Humans have been fighting wars since before recorded history, and battle seems to be deeply ingrained in us. Not long after humans started fighting, they began developing strategies. Strategies of war have been passed down from generation to generation and they have been studied by scholars and generals. Nations and regions of the world have been found to have unique forms of battle. Some famous and unique warriors were the Spartans, who were known to barricade themselves in the middle of a canyon and fight in a unique form of solidarity one with another. The strategies of the Spartans, along with many other warriors, have been studied and parroted for years. Although, with thousands of years of battle, no one was ready for when men took to the skies.
In just a few short centuries manned flight has revolutionized the way nations do battle. When compared to the thousands of years of battle strategies, aviation is still a pretty new concept. When one takes something as old as battle, and applies something as game changing as manned flight, one must expect some growing pains. As flight technologies took off quicker and quicker, nations scrambled to apply them to achieve dominance over their opponents. In most cases they weren’t inventing new strategies; they found ways to apply old strategies to a menacing new technology. In this paper, I will explore some of the strategies manned flight has enriched and the ways they have changed how wars are fought forever.
One of the first benefits men discovered was manned flight reconnaissance. Reconnaissance is studying and observing the enemy through whatever means possible to know what one can expect from ones enemy. Things one looks for, are number and location of soldiers, weaponry, movements and every detail of the enemy. Reconnaissance wasn’t invented with manned flight and can be seen in strategies dating clear back to the beginning of man. However, it became a whole new ball game with the invention of the first hot air balloon. The first men to ever fly in a hot air balloon were Joseph-Michael and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier. In the fall of 1783 these two lifted themselves up in their lighter than air craft and took to the skies for the first time in human history. The first American to use this for reconnaissance was a twenty-nine year-old Thaddeus Lowe when he did something nothing short of inspiring. In the summer of 1861, Thaddeus brought a telegram into the skies with a hot air balloon. He was able to send a message to the United States President, Abraham Lincoln, describing his view above the Washington, D.C., area. On a March evening in 1862, Thaddeus Lowe, accompanied by US General Fitz John Porter, rode in a balloon into the sky. When morning came, they were able to see the enemies in their camps, taking detailed notes of everything they witnessed. As soon as the balloon landed safely, the two men began scripting a map of the enemy’s location and movements. This was the first application of US military aviation reconnaissance. Though it was not invented with the airplane, manned flight has made reconnaissance more effective and reliable than ever before. By WW1 all nations were using manned flight reconnaissance as a part of their strategy.
The next form of aviation strategy that emerged is behind enemy lines attacks and sabotage. Before airplanes it was quite tricky to get behind enemy lines, for one either had to break through the line, or sneak past it. However, with the invention of airplanes, soldiers could fly over the enemy’s line. The first attempt at doing an air raid behind enemy lines was documented in Austria in 1849. Austrian forces attached bombs to unmanned balloons and targeted them to land and detonate in Venice. Although a revolutionary idea for its time, it did not go quite as planned and had little to no effect on opposing forces. It would take further advancements in technology to make a real impact. Flash forward a generation and one finds Germany’s Zeppelin towering over the city of London. In January of 1915, German aviators climbed into a dirigible and headed for London with ninety incendiary bombs and thirty grenades. Executing modern day’s first air bombing raid, they killed seven civilians and injured more than thirty. Despite having a seemingly small effect, these raids would leave London citizens in constant fear for the remainder of the war. These types of raids would have little to no effect on the military but would damage and break the overall morale of the people of England. Another form of air raids focuses more on military supply lines. Damaging supply lines is another strategy that has been used for years but has become a major function for every air force. Militaries quickly began sending planes equipped with explosives to attack factories, rail yards, supply lines and many more targets. The goal here is to get behind enemy lines and injure ones opponent in a different way. In these raids casualties were generally low, but it crippled the enemy and had a major negative impact on them logistically.
Air Supremacy is a concept that is unique to the aviation era. When two air forces clash, they will fight for the right to own the skies. When one air force takes supreme control of the air, it declares air supremacy. Air supremacy is defined as the highest level of air control and allows one side to operate freely in the skies, even behind enemy lines. Air superiority is a step down and is defined as having the upper hand in the sky; meaning they are more powerful than the opponent, but not overwhelmingly so. Air parity is when a nation has control of the skies above their own troops. Without achieving air supremacy, the strategies previously discussed are not favorable. As one must take defensive precautions when traveling behind enemy lines. It is rare to achieve air supremacy as evidenced by the fact that no nation has achieved it through the two world wars of the twentieth century.
Since the invention of manned flight, nations have constantly looked for new ways to use airplanes to dominate the opponent. Many of the airplane strategies are not necessarily new, but the application to airplanes have brought these schemes to a heightened level of effectiveness and deadliness. Because of this fact, each and every nation will continue to fight for air supremacy until the end of time.