Flying for the Allies in the First World War

On 4 August 1914 Britain declared war on Germany. Canada, as part of the great British Empire, was at war, a war in which the airplane changed forever the way nations do battle.

The war brought new words to the aviation dictionary, among them: “dogfight,” “ace,” “bomber,” “air raid.”

At first the airmen’s main job was reconnaissance. They brought back “bird’s-eye views” of the enemy and later photographs. The pilots didn’t want enclosed cockpits. They would have ruined the view and hampered the use of their first weapons — hand-held rifles, pistols, bricks and even grappling hooks! These were soon replaced by mounted machine guns.

The French Spad VII is one of the classic single-seat fighters — the wire, wood and fabric “Top Gun” of its time. Rugged and solid with good performance it was flown by the French, British, American, Belgian, Italian and Russian air forces.

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Spad VII

© National Aviation Museum (Canada)

Spad VII Silhouettes

The French called pilots of great skill and daring “aces.” During the War, “ace” gained its present meaning: a pilot who has downed five or more enemy aircraft in combat. Pilots like...Bishop, Ball, Guynemer, Rickenbaker, Baracca and the famous Red Baron, von Richthofen.

The Sopwith Triplane, a three-wing fighter, is another classic example of fighter airplanes of that period. This aircraft so impressed the Germans that they developed their own triplanes. The Fokker Dr. I, was made famous by von Richthofen and his “Flying Circus” fighter wing. It was the aircraft in which he died, shot down by Canadian A. Roy Brown.

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Sopwith Triplane

© National Aviation Museum (Canada)

Sopwith Triplane Silhouettes

Although there were some flops, well-designed triplanes were manoeuvrable, climbed “like homesick angels” and had good visibility for the pilot. The Museum’s example, the Black Maria is a reproduction of that flown by Raymond Collishaw, leader of the all-Canadian Black Flight of Number 10 Naval Squadron. Between May and July of 1917 the Flight shot down eighty-seven enemy aircraft. As one historian put it, “The sight of a Sopwith Triplane formation often induced the enemy to dive out of range.”

It was in a Sopwith Snipe that Canadian ace William Barker engaged in one of the most amazing single-handed air battles of the war in October 1918.

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Sopwith Snipe 7F.1

© National Aviation Museum (Canada)

Sopwith Snipe 7F.1 Silhouettes

Canada entered the war with a handful of airmen. By 1918 there were 22 000. A third of the pilots in the British air services who downed thirty or more enemy aircraft were Canadians. Our image of First World War aviators is one of flamboyant gallantry, but the truth is that hundreds of young men died horrible deaths in their flying machines. Some 1 563 gave their lives, and well over half that number were decorated, three with the Victoria Cross — W. A. “Billy” Bishop, A. A. McLeod, and W. G. Barker. Of seven British pilots credited with 50 or more victories, four were Canadians, including the Empire’s two leading surviving aces — Bishop with 72 victories, and Raymond Collishaw with 60.

But the war did breed a generation of skilled airmen and aircraft that flew faster and higher with heavier loads. War, hot or cold, is a great developer of technology.

The Museum’s Curtiss JN-4 (Can.) “Canuck” is one of 1 288 machines produced by Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd of Toronto, a company established by the Imperial Munitions Board to meet the RFC and later the US Air Service’s requirement for training aircraft. The “Canuck,” a modified American Curtiss JN-3, holds more “firsts” than any other Canadian aircraft. It was the first aircraft to be mass produced in Canada and first to be exported in large quantities. It flew the first Canadian air mail in June 1918 between Montreal and Toronto, and made the first aerial survey, in Labrador, in the summer of 1919. After the war, it entered into widespread civil use, where it became the preferred airplane of barnstormers, giving many Canadians their first sight of an aircraft and their first chance to fly.

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Curtiss JN-4 “Canuck”

© National Aviation Museum (Canada)

Curtiss JN-4 “Canuck” Silhouettes

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