The First Air Battles & Air Aces of WWI | A Not-So-Brief History Of Military Aviation #3

Late 1915 saw the arrival of the 'Fokker Scourge', where the German air force reigned supreme. This began one of the first true mechanical arms races, and the conflict in the sky gave birth to the first "Aces" of the war.
It would also see a shift in tactics, and a type of reformation take hold of the air services on the Western Front. Combat aircraft would become organised in the first dedicated fighter squadrons, rather than being handed out piecemeal. Advancements would be made in the development of bombers, and the user of Zeppelins to raid English soil would become commonplace.
1916 saw the battles of Verdun and the Somme, which saw aircraft utilised in larger numbers for the first time, setting the foundation for the final two years of the war which would see aircraft production enter an industrial level.
***
Producing these videos is a hobby of mine. I have a passion for history, and personally own a large collection of books, journals and other texts, and endeavor to do as much research as possible. However if there are any mistakes, please don't hesitate to reach out and correct anything :)

[@carmium]

My grandfather was a gunnery instructor and proudly recounted how Albert Ball was one of his pupils.

[@stevenette4738]

Was he a focker?

[@carmium]

@@stevenette4738 No.

[@ray.shoesmith]

So you were born in the 1940's?

[@carmium]

1950s. @@ray.shoesmith

[@noahhess4955]

@@ray.shoesmithhe could be an older man and not everyone has their kids when they’re 18

[@somerandomguy___]

Man if only history videos of this quality such as yours were liked by the algorithm and boosted by it because I truly value it more than any piece of consumerist garbage that you'd usually see, especially on the trending tab

[@sumdumbmick]

that would require the 'AI' to understand wtf it's doing. currently, it's all based on an extremely naive set of parameters that are about as good as what you'd expect an underperforming preschooler to come up with. profanity - bad lots of likes - good famous creator - good lots of ads so we makey money - good and then of course this plays into a feedback loop, because the algorithm is benefiting only the creators that it originally chose and hiding everyone else.

[@somerandomguy___]

@@sumdumbmick yeah that's the very unfortunate part of greedy for-profit companies which are nearly all of them but there are loads and loads of other things here in play but the bad part is that because it taught itself through machine learning there is absolutely no one on this planet that knows 100% what the algorithm wants and doesn't want

[@ogscarl3t375]

Funny part is youtube has never actually ended a financial year on a net positive yet google doesn't tighten the fiscal grip on it guess there is validity to the idea that once a company gets so big it really is hard for them to fail never mind the obvious monopoly companies like google, Disney & Amazon have which by all modern western laws should be hit hard by anti monopoly laws but never are held accountable for it...

[@drstevenrey]

The Gnome Rhone Monosoupape engine would be a contender for it's own episode. This single valve rotary radial engine was a true miracle. Yes, it had a lot of issues, but on a whole it was revolutionary by being light, strong and durable.

[@kyle857]

Unfortunately, so many of these stories ended "with his death in 1917."

[@suchyjaszczur]

maybe it is linked to raise in numbers of airplanes in the sky. due to posibility to being hit.

[@nedludd7622]

Or fortunately.

[@TheHypnogog]

Brutal honesty- but these guys were also chasing adrenaline highs- and certainly beats the trenches-

[@chrismaguire3667]

The average length of life in the Air Corps was about 2 weeks, as many pilots, as in WW 2, lacked real experience, so being an Ace, and even lasting a year, was a real achievement. Remember, from the Wright Bros 'Flyer' to the start of WW1 was only 12 years! And even then the RFC , later the prestigious RAF, was seen as a a 'novelty'. The War soon changed that...

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

@@chrismaguire3667 “ThE average life expectancy of new pilots is…20 minutes!” - Captain the Lord Flasheart

[@Jesuswinsbirdofmichigan]

Engaging, start to finish. Rare quality with the subject coverage.

[@timgosling6189]

Nice shot of L70, a fine Zeppelin but proving highly susceptible to the incendiary rounds fired by a DH4 in Aug 18. The manoeuvre invented by Immelmann is known as the Immelmann 'turn', rather than 'curve' and is still effective today as a basic fighter manoeuvre. And it's good fun for some random pilot's playtime. All I'd add is a comment on the difference in basic strategies of air ops as followed by the Allies and the Germans. The French and RFC tended to operate over and past the front line, which made artillery spotting more effective and enabled greater initiative in Offensive Counter Air missions as they are known today. As a fun fact, 'going sausage side' is still in current use as a term in the RAF for crossing into enemy territory. The Germans, on the other hand, tended to keep their aircraft on their side of the lines and let the enemy come to them. This improved the chances for any German pilots who were forced down, and allowed them some assistance from friendly flak, but impeded their recce and spotting efforts. It also gave the Germans an advantage in that the prevailing winds were generally Westerly, which meant that Allied aircraft would be returning into wind, prolonging their time in hostile airspace and making them easier targets. A good example is the long running fight between a certain Lanoe Hawker and a Lt Richthofen, later famous, which was particularly difficult for Hawker as he had both to duel his enemy and make it back across the lines before he ran out of fuel. He did not succeed.

[@TheHypnogog]

And strategically awesome for the day with the plane's performance limitations- just imagining the groans of wood and wire- total adrenaline BLAST I don't doubt one bit.

[@chrismaguire3667]

Wasn't it Immelmann who developed the first Dogfighting Techniques, even used in WW2?

[@timgosling6189]

@@chrismaguire3667 Many basic manoeuvres were developed in that period, and not just by Immelmann. The RAF decided between the wars that those lessons were no longer valid and developed a new series of 'Fighter Command Attacks' thought more appropriate to aircraft an order of magnitude more powerful. But they were proved wrong and the lessons of WWI survive now into the jet age.

[@2uiator325]

Extremely well researched with very fine production values. I especially appreciate that the pictures shown match the script. Having commanded the USAF’s 1st Reconnaissance Squadron during its centennial (2013) and having read the history previously, I was familiar with much of what was covered here, but your excellent retelling of the history “fills in the gaps” and really brings the history to life. I have viewed most of your videos since the inception of this channel (I assume you’ve had other channels) and must say, keep up the work, your efforts in this area are second to none.

[@paullubliner6221]

Not quite. Albatross D5's specifically as well as the much later Nieuport 17bis C1 and not the early 17.

[@thomasrichter7767]

it's allways impressive to me how avation changed from the the early years and 20's the 60's and today

[@dananichols1816]

Those large format, bulky cameras & huge negatives gave such crisp, sharp images -- seeing the tonnage of huge support gear, transport, chemistry, whopper heavy cameras and all the folks to produce the end product prints... vs. today.

[@andrewcomerford264]

To be fair, the RAF Fe 2b, Vickers FB 5"Gunbus, and especially the Airco DH 2 were formidable aircraft, the last being more than capable of handling a Fokker.

[@jackconnelly4525]

A very good overview. I know this subject well, but enjoy the photos and art and the way you present it. Great job.

[@TheHypnogog]

The photo illustrations are pretty epic. I do love the look of the ol' DIII. Such a beautiful killing machine. So shark like.

[@patjohnson3100]

Very informative and well done. Many of these photographs must be very rare.

[@ThePilot4ever]

A rare gem of a channel, keep it growing Rex

[@Dr_Jebus]

Loving this series. It's a fascinating period in aviation about which I don't know much... or didn't until now!

[@jakobrinsdorf7791]

I really enjoy this history of air combat series, it's a nice way to get into subtopics which I haven't heard of before. Nicely done and keep them coming

[@bigblue6917]

One of the major problems for the Zeppelin was that the wind predominantly blew from a westly direction which meant that strong wind could cause the Zeppelin to have to fight its way to the target, using up fuel as it did so. This could mean a raid on London with several Zeppelins may end up with only one or two reaching the target. The others would usually be diverted to secondary targets but navigationally problems could mean they could not find their target. The other problem was that as fighter defences were built up any delays gave the fighters a chance to intercept the Zeppelins.

[@asnrobert]

About forty years ago, I read a book, "No Parachute" by Arthur Gould Lee, a fighter pilot with Britain's Royal Flying Corps during WW1. One time, he and a few other pilots were detailed to ferry Be-2cs (nicknamed the "Quirk") to an aerodrome at the front. Lee delivered his aircraft with no difficulty, but the other pilots crash-landed theirs at various locations. Lee wrote he felt like a cad for not crashing his, because everyone liked seeing death traps like Quirks written off, especially new ones. In one of the book's appendices, Lee has a scathing critique of the Royal Aircraft Factory, which continued to crank out aircraft like the BE-2c long after they were obsolete.

[@VikingTeddy]

Just discovered the channel. Couldn't have wished for a better Christmas present. We will watch your career with great interest.

[@jamesfrost7465]

Good job Sir. I love WW1 Aerocraft.

[@davidmackie8552]

Great series. Very informative. Thankyou!

[@marcosfernandez7207]

Nice video, congratulations!!!! The photos are very well selected, and the presentation is good also.

[@ogscarl3t375]

Just wanted to say thank you rex for these wonderful video's I know it's time intensive & takes a lot of effort to track down all the old relative archive material & sources to make these videos this informative but I do hope your video output increases as I've already gone through almost all of your video uploads 😅

[@henrythewhite]

I love these videos, but the photos of aircraft soaring over cavalry is the icing on the cake for me. I don't know why, I just love that dichotomy!

[@youserious6725]

Thank you loving the uploads. Keep it up

[@mkendallpk4321]

After watching a few other of your videos and this one. I find that you are so good that I had to subscribe to your channel. Keep up the good work. It is appreciated.

[@Ob1sdarkside]

Great vid! Really enjoying the series.

[@paulwatson-work3544]

Great videos, thanks!

[@jbaccanalia]

Excellent series. More please!

[@GrumpyGrobbyGamer]

Great video. Very informative! Thank you

[@ianmunro1427]

Very well done. Thank you.

[@zactrainor3556]

Fantastic series so far! Can’t wait for the next one!

[@LostShipMate]

Nice channel, hope to see it grow.

[@cyclingnerddelux698]

Great series!

[@geraldillo]

excellent documentary!

[@pushbikeman]

Superb series, superbly done!

[@jasonz7788]

Great work Sir thank you

[@gregedmand9939]

Excellent effort!

[@ultimobile]

good work - impressive video and history

[@mirrorblue100]

Excellent programs - thanks.

[@speedandstyletony]

"Enthusiasm for catching fire" - one way to put it!

[@JessWLStuart]

Well presented!

[@ashleysmith3106]

From where I am sitting, I can see a display hanger containing an original WW1 Bristol M1c Monoplane! It was once owned by Captain Harry Butler, who, with Harry Kauper (responsible for the Sopwith-Kauper interrupter gear on British planes) started an aviation company here in South Australia after the war. I believe that the Bristol monoplanes were sent to Palestine because the Top brass considered them “unsuitable” for the Air War in Europe because they “weren’t biplanes”. Apparently Harry didn’t agree with that point of view ! (Sadly Butler later died as a result of a biplane [DH4] crash)

[@mandoprince1]

The Bristol M1 was an outstanding design, at the time, and wasted due to a mistrust of monoplanes. It was fast and extremely maneuverable, but was rejected for operation on the western front on the flimsy excuse that it's landing speed was too high for the French airfields!

[@ranger_8717]

Wow, I've been playing Warplanes: WWI Fighters, a VR pretty realistic dogfighting sim, and I independently started doing the Immelmann turn before learning about it in this video just now. Crazy that thats simply what was converged on.

[@tomaskoupil5994]

Nice, well done mate!

[@clarencehopkins7832]

Excellent stuff bro

[@legendus1159]

Super cool videos man

[@javasrevenge7121]

This is a great channel.

[@paulabraham2550]

You're very dismissive of the pushers, and in particular the DH2. But this machine easily outperformed the Eindeckers and was what was really responsible for the end of the Fokker scourge.

[@johanneduardschnorr3733]

Paul, you are correct. They weren’t eclipsed until the Albatross planes were available in numbers… The Vickers F2b “Gunbus” was very much feared…

[@chrismoule7242]

Yes - the Eindecker only had the advantage of the forward firing gun and was in reality itself a dated design. That gets overlooked all the time.

[@4rumani]

kaiserphile

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

AFAIK the _de Havilland DH2_ *did* help end the _"Fokker_ [Eindecker] _Scourge,"_ but the DH2 was soon outclassed by newer German fighter aircraft.

[@TheNecromancer6666]

The pushers were terrible Aircraft, dangerous to fly, limited performance. They did manage to stem the tide though. But they were never equal to anything to French or Germans had. Only the Pup and Camel managed to do that.

[@johnladuke6475]

Really hoping to see more in this series... I notice that this didn't touch on either of my two favourite WW1 aces, Billy Bishop and Snoopy.

[@RexsHangar]

These particular videos are more of a summary of events in military aviation, I do plan to cover WWI-era aircraft in their own videos in the future :)

[@johnladuke6475]

@@RexsHangar They're all excellent vids, but these early combat aviation summaries are a good way to spice it up. Hope you keep them coming!

[@tonyraheja1]

Very interesting... Thanks

[@Inpreesme]

Thank you

[@williamroberts8470]

More wwi please. Ah cool I see what looks like Dorand AR1 (2) at 6:55.

[@donthompson7889]

There is no mention of Canadian air aces in this video. There were 197 in WW1. They included Billy Bishop with 72 victories (2nd highest count among allied aces behind France's Rene Fonck - 75 victories.) Other high scoring Canadians were Raymond Collishaw with 60 victories, Donald MacLaren with 54 and William Barker with 50. Bishop and Barker were awarded the Victoria Cross. In fact, 3 of the top 10 air aces from all nations (including Germany) were Canadian. For the record, among the top 10 aces, 3 were Canadian, 3 German, 2 British, 1 French and 1 South African. Your video would be better if it were more inclusive of the Canadian contribution.

[@derricklarsen2919]

Everybody forgets bishops 3 balloons ;) giving him 75 victories.

[@Cervando]

Tbf Billy Bishop didn't shoot a plane down until 1917, outside the scope of this video which describes the aerial combat in 1916. Collishsw only had the one kill in 1916. Whilst Barker had 2 claims in 1916, he was an observer and didn't learn to fly until 1917. However, they should all get recognition in the next part.

[@DanSuneKronvold]

It's not often you can say "Shoot the Fokker" without being misunderstood 😅

[@jayyydizzzle]

This is a fun episode to watch the closed captioning to watch it mess up

[@t.j.payeur5331]

"So stand by your whiskey glass steady The world's just a web of lies... Here's a toast to us, dead already! Hurrah! for the next man who dies." Song of the British fighter pilots 1917

[@marijnjc]

These guys had some terrible odds anytime they got in one of these crates.

[@chonqmonk]

Love the channel. Love this video. It's just....my ocd requires me to point out that "beware the Hun in the sun" is a saying, not a term. Sorry. Yes; I hate myself at least as much as is appropriate here.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@Rex's Hangar >>> 👍👍

[@JohnSmith-xd8do]

1914, The first dog fight. German aviator Gunther Pluschow in a Taube airplane fights Japanese planes during the siege of Tsingtoa, China

[@lexdunn4160]

You ignored the the 2nd and 5th highest scoring Allied Aces: Billy Bishop 72 kills, Ray Collishaw 60, Both Canadians.

[@od1452]

It's interesting that Fighters fighting Fighters captured everyone's interest when they were really for protection . Bombers , especially WW1 are hardly known now. I wonder how many people think a fighter's true purpose is really to fight other fighters. I guess Observers and Bombers just aren't very glorious.

[@bugzlaif1239]

The first air conflict happened over serbia in the battle of cer.. Miodrag tomic the serbian pilot who was monitoring austro-hungarian deployment came into contact with an austro-hungarian plane and the a-h pilot took a revolver and started shooting at his plane. Tomic took out his own revolver and after sharing a few shots, they waved to eachother and parted ways.. That's the first recorded conflict in the air, in the first battle of the war, in aug 1914. Planes werent armed till this point, but soon both sides put maschine guns on their planes,the first battle, a battle which serbia won, like all others until german and bulgarian soldiers came to help

[@BA-gn3qb]

Thought you'd mention the French pilot starting air combat by shooting at the enemy with his pistol. Then later rifles being used.

[@esajuhanirintamaki965]

There was some occasions, that the observer threw brick stones hoping that one hits to the enemy plane's propeller, breaking it. Especially in year 1914. Pistols and rifles were next step in aerial warfare.

[@hlynnkeith9334]

7:03 RFC v RNAS and the Sopwith Pup First, background. . The RFC was wedded to the Royal Aircraft Factory (RAF). It was not a happy marriage. . For many years, the RAF was the sole supplier to the RFC and abused the hell out of the relationship. The chief engineer and superintendent of the RAF was Mervyn Gorman. Gorman had the notion that an airplane should be so stable that a pilot could fly it hands-off while he devoted himself to looking about. This resulted in the design of the BE2. The BE2a was woefully underpowered and turned with reluctance. This may work for a civilian airplane but it is death in a combat zone. . Gorman got his notions of reconnaissance from cavalry officers. That means he expected his observer to look forward, not downward. This explains why he put the BE2 observer in front of the pilot and with the observer's downward view blocked by the lower wing. The observer did not move to the rear cockpit until the 'd' model. . Meanwhile, the RNAS was ginning up. The First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill lived by the motto "I will sign ANY contract for ANY amount". The RNAS contracted Sopwith, Bristol, Short, and others. And the numbers of airplanes ordered were staggering. . An aside: One of the first successful airplanes the Sopwith company delivered was the Strutter. The French got some and loved them. The French contracted with Sopwith to build Strutters under license. Most of the Strutters built during the war were made by and for the French. . Sopwith built the Pup. Light wing loading (Pups routinely patrolled at 18,000 feet), no bad habits, and easy to fly. And a synchronization gear that reduced the rate of fire so much that it turned the Vickers machine gun into a semi-automatic rifle. . Remember: Sopwith was under contract to the RNAS. The first Pups were delivered to the RNAS in February 1916. Sopwith kept turning out Pups. So much so that the RNAS accumulated a surplusage. In summer 1916, Churchill offered his surplus Pups to the RFC. Trenchard dithered, dithered some more, but finally took the generous offer. In November 1916. The transfer of Pups to the RFC was beset with red tape. 46 Squadron of the RFC did not get its Pups until May 1917. ----- 3:14 At the time of his death in September 1917, Georges Guynemer was the leading ace of the Aeronautique Militaire. Rene Fonck did not pass Guynemer's total until late July 1918. ----- Rex, If you are going to make videos on Great War aviation, I strongly recommend you use theaerodrome.com as your first source.

[@jodypitt3629]

Hi Rex, I'm a highly prolific graphite pencil sketch artist and I've even drawn the Caproni Ca.60, please could you submit me a way so I could send you my aircraft drawings. If I was living in Italy at that time, I would have recited the 23rd psalm after going aboard this insane contraption!

[@drstevenrey]

The German planes going out of fashion within a conflict is amazing, mostly because they actually did the exact same mistake in Word War 2 again.

[@chandarsundaram1394]

Could have mentioned that the 1914 RFC raids on the Zeppelin sheds at Dusseldorf were carried out not by BE2cs but by Spowith Tabloids.

[@UnclePutte]

I feel conflicted. On the other hand there is the excitement of heroics and the recklessly forward-rushing development of aviation, on the other are the poor boys falling from the sky, and the death of the innocence of early aviation.

[@mycroft1905]

9:06 Jasta 2 was equipped with Albatross DI and DIVs, not Fokkers as stated.

[@robgraham5697]

I recall that one British aircraft had so many wires that is was said that to discover if a wire was broken the ground crew would release a bird inside the maze. If the bird escapes there was a wire broken. Almost not true but an amusing story,

[@treize6832]

The Eindecker at about 2:30, the one landing, isn't a Fokker, that's a Pfalz Eindecker.

[@comacollosasa6282]

Buddy at 4:25 lookin kinda fresh ngl

[@hadial-saadoon2114]

Boelcke would have been killed regardless as his disintegrating Albatros fell from 3,000 meters. There is a photograph of him lying next to the wreckage of his plane. He is wearing the standard leather pilot's helmet and his skull is obviously crushed.

[@jkorshak]

Concerning the loss of Allied machines being relatively light with 28-29 aircraft overall vs. the significant number of machines fielded. Loss of air superiority and the recognition of the effectiveness of German tactics made its mark on morale during the Fokker Scourge as you said. But it's important to note the direct effect to morale due to the human loss. Machines could obviously be replaced but each and every pilot and observer lost had a cumulative effect to morale for everyone who knew them.

[@sumdumbmick]

have you ever built an airplane? what's obvious about replaceability of one? people are in fact far easier to replace. look at population growth records during the wars of the 20th century, particularly during the ones that were famously deadly. despite the deaths, populations on all sides almost universally increased at all points in time.

[@jkorshak]

@@sumdumbmick The pilots weren't building the aircraft themselves. LOL Nor were new pilots arriving with all the know how of how to best stay alive. You can't take human nature out of the equation. People then, as now, get to know each other and tend to form bonds (friendships) when in a group which itself is subjected to enduring hard situations. Like, being a pilot among a bunch of pilots in a war, or simply in a squadron training together. When a member of the group is killed or disappears, the others notice. World War I wasn't a computer game.

[@johncox2865]

What a out the German triplanes I’ve heard so much about?

[@70mavgr]

@15:19 I didn't know that Kimi Raikkonen flew in WW1.

[@johnathanczakel5195]

Waych the movie Flyboys from 2006

[@hendrikvanleeuwen9110]

Wow, imagine seeing hundreds of ww1 style planes dogfighting above!

[@WarblesOnALot]

G'day, That pretty much never happened, until 1918, when occasionally the Germans would put up as many as 60 Fighters and several Squadrons of British and/or French Fighters would take them on. In his final Combat Billy Bishop attacked a formation of 60 Fokker D-VIIs & Albatrosses (Albatri), and he nailed about 5 of them, and then he survived the Forced Landing - because they didn't miss his Sopwith Snipe, either. But, "looking up to see hundreds of Aircraft dogfighting..." ; naaah, that wasn't actually a thing. 6 or 9 versus 3 or 6 was pretty normal, and if that caused a Furball then other Flights and Formations might see and endeavour to join in and intervene ; but if you see a Dogfight 10 miles away and you're able to travel at 120 mph then what you see will take you 5 minutes to travel over to reach, IF the Furball happens to stay where it is.... More likely what will happen is that during those 5 minutes the General Melee would break up into multiple Duets and Triptyches, all going in various directions - and if one of the Squabbles comes towards you then you might get a chance to add to somebody's troubles. Get hold of a book titled "Goshawk Squadron" by Derek Robinson, a VERY well researched fictional novel set in a SE-5a Squadron. At one point Major Woolley, the Squadron Leader states, "...the Art of being a successful Fighter Pilot lies in sneaking up behind a Stranger and shooting him in the back, while he's busy picking his Nose ; and then buggaring-off quick-smart, before any of his mates cotton-on to what's gone on - and come looking to exact a spot of revenge..." Which is precisely and exactly 100% accurate. Robinson also wrote "War Story", about a Vickers Fe2b Squadron. The Daily Telegraph quote printed on the front cover of War Story states, "Robinson does for the Royal Flying Corps what the War Poets did for the Trenches..." He also wrote "Piece Of Cake...!", about a Hurricane Squadron during the Battle of France and then Britain. Essentially, Derek Robinson's Books are the antidote to the Hyperpatriotic Jingoistic unrealistic Bullshit peddled by Captain (retired) W.E. Johns in his Childrens Fiction featuring "Captain Bigglesworth". If you crave WW-1 Non-Fiction, then seek out "Saggitarius Rising" by Cecil Lewis (flew over the entire Somme Battle in a Morane Parasol, flew Nightfighters over London chasing Gothas & Zeppelins, and was flying an SE-5a with Albert Ball in the Dogfight from which Ball was posted as Missing In Action...) ; or try "Winged Victory by VM Yates, which is set in a Sopwith Pup Squadron which re-equips with Camels..., Yates was a Camel Pilot who died of Tuberculosis in the 1930s. My mother's father flew with the Australian Flying Corps, but didn't get his Wings till March 1919, but my father's father's brother flew a Camel with 4 Squadron AFC in August 1918 - on his first flight over the Lines he "became separated from his comrades...., then he attacked a pair of LVG 2-Seaters and shot one down - before the dozen Albatross Fighters which he hadn't seen dived on him and shot holes in his Petrol Tank and chased him into a Cloud. Upon emerging from the Cloud he was knocked unconscious by a fragment from Anti-Aircraft fire, waking up in time to survive crash-landing just inside British Lines..." (from both the Official History of the AFC, and also from "Men & Machines of the Australian Flying Corps") Uncle Les and his brother Harry Hopeton... (known as "Hope"), both Privates had hit the Beach at Dawn at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, and Hope was gutshot at 11:17 that same morning, Les put him onto a Rowboat out to a Hospital Ship - where he died after 3 days ; and Les was a bit of a Fire-Eater after that, he broke his Ankle after 4 months on Gallipoli, after which he was promoted to Seargant. In 1917 he captured 500 metres of Enemy Trench at Paschendale, while gettting shot through the Shoulder ; for which he was given a Military Medal, promoted to Lieutenant and offered his choice of next assignment - choosing to go to the AFC Training Squadron on Salisbury Plain..., thus he came to be in a position to wander off away from his Flight, and stumble into the Albatross' Trap which was baited with a pair of "unescorted" 2-Seaters... Lt Les. Wharton returned to Oz, became a Schoolteacher, like his father, and Les' son Alan flew a full Tour on Lancasters out of England in 1943, before returning to Oz and flying Catalinas out of Broome, to Madagascar and Ceylon on Anti-Submarine Patrol & Air Sea Search & Rescue work ; after WW-2 he went to Qantas, pioneering Lockheed Constellations into Hong Kong and retiring as Director of Flight Operations in 1978 (the year I finished High School). As you may have guessed, I've been studying this stuff since my Grandfather died when I was 3 years old (57 years ago). I have an entire Playlist titled "Personal Aeroplanology", if you feel like digging into it ; there are about 5 Videos devoted to Sopwith Camels thereinat..., and also a pretty good one about the 1941 RAAF Brewster Buffaloes...., among other more personalised yarns. Enjoy, Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !

[@griffithposgay792]

@@WarblesOnALot cool

[@fenwickthompson99]

The fokker D1 was produced in July of 1916 - not early 1916

[@anjetabreymann7179]

Has anyone seen "The Blue Max"???

[@barrythatcher9349]

Yes I have. It's an excellent war movie. Remembering this is set in middle to late 1918 when the Germans were starting to lose the war.

[@dungeondeezdragons4242]

2:00 line up "his" gun*

[@hadial-saadoon2114]

What about Lanoe Hawker?

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

I think you missed a word around the 5:45 mark. I think the missing word is fighter. 1 Squadron RFC was established in May 1912 in the formation of the RFC.nthe squadron has a history dating back to 1878.

[@GoingtoHecq]

Aces didn't live long. I think there's too many chances to get shot down, even if you're the best.

[@Breznak]

Morane-Saulnier

[@skipper4126]

ah the old 20 minuters

[@anjetabreymann7179]

The Movie I meant!

[@michaelleslie2913]

Is it me or does the young Manfred Von Ricthofen photo in the video look a lot like Michael Schumacher 🤔

[@KapiteinKrentebol]

I think you meant Albatros DII and DV instead of Fokker.

[@themustangone6449]

Love the pup but neuiport 17 was the sh!t

[@hughgordon6435]

OK, ok ,ok what would of happened if the RAFhad not been established? How would the RNAS, have progressed if the RAF had not claimed mastery?

[@kirkstinson7316]

Well the Foker mono plane WAS actually a VERY bad airplane. There have been several studies done on it and it's rate of climb and tendency to stall were bad. So early designers saying that monoplanes were not as good as biplanes were right.

[@richardsolberg4047]

But it had one big advantage , the way the gun was mounted .. and that made a huge difference .

[@Lord.Kiltridge]

It's my understanding that Boelcke was killed by Manfred Von Richtoven in an unintentional mid air collision.

[@kirkstinson7316]

I see you've watched Richtofen and Brown. There is ,I documentation I can find that says Richttofen's plane hit Oswald's. Only that Richtofen observed the event

[@Lord.Kiltridge]

@@kirkstinson7316 Yes. Richtoven's under cart came impacted Boelcke's upper wing. I don't know who's fault it was.

[@Beery1962]

The Immelmann Turn in WWI was not a vertical loop. It was a climb followed by a sharp 180 degree turn. A Fokker Eindecker could not do a vertical loop, so your illustration is incorrect for WWI. The WWI Immelmann Turn was more like what we call a wingover or a hammerhead turn. Also, it was considered bad form to call WWI victories "kills". Every WWI pilot scorned the term "kill", saying that they were trying to destroy the aircraft, not kill the pilot.

[@jimcurt99]

You said Fokker D1 and D2- did you mean Albatross?? Don't think Fokker D1 or D2 are things... maybe I'm wrong

[@danabogue1804]

The eindecker was NOT easy to fly, it had serious stability issues, but in the right hands with the synchronized gun it was deadly early on. The albatross was very popular with Most German pilots and was responsible for many Allied losses! Fokker DVII appeared late in the war and proved to be superior to all Allied Aircraft. Boelke established the " Finger Four" flight which Allies copied later on with a better degree of success, MANY of the tactics used to this day were established by OSWALD BOELKE (sic)! NOT RICHTOFEN! Boelke was a better LEADER, Richtofen was a LONE WOLF!

[@esajuhanirintamaki965]

Hmm, dear Dana. Von Richthofen still often flew with his Jastas to the combat. Frenchman Rene Fonck was really lone wolf with his hit-and-run tactics. According to the finger-four tactical formation: German ace Werner Mölders took it to the use during Spanish civil war (1936 - 1939), and made this formation generally famous. British pilots took finger-four in use during WW2. Even the Soviet pilots too took it in use (with very good results) in Eastern Front in WW2. That's true, that someone smart flyer commander used it during WW1.

[@patrickcannady2066]

The captions are laughably full of misspellings. Fokker, not focus. Boelcke, not bulka. If they can get Immelmann correct they can get Boelcke, too, who was far more successful and influential as a fight pilot and tactician.

[@somerandomguy___]

16:14 kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGnQin-faLV6hcUstart=11 Though in all seriousness I like that you mentioned him even though his "glory days" sort of speak only came in 1917 Also, in German when a word starts with a v its pronounced as an f which is about as nonsensical as it sounds

[@RexsHangar]

Pronounced with an "F"? I had no idea! The Germans pronounce so many things with 'v' that I assumed it was correct 😂