The history of aerial warfare began in ancient times, with the use of kites in China. In the third century, it progressed to balloon warfare. Airplanes were first put to use for war starting in 1911 by Italy during the Italo-Turkish War, initially for reconnaissance and bombardment. In World War I, the use of airplanes evolved to aerial combat. The concept of “strategic bombing” then emerged during World War II. Also during World War II, Nazi Germany developed many missile and precision-guided munition systems, including the first cruise missile, the first short-range ballistic missile, the first guided surface-to-air missiles, and the first anti-ship missiles. Ballistic missiles became of key importance during the Cold War, were armed with nuclear warheads, and were stockpiled by the superpowers – the United States and the Soviet Union – to deter each other from using them.
Fictional predictions
Since early history, various cultures developed myths of flying gods and deities, some of whom such as Zeus could throw thunderbolts from on high at earthbound humans. There were also fictions of humans finding ways to fly, such as the Greek Daedalus and Icarus. A logical combination was to imagine mundane humans flying – and making military use of their ability to fly. Imagination long preceded the technology needed for such warfare to be actually carried out.
In the third book of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726), the King of the flying island of Laputa resorts to bombarding enemies and rebellious subjects with heavy rocks thrown from the air.
What might be the first detailed fictional depiction of what is now called an Air Force can be found in "The Wicked Prince" by Hans Christian Andersen (1840). The story's world-conquering Prince, of boundless ambition and cruelty, orders "a magnificent ship to be constructed, with which he could sail through the air; it was gorgeously fitted out and of many colours; like the tail of a peacock, it was covered with thousands of eyes, but each eye was the barrel of a gun. The prince sat in the center of the ship, and had only to touch a spring in order to make thousands of bullets fly out in all directions, while the guns were at once loaded again". Later, the Prince develops an improved model, able to also fire "Steel Thunderbolts", and orders many thousands of them built to make up a massive air flotilla manned by his troops.
H. G. Wells in The War in the Air (1907) grasped the full implications of aerial warfare and air power and how it would revolutionize warfare. Many of the book's predictions – such as the devastating strategic bombing of cities or how bombing from the air would make surface dreadnoughts obsolete in naval warfare – only came about in World War II rather than the first which broke out a few years after the book's publication.
Kite warfare The earliest documented aerial warfare took place in ancient China, when a manned kite was set off to spy for military intelligence and communication.Buckley (1999), pp. 22–23
Balloon warfare
Ancient China In or around the second or third century, a prototype hot air balloon, the Kongming lantern, was invented in China, serving as a military communication station.Boyne (2003), p. 370Note, Boyne p. 370 does not mention the Kongming lantern by name.
Europe Some minor warfare use was made of balloons in the infancy of aeronautics. The first instance was by the French Aerostatic Corps at the Battle of Fleurus in 1794, who used a tethered balloon, L'entreprenant, to gain a vantage point.Cooksley (1997), p. 6Boyne (2003), pp. 380–381
Balloons had disadvantages. They could not fly in bad weather, fog, or high winds. They were at the mercy of the winds and were also very large targets.Note, Buckley p. 4 doesn't mention the large size of balloons being a vulnerability.
Austrian use at Venice in 1849 The first aggressive use of balloons in warfare took place in 1849. Austrian imperial forces besieging Venice attempted to float some 200 paper hot air balloons each carrying a 24–30-pound (11–14 kg) bomb that was to be dropped from the balloon with a time fuse over the besieged city. The balloons were launched mainly from land; however, some were also launched from the side-wheel steamer SMS Vulcano that acted as a balloon carrier. The Austrians used smaller pilot balloons to determine the correct fuse settings. At least one bomb fell in the city; however, due to the wind changing after launch, most of the balloons missed their target, and some drifted back over Austrian lines and the launching ship Vulcano.
American Civil War
Union Army Balloon Corps
The American Civil War was the first war to witness significant use of aeronautics in support of battle. Thaddeus Lowe made noteworthy contributions to the Union war effort using a fleet of balloons he createdGross (2002), p. 13 In June 1861 professor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe left his work in the private sector and offered his services as an Aeronaut to President Lincoln, who took some interest in the idea of an air war. Lowe's demonstration of flying a balloon over Washington, DC, and transmitting a telegraph message to the ground was enough to have him introduced to the commanders of the topographical engineers;Boyne, (2003), pp. 392–4 initially it was thought balloons could be used for preparing better maps.
Lowe's first action was a free flight observation of the Confederate positions at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861.Boyne (2003), p. 395
Lowe was called to Fort Corcoran and ascended in order to spot rebel encampments.Collier (1974), p. 11 With flag signals he directed artillery fire on the rebels.
Lowe and other balloonists formed the Union Army Balloon Corps. Lowe insisted on the strict use of tethered (as opposed to free) flight because of concern about being shot down over enemy lines and punished as spies. By attaining altitudes from to as much as 3½ miles, an expansive view of the battle field and beyond could be had.
As the Confederates retreated, the war turned into the Peninsular Campaign. Due to the heavy forests on the peninsula, the balloons were unable to follow on land so a coal barge was converted to operate the balloons. The balloons and their gas generators were loaded aboard and taken down the Potomac, where reconnaissance of the peninsula could continue.
At the Battle of Fair Oaks, Lowe was able to view the enemy army advancing and sent a dispatch to have reserves sent.
The balloon corps was later assigned to the engineers corps.Boyne (2003), p. 398 By August 1863, the Union Army Balloon Corps was disbanded.Buckley (1999), p. 24
Confederate Army
The Confederate Army also made use of balloons, but they were gravely hampered by lack of supplies due to embargoes. They were forced to fashion their balloons from colored silk dress-making material, and their use was limited by the infrequent supply of gas in Richmond, Virginia. By the summer of 1863, all balloon reconnaissance of the American Civil War had ceased.
Before World War I
Throughout the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century, the question regarding the legality of aerial warfare was brought up multiple times. The first recorded instance was during the 1899 Hague Convention when the Kingdom of Italy and the Russian Empire proposed to outlaw aircraft ordnance and aerial bombing, however, nothing came out of it. However, years later, in the Declaration Prohibiting the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosives from Balloons , part of the 1907 Hague Convention ratified by the United States, Great Britain and China, outlawed aircraft ordnance and aerial bombing.
The United States Navy showed interest in naval aviation from the turn of the 20th century.Buckley (1999), p. 57Collier (1974), pp. 82, 91 In August 1910 Jacob Earl Fickel conducted his first experiments with Glenn Curtiss – shooting a gun from an airplane. In 1910–1911 the Navy conducted experiments which proved the practicality of carrier-based aviation. On November 14, 1910, near Hampton Roads, Virginia, civilian pilot Eugene Ely took off from a wooden platform installed on the scout cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-2). He landed safely on shore a few minutes later. Ely proved several months later that it was also possible to land on a ship. On January 18, 1911, he landed on a platform attached to the American cruiser USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4) in San Francisco harbor.Boyne (2003), p. 36Note, San Francisco harbor is not mentioned in Boyne p. 36
The first use of airplanes in an actual war occurred in the 1911 Italo-Turkish War with Italian Army Air Corps Blériot XI and Nieuport IV monoplanes bombing a Turkish camp at Ain Zara in Libya.Buckley (1999), p. 8 In the First Balkan War (1912) the Bulgarian Air Force bombed Turkish positions at Adrianople, while the Greek Aviation performed, over the Dardanelles, the first naval/air co-operation mission in history.Hellenic Air Force History : Balkan Wars.
The United States Army used airplanes for scouting and communications in its 1916–1917 campaign against Pancho Villa.Buckley (1999), p. 6Gross (2002), p. 6 Air reconnaissance was carried out in both wars too. The air-dropped bomb was extensively used during the First Balkan War (including in the first night-bombing on 7 November 1912), and subsequently used by the Imperial German Air Service during World War I. (includes photographs of 1912 Bulgarian warplanes and air-dropped bombs)
World War I
In World War I both sides initially made use of tethered balloons and airplanes for observation purposes, both for information gathering and directing of artillery fire.Buckley (1999), pp. 47, 50 At first, enemy pilots simply exchanged hand waves, but a desire to prevent enemy observation led to airplane pilots attacking other airplanes and balloons, initially with small arms carried in the cockpit.Buckley (1999), pp. 50, 51
The addition of deflector plates to the back of propellers by French pilot Roland Garros and designer Raymond Saulnier in the Morane-Saulnier monoplane was the first example of an aircraft able to fire through its propeller, permitting Garros to score three victories in April 1915. Dutch aircraft designer Anthony Fokker developed a successful gun synchronizer in 1915,Buckley (1999), pp. 51, 52Boyne (2003), p. 7Warplane p. 1 resulting in German Leutnant Kurt Wintgens scoring the first known victory for a synchronized gun-equipped fighter aircraft, on July 1, 1915.
The Allies quickly developed their own synchronization gears, leading to the birth of aerial combat, more commonly known as dogfighting. Tactics for dogfighting evolved by trial and error. The German ace Oswald Boelcke created eight essential rules of dogfighting, the Dicta Boelcke.Buckley (1999), p. 52Boyne (2003), p. 78
Both sides also made use of aircraft for bombing, strafing, maritime reconnaissance, antisubmarine warfare, and the dropping of propaganda. The German military made use of Zeppelins and, later on, bombers such as the Gotha, to drop bombs on Southern England.Buckley (1999), pp. 59, 60Boyne (2003), pp. 109, 111Warplane p. 2 By the end of the war airplanes had become specialized into bombers, fighters, and observation (reconnaissance) aircraft. By 1916, aerial combat had already progressed to the point where dogfighting tactics based on such doctrines as the Dicta Boelcke allowed air supremacy to be achieved. During the course of the war, new designs led to air supremacy shifting back and forth between the Germans and Allies.
Interwar period