increase was seen in 1914: 1,348 airplanes were produced. Germany mastered the design of large airships, which saw combat in the World War I. Between wars, airships were the sole air vehicle able to nonstop transoceanic flights.
Russia played a minor role in the Aviation development during World War I. Inferior products were trademark in Russia in the pre-war period. The internal turmoil caused by the revolution of 1917 hampered the development of the Aviation in the former Soviet Union.
The United States felt the consequences of the delay in implementing organization and development plans in military Aviation. Until 1911 the only airplane was the Flyer A that Orville and Wilbur Wright had managed to sell to the Amy in August, 1909. On July 18, 1914, military aviation moved forward with the creation of the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. When the United States entered the War In April 1917, its Air Force counted less than 250 airplanes, most of them. unsuitable for combat. Only in 1918, the American Expeditionary Force’s air arm could be organized in a proper manner under the command of Gen. William Mitchell used only French equipment. At the end of the war, there were 45 squadrons, including 740 airplanes, 800 pilots, and 500 observers.
Table 2 summarizes the number of military airplanes that each country put into service in 1914 and 1918. The strongest nation was Germany, and the United States recorded a very small old-fashioned fleet, most of airplanes being derivatives of the flyer A from 1909.
After World War I the United States produced a large number of British designed aircraft and engines. Among them was the mass-produced Airco DH.4 (Fig. 18). The type was a British two-seat biplane day-bomber and was designed by Geoflrey de Havilland for Airco. It was the first British two-seat light day-bomber to have an effective defensive armament. It performed its first flight flew in August 1916 and entered service with the Royal Flying Corps in March, 1917. The majority of DH.4s was actually built as general purpose two-seaters in the USA, for service with the American forces in France. The DH.4 was tried with several engines, of which the best was the 380 hp (280 kW) Rolls-Royce Eagle engine. Due to the chronic shortage of Rolls-Royce aero engines in general, and Eagles in particular, alternative engines were also evaluated, with the BHP (230 hp/170 kW), the Royal Aircraft Factory RAF3A (200 hp/150 kW), the Siddeley Puma (230 hp/170 kW), and the 260 hp (190 kW) Fiat, all being used in production aircraft. None of these engines could match the Rolls-Royce Eagle in performance and reliability. However, there were simply not enough Eagles available. In the USA, the new American-built Liberty L-12engine was suitable to be fitted into DHL4, although the engine produced a slightly inferior performance to that provided by the Eagle.
After the war, a number of firms, most significantly Boeing, were contracted by the US Army to re-manufacture surplus DH-4s to DH-4B standard. Known by Boeing as Model 16, deliveries of 111 aircrafts from this manufacturer took place ‘between March and July 1920, with 50 of them being returned for further refurbishments three years later.
| Country | Aircraft in service in 1914 | Aircraft in service in 1918 |
|---|---|---|
| France | 138 | 4,500 |
| Great Britain | 113 | 3,300 |
| Germany | 232 | 2,390 |
| Italy | 150 | 1,200 |
| USA | 55 | 740 |
| Former Soviet Union | 244 | - |
| Austro-Hungarian Empire | 86 | - |
| Belgium | 24 | - |
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