2:06

onwards

man, zepps were a dumb idea

also no parachutes used by airplane pilots (double )

They didn't have parachutes either. Parachutes were considered cowardly by the pilots and their superiors alike. Parachutes were not issued to American pilots until 1919, the year after the war ended. After all, the thinking was that parachutes would only encourage pilots to jump out of planes that were on fire or otherwise heavily damaged rather than trying to get the planes back on the ground. It wasn't until later in the war that the powers that be had the realization that good pilots were harder to come by than planes. Experienced ones were even harder. The aircraft themselves were far, far easier to replace.

...and they call that a learning curve

I realize they had a war going n stuff but common,

parachutes were being used by balloonists as can be seen in the video above



another problem that could have been fixed easily was lack of training

according to HS Malik, the guy in my photo, he was given 2.5 hours of flight training before being sent on solo combat flights

great movie Z should use some of that to premot dog fight

Kptn Singh wrote: ......he was given 2.5 hours of flight training before being sent on solo combat flights

Sounds like here, except many rookies here whine...."you "meanies" shot me down"....at least from what I've seen in flight & have read on here. I have also met many classy pilots.
The movies are great. Keep them coming.

great article on inexperienced RAF pilots like Malik having to go head to head with the Red Baron

Bravery of British WWI 'suicide club' whose fighter pilots took on Germany and the Red Baron with only 15 hours' training and lasted on average just 11 days


His victims were members of the Royal Flying Corps - eager boys, often with barely a dozen flying hours under their belts.

These young men had little notion of the risks they faced - not just from the Red Baron, but from their terrifyingly unreliable aircraft.

Nearly a century on, a Channel 4 programme called Fighting The Red Baron explores the extraordinary courage of British World War One pilots.


‘They didn't have the skills to back up what they were doing - they were learning on the job.'

For the first couple of years, training was as dangerous as combat.

More than half the pilots who died in WW1 were killed in training.

'The machine gun was for the enemy, but the revolver was often for the pilot to take his own life, because neither side were allowed parachutes,' says Cutmore.

'High Command thought it would discourage pilots from staying in battle.'

Although the reality of air combat - staggering fatality rates, horrific injuries and terrible burns - was anything but glamorous, tales of derring-do between gentlemen in the sky were lapped up and dogfights were portrayed as elegant aerial jousting, rather than desperate battles for survival.

'In modern fast jets, we press a button and something goes 'whoosh' across the horizon,' says Cutmore.

'These guys could actually see each others' eyes.'

At the end of 1916, the battle entered its most deadly phase - the Red Baron and German squadrons making mincemeat of the old-fashioned British planes, nicknaming them 'Kaltes Fleisch' (cold meat) and reducing an RFC pilot's average life to just 18 hours in the air.

Meanwhile, the Allied pilots lived a schizophrenic existence.

By day, they were living in chateaux, playing croquet, swimming in beautiful mosaic pools and eating well each night, but in between were going up twice a day to do the most dangerous job on the Western Front.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1283972...s.html#ixzz212B4WjKC

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1283972...s.html#ixzz2129S92UP

Parachutes were used by the Germans during the war. More towards the end. And yes the British did not use them. They were afraid a pilot would jump from an airworthy plane. They also made pilots wear spurs in the early days.. remember calvery (horses) were he norm for the day.

Kpt singh and veidar I enjoy your posts on ww1. Thank you

There were many allied pilots who didn't think parachutes were cowardly at all. If memory serves me correct Eddie Rickenbacker discussed this in his autobiography and thought it was a disgrace particularly since German pilots did have parachutes in the later part of the war. Mick Mannock kept a handgun with him to commit suicide if his airplane caught fire since parachuting to safety wasn't an option.

At least the figured out parachutes were good before ww1

In ww1 parachutes were used first and foremost by observation balloon crews, but also by German pilots. Hermann Goering was among those who parachuted to safety during Ww1.

theirs a book by arthur gould lee, a pilot from the war called 'no parachute' that shows that he and others were trying to convince their superiors of the need to give them parachutes.



Arthur Gould Lee, a pilot during the First World War, makes his feelings very clear. The supply of parachutes would not only ensure that ‘every pilot would sacrifice a little performance to have a chance to escape from break-ups and flamers’ but would also be a ‘great boost for morale’ (1969: 57). The reality of not having a parachute was described by Gould Lee: ‘What a way to die, to be sizzled alive or to jump and fall thousands of feet. I wonder if you are conscious all the way down? I’d much prefer a bullet through the head and have done with it’ (ibid: 93).

Pilots dreaded dying in a flaming airplane and pilot, Mick Mannock, after witnessing one of his victims going down in flames, wrote in his diary: ‘It was a horrible sight and made me feel sick’ (Jones 1937: 149). Mannock was known to carry his service revolver with him whilst flying as he would prefer to shoot himself rather than die in a flaming airplane. Mick Mannock died in a flaming airplane on 20 July 1917 although it is not known whether he managed to shoot himself. (See www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205125198 for photo of Edward ‘Mick’ Mannock.)

Gould Lee describes how a friend of his died in a plane whose wings suddenly folded back, one after the other, causing the plane to dive vertically:

3 January 1918 ‘They could see him struggling to get clear of his harness, then half standing up. They said it was horrible to watch him trying to decide whether to jump. He didn’t and the machine and he were smashed to nothingness. … God imagine his last moments, seeing the ground rush up at him, knowing he was a dead man, unable to move, unable to do anything but wait for it. A parachute could have saved him, there’s no doubt about that. What the hell is wrong with those callous dolts at home that they won’t give them to us?’ (Gould Lee 1969: 293).



I think this is the reason why you see alot of ww1 images of downed aircraft with mangled bodies in the mechanical mess. Those in command should have been convicted of war crimes IMO