Fighters

Thanks for the info.

If there are more stories, lets hear them.

Do you mean the last air combat victory of WWII? Two obs. aircraft (Cub and Storch?) fighting with sidearms. The Storch went down damaged.

I never heard of that. Fascinating!!

Lots of people had the idea of aircraft fighting each other, long before WW1. HG Well’s novel ‘The War in the Air’ which described battles between aircraft and airships was published in 1908. Various aircraft were also fitted with MGs before 1914.

If it’s the first aerial combat you’re after, this is from ‘Flying Guns: WW1’ (due out before Christmas):

“The very first aerial combat seems to have taken place in Mexico in 1913, between two US mercenaries flying for different sides in an internal conflict. Both pilots fired pistols at each other until their ammunition ran out, to no effect.”

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion
forum

Originally posted by SteveYoung
That’s the one. The Denneys recreated the dogfight at Gransden a month ago. Just didn’t want to steal anyone’s thunder.

Come on Glenn, tell us the full story, it’s fascinating. 🙂

Go on you know you want to. I’m interested in hearing it

That’s the one. The Denneys recreated the dogfight at Gransden a month ago. Just didn’t want to steal anyone’s thunder.

Come on Glenn, tell us the full story, it’s fascinating. 🙂

Do you mean the last air combat victory of WWII? Two obs. aircraft (Cub and Storch?) fighting with sidearms. The Storch went down damaged.
A guy at Kissimmee told me that story during a hangar tour.

One thing I’ve learned about air to air combat has really surprised me in the last few weeks. All I’ll say is things came full circle. I think Glenn will know what I’m going on about….. 😉

The military were quick off the mark

In fact, the first casualty from an air crash was an Army officer, who was on board a demonstration flight with one of the Wright Brothers when the aircraft crashed! 🙁

The concept of a gun carrying aircraft came about in WW.1.When reconnaisance aircraft met over the front lines in the early months of the war,they used to wave to eachother as there was little else they could do!
Gradually,pilots and observers started carrying pistols and rifles up with them to ‘have a crack’ at the opposition with.It’s always difficult to hit a moving target,and even more so when you’re moving aswell and aiming freehand!This technique did not meet with great success,and it became clear that it was best to put the gun on the front,aim the aeroplane and somehow fire it forwards without blowing yer own prop off!
The first successful solution to this was provided by a French pilot who’d been a famous stunt flyer before the war-Roland Garos.He stuck steel deflector plates onto the rear face of his propellor blades.If a bullet struck the blade,it would ricochet away,hopefullly harmlessly,although there was always a serious risk of a ricochet damaging his own machine!This was in 1915,with a Moraine Type N monoplane fighter,often called the ‘Morane Bullet’ on account of it’s streamlined shape.
Garros shot down a number of German machines,and was an instant hero,but unfortunately his success was short lived.He was forced down behind German lines and captured,along with his intact Moraine.
The Germans thought the idea of shooting through the prop was a winner,and commissioned Anthony Fokker to come up with a way of doing the same thing,although preferrably less crudelly.He and his team back at Fokker came up with the interrupter gear,and fitted it to a Fokker sporting monoplane-voila,a Fokker Eindekker!
So,the first fighter was Garros’ Moraine,but the first trully successful fighter was the Fokker monoplane.
Hope this gives some answers to your questions

The Military showed a keen interest in the aeroplane from the very outset though mainly as a reconnaissance platform.

The first official firing of a gun from an aeroplane was made in August 1910 by Lt Fickel of the US Army, in the same year the German engineer Euler took out a patent for an machine gun installation on an aircraft, the French also exhibited a two seat pusher aircraft fitted a mitrailleuse at the Paris salon in the same year.

Different countires experimented in different ways with various setups prior to WW1, the first recorded firing of a weapon from an aircraft in anger appears to be on 24 August 1914 shortly after the German victory at Mons when a pilot from No 5 Sqn RFC fired his revolver at an enemy aircraft.

The German Albatros C1 managed to combine firepower with performance and set the standard for the basic two seat scout aircraft from then on.

The problem with single seaters at this time was how to fire a machine gun at the target in front with out hitting the prop. The Morane Saulnier L and S E5a came up with a temporary solution by fitting a gun above the arc of the prop. Saulnier later fitted steel plates to the prop to deflect the bullets but it wasn’t until the Dutch designer Anthony Fokker perfected the interupter gear patented by Franz Schneider and fitted it to the Fokker E1 monoplane that a true fighter aircraft was developed and set the standard for future combat aircraft.

A brief account as far as I can recall, I’m sure someone will correct or add to it.