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00:01The Curtis Jenny, the trainer that taught Americans to fly in battle.
00:08The Spat-13, one of the French fighters America flew to war.
00:16The Fokker D-7, the deadliest opponent Allied airmen faced in 1918.
00:22In the last few months of the war, military aviation produced giants like this huge Handley-Pate bomber.
00:29Air power combined with ground forces with deadly war-winning consequences.
01:06General Pershing and his American Expeditionary Force began fighting on the Western Front in late 1917.
01:12But American air power was much slower to make an impact.
01:26In America, the tall, straight forests of the Pacific Northwest were felled for wings and airframes.
01:35American automotive genius was harnessed to build a 400-horsepower aircraft engine, the Liberty.
01:46$640 million were voted by Congress for military aviation.
01:52But America's aviation industry was almost non-existent.
01:56The only choice was to build American versions of foreign designs.
02:04The British de Havilland DH-4 was a two-seater reconnaissance bomber, cynically called the Flaming Coffin.
02:10A U.S. manufactured version with the Liberty engine became America's major aircraft to serve in the war.
02:28No American fighter would see combat.
02:31In 1917, America decided to buy its fighters from Europe.
02:35Battle-hardened Spads and Newports from France would have become the major aircraft of American pursuit squadrons.
02:53By 1917, America's experience in military aviation was limited.
02:59In March 1916, General Pershing used aerial support in a punitive expedition against Pancho Villa in Mexico.
03:07Eight Curtis JN3s of the 1st Aero Squadron performed reconnaissance.
03:12They were slow and unreliable.
03:15Their contribution to the campaign was not great.
03:2638,000 Americans volunteered for war service in military aviation.
03:32Those accepted as pilots entered flight training.
03:38There were two months of ground courses conducted on eight college campuses across America.
03:43After that, recruits progressed to primary flight training.
03:49The fuel valve down there.
03:51Yes, sir.
03:53Oil pressure.
03:54The standard primary trainer was America's classic Curtis JN4 Jenny.
03:58Around 2,500 feet, I'd like you to make three circuits of the field.
04:02Okay, sir.
04:03And after the last landing, I'd like you to taxi back.
04:06Now, I want to make sure...
04:08Jenny was a slow, stable, dual-controlled two-seater.
04:14Almost 18,000 volunteer pilots climbed into cockpits like this, hoping to become aces in the war in Europe.
04:30If they succeeded in graduating from primary training, they would go on to advanced courses in France, Britain, or Italy.
04:44The Jenny would become one of the most widely used of all training aircraft.
04:47The Jenny would become one of the most widely used of all training aircraft.
05:11Jenny's were exported to Britain, France, and Canada.
05:17Thirty-two of them were in service in England in 1915, well before America entered the war.
05:37Only experienced pilots could perform aerobatics in a Jenny.
05:41Low speed and high drag limited the range of stunts they could do.
05:58Top speed was only 70 miles an hour and the rate of climb was slow.
06:03But as basic trainers, Jenny's were extremely effective.
06:14After the war, they were used for years by flying schools and barnstormers.
06:23Would-be fighter pilots had to learn to shoot at moving targets and from a moving aircraft.
06:30Student pilots who took advanced training in France found themselves contending with clipped-wing ground aircraft called penguins.
06:38The road to becoming a fighter ace was not easy.
06:53When America entered the war in April 1917, Germany moved to counter the contribution they expected the US to make
07:00to the Allies.
07:03Germany's America program was designed to enlarge its air service.
07:10It was intended to increase aircraft production to 2,000 a month.
07:15It planned to double the output of aviation fuel.
07:22At first, new fighters like Liszt-False flowed to the front.
07:26Then the Allied naval blockade slowed the supply of raw materials.
07:31Manpower was short.
07:33Production dropped.
07:39This is a monument a few miles outside Paris.
07:44It commemorates the Lafayette Escadrille, the American volunteer squadron that had been fighting in France since early 1916.
07:57The exploits of the Escadrille had become legendary among the American public.
08:03But the American military took little notice of the valuable lessons these volunteer pilots learned in France.
08:14In January 1918, Captain Georges Tenot, the Escadrille's French commanding officer, passed on his office to Major Bill Thor.
08:24Under Thor, the Escadrille became the 103rd Pursuit Squadron.
08:32The legendary group of volunteers was now an American unit, but still under French command.
08:40Eventually, on July the 4th, 1918, the 103rd Pursuit Squadron was completely transferred to the American Air Service.
08:54The first new American air unit to reach the front was the 95th Pursuit Squadron.
09:03Being at the front and establishing a base was a beginning.
09:07But if there were no planes to fly, it was futile.
09:09And the 95th Pursuit Squadron had no planes.
09:23When Newport 28th eventually began to arrive, they had no guns.
09:28For the 95th Pursuit Squadron, it was a frustrating period.
09:42The 95th's commanding officer was supposed to be the Lafayette Ace, Raoul Loughbury, on the right.
09:51But Loughbury was appointed to head the 94th, the squadron with the famous hat-in-the-ring insignia.
10:01The 94th also suffered from lack of machine guns.
10:05Loughbury complained,
10:07It's nearly a year since the United States declared war.
10:10And what do you suppose the 94th is doing?
10:12Waiting for machine guns.
10:15Loughbury took his new pilots on patrols in their weaponless aircraft.
10:26One of them was Eddie Rickenbacker, a tough-talking 27-year-old racing driver.
10:37For the moment, tough-talking was about as close to real action as the 94th and 95th could come.
10:43The biggest danger was boredom from extended inactivity.
10:49At least the 95th got a new commanding officer who lifted a ban on drinking wine.
11:05In May 1918, the 94th and 95th squadrons were moved to the old cathedral town of Thule, 200 miles east
11:14of Paris.
11:17At Thule, Douglas Campbell and Alan Winslow shared the 94th's first victory.
11:23Winslow got an albatross D5, and moments later, Campbell destroyed a false three.
11:32Other successes followed, but there were also casualties.
11:37American pilots quickly learned the unforgiving ways of war.
11:40Take the cylinder out of my kidney
11:45The connecting rod out of my brain
11:49From the small of my back, take the camshaft
11:53And assemble the engine again
11:56Ho-ho!
11:58Take the...
12:04The 94th established an unofficial hierarchy.
12:08Pilots waiting for planes were called vultures.
12:12Buzzards had planes but no kills.
12:15With the first kill, a buzzard graduated to the rank of goofer.
12:24Raoul Loughbury, with 17 victories, was leader by rank and example.
12:32On May the 19th, Loughbury took off and attacked a German rumpler.
12:36Loughbury's plane was hit, and he fell out of the cockpit before it crashed to the ground.
12:47His death was a shock to the Americans.
12:50They'd lost one of their few battle-hardened pilots.
12:57At his burial, Newports flew overhead.
13:00Their pilots dropped handfuls of flowers.
13:07The funeral was one of the most impressive of the war.
13:10The French mourned with the Americans.
13:14Loughbury, flying with the Escadrille Lafayette, had been a hero to France for almost two years.
13:29Some American fighter squadrons were trained in British flying schools and fought in British aircraft.
13:38These are Sopwith camels of the 148th American.
13:43The 148th and the 17th were highly respected by the British.
13:47They fought on the British front in Western France.
13:50Most Americans fought in the East.
13:59More than 900 Americans trained and served with British squadrons.
14:04They were often reluctant to leave.
14:11Even as cadets, they were treated as officers.
14:14In American units, cadets were given much lower status.
14:23They had a chance to rub shoulders with the best, like rising British ace, Mick Manor.
14:34Americans attached to British units in 1918 witnessed a period of crucial change.
14:42The two British Air Services, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service,
14:47were amalgamated to form the Royal Air Force.
14:59Britain's Air Service had been divided just before the war.
15:02The Royal Flying Corps was controlled by the Army.
15:05But the Royal Naval Air Service took its orders from the Admiralty.
15:09In true British naval tradition, it was fiercely independent.
15:20The RNAS pioneered the aircraft carrier and performed successful long-distance bombing raids.
15:32All major powers used naval air services.
15:36They operated seaplanes, flying boats, and sometimes conventional aircraft in all major theatres of the war.
15:43Britain was the first country to see the potential of large flying boats
15:47for reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols.
15:56This is a giant Felixstowe flying boat, with a wingspan of almost 100 feet.
16:01It evolved from American Curtis designs, used by Britain from the early days of the war.
16:14The Felixstowe F-2 could stay in the air for seven hours.
16:18It carried a large bomb load for destroying submarines.
16:33Rivalry developed between the sea and land air arms.
16:37Bickering and lack of coordination led to inefficient operation.
16:43In April 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps were united under one command.
16:50The Royal Air Force was born.
16:58Colonel Billy Mitchell was fiercely independent.
17:05In the spring of 1918, he was the American Chief of Air Service.
17:12German forces were converging here, in the valley of the Marne River,
17:16closer to Paris than they'd been since the first weeks of the war.
17:23With a handful of aircraft, Mitchell was charged with assisting the French against the strong, experienced German fighter squadrons.
17:31The opposing forces faced each other across the Marne, at Chateau Thierry,
17:36for one of the most crucial battles of the war.
17:43On June the 5th, the Germans reached the Marne.
17:45The French prepared to evacuate Paris.
17:51Mitchell's French counterpart wanted American aircraft to fly defensive patrols.
17:57To Mitchell, that was suicide.
18:00American losses in the air were heavy.
18:02But on the ground, the Allies managed to halt the Germans.
18:08It was the turning point of the war.
18:17The Spad 13 was the standard new generation French fighter in 1918.
18:23It was well armed, fast and tough.
18:26In March, America bought almost 900 Spads.
18:31Slowly, they began to trickle into American squadrons, replacing outdated Newport 28s.
18:46But in the spring of 1918, the Allies found themselves facing the greatest German fighter of the war.
18:52The Fokker D7.
19:06The D7 won a competition in January 1918 to select the new German fighter.
19:13At the time, Tony Fokker was out of favor with the German military because of his triplane structural failures.
19:26The D7 was championed by Manfred Ronrich Toven.
19:30But the German squadrons were reluctant to accept it at first.
19:37Pilots used to the agility and fast climb of the triplane didn't like the D7's very different way of handling.
19:50The D7 was ordered by the German Air Service in large quantities.
19:55Several manufacturers beside Fokker were licensed to produce it.
20:04Like the Albatross, most D7's were powered by the 160 horsepower Mercedes inline engine.
20:11But some used a new 185 horsepower BMW, which gave faster top speed and a higher rate of climb.
20:27The fuselage had a welded steel tube frame.
20:30The top decking was plywood and the skin was stretched fabric.
20:51The D7 was very easy to fly.
20:54Novices could manage it without fear.
20:55It was not particularly fast.
20:58Its 118 miles an hour top speed could be outrun by most new allied fighters.
21:08But it climbed extremely well and could recover quickly from a dive.
21:13It retained excellent controllability at slow speeds and high altitudes.
21:32It could also fly slowly, hanging on its prop, firing up into the belly of an opposing aircraft.
21:45D7's began to enter combat in May 1918.
21:55By autumn, most German fighter squadrons on the western front were flying the D7.
22:05It set a new standard in all-round fighter performance and was more than a match for any of the
22:11new allied pursuit aircraft.
22:13At a time when the tide of the war on the ground was turning against Germany, the D7 asserted air
22:19superiority for the last time.
22:34Manfred von Richthofen didn't ever get a chance to test the D7 in combat.
22:39He flew it in trials, but was killed before it entered service.
22:48Hermann Göring, commander of Jasta 27, was one of the first squadron leaders to fly the D7 in battle.
22:55He received his just before he took command of von Richthofen's Flying Circus in July 1918.
23:09In April, before the Fokker D7 joined the war, German fighters destroyed 217 allied aircraft.
23:17In June, after the D7 entered service, this was more than doubled to 487.
23:25565 were destroyed in August and 560 in September.
23:39At the same time, German losses were less than a third of those experienced by the allies.
23:49At first, American observation squadrons depended on the allies for their supply of aircraft.
23:59They made do with obsolete Sopwith, Spad and Doran two-seaters.
24:03It was May before they began to receive their first up-to-date plane, the French Samson.
24:16The Samson was a two-seat day bomber and reconnaissance aircraft.
24:30Its most unusual feature was a water-cooled radial engine.
24:38Its performance wasn't high, but at last American observation squadrons had something dependable.
24:51They made good use of it for photographic reconnaissance.
24:59700 of the 3,000 Samson's built went to American squadrons.
25:11In the summer of 1918, the French aviation industry struggled to keep up with the demands of the war.
25:17Aircraft production was improving, but slow engine manufacture limited the number of new aircraft reaching the front.
25:29One of the most important French engines was the 300 horsepower Renault to power the Breguet 14 bomber reconnaissance aircraft.
25:47The Breguet 14 was introduced to French squadrons in late 1917.
25:52This Breguet observer has to be helped into his cockpit because of a wounded leg.
25:58He chooses to leave his crutches behind.
26:05In the summer of 1918, American observation squadrons were still waiting to receive American-produced DH-4s.
26:12In the meantime, Breguet 14s were a welcome substitute.
26:27America's optimistic plans to produce 22,000 aircraft in a year had not materialized.
26:33The aviation industry was in disarray.
26:36It was investigated by the Senate Committee on Military Affairs and placed under a powerful civilian executive.
26:49This is the American first air depot at Colombais-les-Belles in the summer of 1918.
26:56From here, new aircraft were delivered to nearby operational airfields.
27:00Obsolete aircraft were sent from here to salvage.
27:11By summer, the long-awaited American-produced DH-4s were arriving for distribution to the front.
27:18But there were many complaints.
27:20The airframe was too weak to allow the Liberty engine to be run at full throttle.
27:25The lack of self-sealing gas tanks made fire likely if they were hit.
27:30Initially, DH-4s were resisted by crews, who'd become used to Samson's and Breguets.
27:36But this resistance was gradually overcome, and the DH-4 became a cornerstone of American air power.
27:50In America, production of DH-4s began to accelerate in May.
27:54Today, 153 were built in the month.
27:57But by July the 1st, only 67 had found their way to the front.
28:06This film shows General Benjamin Fulloy, who'd flown with Orville Wright in Army air trials in 1909, inspecting one of
28:15the new DH-4s in France.
28:23On August the 7th, 1918, 15 brand-new DH-4s of the 135th Observation Squadron were prepared for takeoff.
28:33It was an event of great significance for American air power.
28:41It was the first time a fully American-trained and equipped squadron made a flight over enemy lines.
28:48Crowds gathered, and cameras rolled.
28:51Up until this day, American efforts in the air had needed assistance from the Allies.
29:05There was dense cloud to 12,000 feet.
29:08Nobody really knew where the mission was going to take them.
29:17The important thing was that American air power was at last achieving some independence.
29:23And in the next few months, that independence would grow rapidly.
29:32The DH-4 would go on to find favor with its American crews.
29:37It would prove to be faster than the French brigades,
29:40and could even be used to stand in for fighters in squadron protection duty.
29:50It would perform with distinction in day bombing and reconnaissance.
29:55Eventually, more than 1,800 American-produced DH-4s would reach France.
30:00Some of them in time for the biggest aerial offensive of the war.
30:18On the right is Colonel Billy Mitchell.
30:21In September 1918, he had command of 101 squadrons.
30:28They included French, American, British, and Italian units.
30:33Mitchell planned to use this air power in a new way.
30:37For the first time, he would closely coordinate aerial forces with troops on the ground.
30:48Bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, and fighters would be coordinated with the American First Army in a broad strategic plan.
30:57The latest aerial technology would be thrown against the German forces.
31:07The object of the operation was to remove the Germans from the Saint-Michel area, southeast of Verdun.
31:13German forces had been established there since the beginning of the war.
31:17An Allied breakthrough would open the shortest way into Germany.
31:22Mitchell's plan needed detailed preparation.
31:25It involved striking before Germany could assemble its air power to defend Saint-Michel.
31:45It was a great logistical challenge.
31:48Fifteen different makes of aircraft had to be supplied with bombs of various sizes.
31:53Guns, ammunition, fuel, and spare parts.
32:02Technology had advanced.
32:04Bombsites were more sophisticated.
32:06Accuracy had increased.
32:08In the last year of the war, French Breguet squadrons dropped more than 1,800 tons of explosive on German
32:14troops.
32:22This is the Michelin automatic bomb release in the wing of a Breguet 14.
32:31The Breguet was well armed.
32:33Here, its synchronized Vickers machine gun is being tested.
32:37It was mounted on the left-hand side of the fuselage and operated by the pilot.
33:03The
33:04Samihiel offensive began in August and continued through until early September.
33:11They were hampered by terrible weather, and some of the supplies needed for the huge air armada were difficult to
33:17obtain.
33:25There were many mishaps. Planes crashed or were not delivered.
33:28But slowly, the extremely complex task of preparing Mitchell's force was completed.
33:39In a way, the poor weather in northeastern France, the worst for many years, was a help.
33:45It allowed the huge forces to assemble in secret.
33:51As the crews of the air armada prepared to go into battle on September the 12th, a tremendous artillery barrage
33:58was directed at Samihiel.
34:00The attack came as a complete surprise to the Germans.
34:11At Samihiel, Billy Mitchell commanded an immense aerial force of 1481 aircraft.
34:19But not all of them were fit for service.
34:35At dawn, as the ground troops began a pincer movement to encircle Samihiel, French aircraft joined the battle.
34:48Mitchell ordered them to perform their own pincer movement in the air, sweeping in alternately from right and left in
34:55large numbers.
34:58He hoped that as many as 200 planes at a time could be seen from the ground.
35:12Many pilots flying in this operation were novices who'd never crossed enemy lines.
35:20Some aircraft would bomb, some would strafe ground troops, and some would take photographs deep in enemy territory.
35:28It had all been done before, but never on this scale.
35:39This is an Italian Caproni bomber.
35:43Three Italian squadrons of Capronis were part of Mitchell's force.
35:55Caproni began producing large bombers in 1914.
35:59The biplane version, the Caproni 33, was the most common.
36:04Its wingspan was 73 feet, making it almost as large as the German Gothers.
36:12It had three Isotta Fraschini engines.
36:16It could fly at 16,000 feet for up to six hours.
36:19It had twin tail booms, instead of a rear fuselage.
36:24And a distinctive triple tail.
36:34It could carry only 880 pounds of bombs, a small load for its size.
36:42Captain Fiorello La Guardia, later mayor of New York, was part of an American contingent to Italy in 1917 to
36:50fly Capronis.
36:56In the Saint-Michel campaign, Capronis were not the largest aircraft.
37:02That honor went to the giant British Handley Page 0400s.
37:07In June 1918, Britain established the Independent Air Force for strategic bombing strikes into Germany.
37:14It was scoffed at by some authorities, but supported by Billy Mitchell.
37:22Forty-eight Handley Pages were made available to Mitchell for the Saint-Michel campaign.
37:32They could carry twice the bomb load of the Capronis, 1,800 pounds, and enough fuel to keep them in
37:39the air for eight hours.
37:45Mitchell's plan to support ground troops with massive air power worked.
37:52As the infantry advanced, waves of aircraft took off to pound the German positions.
38:03The Allied forces blasted deep into German territory behind Samichia.
38:16They were counted by little more than 200 German aircraft, which had no hope of dealing with the Allied numbers.
38:31German resistance had little effect.
38:33In four days from September the 12th, the Allies made more than 3,000 flights over German lines.
38:4630,000 rounds of machine gun ammunition were fired, and 75 tons of bombs were dropped.
38:55By September the 16th, German forces had been driven from Saint-Michel.
39:11After the Battle of Saint-Michel, Eddie Rickenbacker was given command of the American 94th Pursuit Squadron.
39:17Morale was low.
39:20Morale was low.
39:20Losses in the spring had been heavy.
39:26The 94th was re-equipped with new SPAD 13 fighters.
39:34Rickenbacker was a natural leader.
39:37He encouraged his pilots to become the top American fighter squadron.
39:44He set a positive example.
39:46Within a week, he shot down three German planes.
39:49By the end of October, flying aggressively and often, he had 24 victories.
40:03On October the 13th, he had his last two victories of the war.
40:06His final conquest was not an aircraft.
40:10It was a balloon.
40:14His total of 26 kills made him the highest-scoring American pilot of the war.
40:20The tough-talking racing driver, considered by some to be too old to fly in combat,
40:25had left his mark on the Western Front.
40:28He'd been fighting for only six months,
40:30but America had a hero to rank with the great flying aces of Britain, France and Germany.
40:41On the ground, the end of the war approached quickly.
40:45The Allied offensive in the Argonne forest was the last great battle.
40:50Allied aircraft dropped bombs, preventing a German counterattack.
40:55German forces were pushed back.
41:03The German air service kept flying.
41:06By now they lacked fuel and other critical materials.
41:09But in the last weeks of the war, their spirits were lifted by a deadly new Fokker fighter.
41:18To pilots accustomed to biplanes with supporting struts and wires,
41:22the Fokker D-8 came as a surprise.
41:27It had a single high cantilever wing.
41:35It used a rotary engine.
41:37Germany had a good supply of 110 horsepower rotaries, which the D-8 could utilise.
41:51It was all too late.
41:58Only 36 were delivered to the front line before the armistice.
42:06But the flying razor, as it was called, had the distinction of scoring Germany's last aerial victory of the war.
42:18The Allies broke through Germany's Siegfried Line.
42:22German soldiers in the field laid down their arms and surrendered.
42:26Four years of hell in the trenches of the Western Front were over.
42:36The air services had been spared the horror of existence in the trenches.
42:41But at times their life expectancy had been measured in days.
42:46Those who lived to the armistice with their bodies intact had every reason to celebrate.
42:56Northern French towns that had been occupied by Germans since 1914 were reclaimed by their countrymen.
43:07Families were reunited with hope for a life beyond the war.
43:16In Paris, the coming of peace was celebrated with energy and flair.
43:28Once in 1914 and again in 1918, the enemy had approached within a few miles of the French capital.
43:34It had been bombed by German aircraft in the first weeks of the war.
43:42But all that was over.
43:43The Kaiser's effigy could be ridiculed.
43:49But in the Paris victory parade, the air services were not represented.
43:54A French pilot protested.
43:57His flight under the Arc de Triomphe got him into trouble.
44:00But he made his point.
44:07The German military machine was dismantled.
44:10The Fokker D7 fighter was the only aircraft specifically mentioned in the armistice terms.
44:16At Koblenz in Germany, the remaining D7s were handed over to the Allies.
44:21But not before Tony Fokker succeeded in smuggling a few into Holland.
44:29From the air, the devastation caused by four years of shells and bombs was clear.
44:35But at last, the constant thunder of those years was silenced.
44:41The sound of aircraft engines crossing the front died away.
44:51What contribution had aircraft made to those terrible years?
44:56There's no question that all the major powers came to believe very quickly in the effectiveness of military aviation.
45:04Evolution was dramatic in terms of numbers, money spent, and the speed of technological development.
45:14Aircraft and pilots did not determine the outcome of the war.
45:18It was won and lost on the ground at immense cost.
45:22But aircraft became crucial in supporting armies on the battlefield.
45:27Control of the skies became an essential factor in victory on the ground.
45:37Long range bombing, the foundation of strategic aviation, was pioneered.
45:42The basic techniques of aerial combat were established for the remainder of the century.
45:49The world found itself with a great new industry, aviation.
45:54And was captivated by the excitement and boundless extent of its possibilities.
46:04A young aviator lay dying
46:09At the start of a bright summer's day
46:14To the mechanics assembled around him
46:18These few parting words he did say
46:22Take the cylinder out of my kidneys
46:26The connecting rod out of my brain
46:31From the small of my back
46:33Take the crankshaft
46:35And assemble the engine again
46:38Pain
46:38Part inazi
46:40Battle
46:40The connecting rod Perry