The Oxford Companion to American Military History | Air Warfare
Air Warfare. Despite having given birth to the airplane in 1903, the United States was slow to explore the military applications of aviation and had effectively no air arm when war broke out in August 1914. By contrast, Germany, France, and Britain went to war with remarkably efficient aviation establishments, and even Austria‐Hungary and Russia possessed useful air arms. Limited by feeble engines and drag‐producing, externally braced structures, few aircraft in 1914 could carry more than a pilot and an observer. Nevertheless, they played a pivotal role in key early battles, notably the Marne, where British Royal Flying Corps reconnaissance reports were instrumental in turning the Germans back from Paris.
The value of visual reconnaissance was evident from the outset, but when the war deadlocked in the trenches, new missions emerged as designers and manufacturers struggled to improve aircraft performance. By 1916, aerial photography was a crucial...
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