.S. Military Air Service later acquired just about five hundred of a barely changed version, the S4C. Dubbed the “Tommy” by its [...]
29Dec09
The Thomas-Morse Scout
26Dec09
SPAD XIII aircraft
In 1916 the next generation of German wrestlers promised to win air supremacy over the Western Front. The French aircraft company, Socit pour l’Aviation et ses Drives (SPAD), answered by developing a replacement for its very successful SPAD VII. Fundamentally a bigger version of the SPAD VII with a more potent V-8 Hispano-Suiza engine, the [...]
14Dec09
SPAD VII
The legendary Yankee volunteers of the French Lafayette Escadrille were flying the SPAD VII in Feb 1918 at the time they moved to the U.S. Armed forces Air Service, turning into the 103rd Aero Squadron. Several U.S. Units also utilized the SPAD VII, although most Yankee Expeditionary Force (AEF) fighter squadrons were provided with a [...]
6Dec09
SOPWITH F-1 CAMEL aircraft
The English Sopwith Camel F-1 shot down more enemy aircraft than any other World War I fighter. It was highly maneuverable and terribly tough to defeat in a dogfight. Due to its hard handling traits more men were killed while learning to fly it than died while using it in combat. The Camel first went [...]
28Nov09
HALBERSTADT CL IV aircraft
Introduced into combat in the last great German offensive of World War I, the CL IV supported German troops by attacking associated ground positions and it is equipped with both fixed and flexible machine guns, hand-dropped grenades and tiny bombs, the CL IV proved extraordinarily efficacious in this role, but it didn’t have the armor [...]
16Nov09
EBERHART SE-5E aircraft
When the US entered World War I, plans requested Yankee makers to mass produce aircraft already in use by the Allies. One of the wrestlers selected was the UK S.E.5A, designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory. The prototype S.E.5 first fly in December 1916, and the deliveries of an improved version, the S.E.5A, which was [...]
3Nov09
DE HAVILLAND DH-4
The DH-4 was an ever-present element of the U.S. Military Air Service both during and following World War I. entered WWI in Apr 1917, the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps only had 132 aircraft, all outdated. Modeled from a combat tested Brit De Havilland design, the DH-4 was the sole U.S. Built aircraft to [...]
26Oct09
The Curtiss aircraft
The Curtiss Jenny became America’s most renowned World War I coaching aeroplane. Often used for first flight coaching, some Jennies were equipped with machine guns and bomb racks for complicated coaching. The JN series started by mixing the best features of the Curtiss “J” and “N” models. A 1915 version, the JN-3, supported Pershing’s Punishing [...]
17Oct09
CAQUOT type R observation
Tethered balloons authorized World War I observers to see as far as forty miles behind enemy lines to spot troop movements, chart ditch systems and direct artillery fire. The observation balloon most utilized by Americans was named for its designer, French engineer Lt. Albert Caquot. The hydrogen-filled balloon could lift 2 passengers in its basket, [...]
8Oct09
Avro aircraft
In July 1913, the Brit AV. Roe (Avro) Corp. Tested its first model 504 aircraft, and many variants followed — based on the kind of engine installed. The 504K version had adapters, which authorized the installation of many differing kinds of rotary engines. This aircraft had an ordinary combat career, but it proved to be [...]
