Plane vs. Balloon

In honor of the Centennial of World War I, Vintage Air will be posting a series of images from that conflict over the next few years. The article below was our inaugural post when the blog first started, and now has been updated with an additional recently-acquired image.

This image is from a stereopticon card that was published sometime late in World War I, and shows a scene of aerial combat between an American biplane and a German observation balloon. The back of the card describes the scene in rather sensationalistic terms:

"Far above the surface of the earth you can see one of the battles of the air, with the American aviator in his 'plane victorious over the German observation balloon. Swinging in the tiny wicker basket which to you seems just a dot beneath the balloon, a German officer has been watching the least little movement behind the lines of the American troops.

"It was to defeat his purpose that the American in his 'plane ventured over the lines and gave battle. Swooping swiftly, curving and diving to avoid the hail of machine gun bullets and high explosive shells with which the Germans sought to bar his path, he reached his goal and with incendiary bullets struck at the hugh [sic] gas bag.

"One of his bullets has penetrated it, less than a minute ago, for within a few seconds the balloon will be entirely consumed with the flames, an the observer will have attempted to save his life by jumping with his parachute. In the length of time that it takes you to look at the balloon with its finlike projections at the stern to add to its stability, the highly inflammable gas will have burned and the few bits of charred wreckage dropped to the earth.

"His work done, the aviator is turning to journey back toward his own lines, three or four miles over enemy territory, to report: 'One "blimp" shot down.'"

I find it interesting how the text shortened the then-popular aeroplane to just 'plane, complete with apostrophe. The balloon's design itself shows that this image was taken sometime after 1916. The Germans' own design for an observation balloon (Parseval-Siegsfeld, nicknamed the "sausage"), was deemed inferior to the Allies', so when the Germans were able to capture a French Caquot balloon (which itself was based on an English design), they reverse-engineered it and immediately put it into production, designating it the Ae800, or Achthundert English 800. Unlike their own design, the Ae800 could be lofted to 5,000 feet above the ground, in winds up to 44 mph.

Because of the vulnerability of the Ae800 to attack from Allied aircraft, the balloons were attached by cable to engine-driven winches which could pull a balloon down from 1,000 feet in under a minute. In addition, the Germans usually surrounded their balloons with a ring of anti-aircraft machine guns and artillery Because of these measures, Allied pilots usually only went after balloons when they were above 1,000' AGL.

As mentioned in the text, the observer likely had a parachute on, as these officers were the only ones that were routinely issued such safety gear. Unfortunately, the parachute technology was rather immature, and they had a rather high failure rate, so they were used in only the most dire circumstance.

The second photo (right) has the following hand-written on the back: "A balloon shot down and falling. Observation balloon wich [sic] are roped to the ground." Although it's hard to tell because of the amount of destruction to the envelope, this one appears to be one of the earlier British balloons. Presumably, since the basket appears to be empty, the observer has already jumped.

Demonstrating the Nieuport to America

Early in World War One, France had lept ahead of the US in airplane technology development, by need of necessity in the face of German aggression, so when America needed to catch up, it was natural that we turned to the French to show us the way. Today's pair of images come from a stereo card published by the Keystone View Company that shows the French demonstration of the Nieuport 17 fighter to US Army officials at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. The Library of Congress has another photo that is said to be at Langley Field, but also appears to be of the same occasion, which would indicate that the American officer shown is Capt. J.C. Bartolf.

The card's caption, on the back, reads:

Birg. Gen. George O. Squires, the chief Signal Service officer of the army, says: "Aeroplanes will put the Yankee punch in the war. The way to beat Germany is to flood the air with aeroplanes. Take the war out of the trenches and put it into the air." 

The Allies are looking to the aerial contribution of the Unites States as the most important that can be made. Both England and France have sent some of their aviation specialists to the United States for the purpose of instructing American officers. Recently twelve famous French aviators arrived here to help in the training of the 10,000 men needed to conduct aerial opeations against the German fleet and U-boat bases. These twelve famous Frenchmen are: Capt. Boyrive, Lieuts. Montariol, LeMairre, Leffly, Beausire de Seyssel, Gautier, Ducas, Prevost, Mairesse, de Mandrot, Marquison and Tabuteau. Many of these men wear decorations received for exploits in naval battles and some bear scars from encounters with German aeroplanes. 

LeMaitre is here seen explaining the mechanism of a Nieuport aeroplane. The Nieuport is the smallest, fastest rising, fastest moving biplane in the French service. It is a one-passenger machine, equipped with one 110 horsepower LeRhone motor, and can travel at 150 kilometers per hours. It is equipped with a Vickers or Lewis machine gun, which is fired by the pilot with one hand while he controls his machine with the other hand and feet. The French call the Nieuport pilots the "aces" of the air. 

Tests of the standardized United States aeroplane motor have been very satisfactory. These motors were designed and built under direction of the recently created Aircraft Production Board.

Crashed Caudron

These two real-photo postcards (photographs printed on paper that had postcard markings pre-printed on the back) document the crash of a French twin-engine Caudron G.4 bomber sometime during WWI. The G.4 initially flew in 1915 and was one of the first bombers produced in large quantities, with over 1400 built. The aircraft was quite primative in design, and used wing-warping for roll control.

Initially, the G.4 was used as a day reconnaisance bomber, but as soon as Germany started lofting fighter aircraft, the slow bomber was relegated to night missions. Whether our photos show a victim of enemy fire or merely an accident is unknown.

Only one G.4 survives, and is on display at the Air & Space's Hazy Center.

Accompanying the two G.4 photos when the Archive acquired them was this photo of a landing field. The fact that it is printed on identical paper suggests that it was a WWI aerodrome in either England or France.

Wood and Wires

Another image generously provided by Mojave Transportation Museum Director Cathy Hansen.


UPDATED

The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a was one of the most successful fighters of World War I, with over 5,200 built. It was considered an extremely stable aircraft, easily flown by novice pilots, and yet quite rugged and durable, able to withstand high dive speeds. While the Sopwith Camel was more agile and able to turn tighter in a dog fight, the S.E.5a was considered a safer airplane by its pilots.

When I first wrote this post, I said that there was no detailed information about this particular airframe (in fact, the back of the photo was even incorrectly labeled "S.E.5e", the American-built version). How wrong I was! Thanks to reader Bry, whose comments you can see below, the plane has been identified as one of the mounts of British multi-ace 2nd Lieutenant James "Mac" McCudden. McCudden's amazing skills as a fighter pilot led him to count 57 enemy kills, along with with three more unconfirmed. Seven of the kills, plus two of the unconfirmed, were achieved in this aircraft, B4863, between 19 September and 21 October 1917, during which time he served with 56 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. For his gallantry and success in battle, McCudden was awarded the Military Cross, the Victoria Cross and the Distinguished Service Order. By the age of 22, McCudden was the most decorated pilot in the RFC. His career came to an abrupt end, however, in July, 1918, when his aircraft stalled and crashed during takeoff. The Washington Post's coverage of the incident read:

"The whole air service feels great grief over the loss of Maj. James McCudden. His death due to an inexplicable accident. He was on his way from Scotland to take a new command, flew over from England in his favorite single seater landed successfully at an aerodrome in northern France where he had business and after a short stay set off again to join his squadron.

"While he was still only a few hundred feet from the ground his machine sideslipped and crashed among trees in the neighborhood of the aerodrome and was killed instantly. The official record of his victories is 45 enemy planes brought down and 13 driven down. The quality of his flying was cool judgment. He would maneuver patiently for position and keep it with astonishing skill and pertinacity until the enemy was shot down. No man worked harder to make maintain the espirit de corps of his squadron. It was the squadron record, not his own that he chiefly cared for."

A detailed biography of McCudden and a listing of his achievements can be found on the website The Aerodrome.

Only five original S.E.5a's have survived, one of which is flyable. An American-assembled S.E.5e has been preserved, and there have been a number of reproduction aircraft built over the years. Additional info on the S.E.5a can also be found on this page at The Aerodrome.

Special shout-out to reader Bry for connecting the dots!