The Bristol Scout

The British Scout of World War 1

The term scout, as a description of a class of military aircraft, came into use shortly before the First World War, and initially referred to a fast (for its time), light (usually single-seated) unarmed reconnaissance aircraft.

“Scout” types were generally adaptations of pre-war racing aircraft – although at least one (the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.2) was specifically designed for the role.

At this stage, the possibility of air-to-air combat was considered highly speculative, and the speed of these aircraft relative to their contemporaries was seen as an advantage in gaining immunity from ground fire and in the ability to deliver timely reconnaissance reports.

Almost from the beginning of the war, various experiments were carried out in the fitting of armament to scouts to enable them to engage in air-to-air combat – by early 1916 several types of scout could fire a machine gun forwards, in the line of flight, thus becoming the first effective single-seat fighter aircraft – in effect, an entirely new class of aircraft.

In French and German usage these types were termed “hunters” (chasseur, Jäger), but in the Royal Flying Corps and early Royal Air Force parlance “scout” remained the usual term for a single-seat fighter into the early 1920s.

The term “fighter”, or “fighting aircraft” was already current, but in this period referred specifically to a two-seater fighter such as the Sopwith 1½ Strutter or the Bristol Fighter.

This usage of the”scout” (or sometimes “fighting scout”) for “single-seat fighter” can be found in many contemporary accounts, including fictional depictions of First World War air combat such as the Biggles books.

These often refer to French or German “scouts” as well as British ones.

Bristol Scout 1264: Rebuilding Granddad's Aircraft

Sopwith Cuckoo

The Sopwith Cuckoo of World War 1

In October 1916, Commodore Murray Sueter, the Air Department’s Superintendent of Aircraft Construction, solicited Sopwith for a single-seat aircraft capable of carrying a 1,000 lb torpedo and sufficient fuel to provide an endurance of four hours.

The resulting aircraft, designated T.1 by Sopwith, was a large, three-bay biplane. Because the T.1 was designed to operate from carrier decks, its wings were hinged to fold backward.

The T.1 could take off from a carrier deck in four seconds, but it was not capable of making a carrier landing and no arresting gear was fitted.

A split-axle undercarriage allowed the aircraft to carry a 1,000 lb Mk. IX torpedo beneath the fuselage.

The prototype T.1 first flew in June 1917, powered by a 200 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Ba engine.

Official trials commenced in July 1917 and the Admiralty issued production orders for 100 aircraft in August.

Contractors Fairfield Engineering and Pegler & Company had no experience as aircraft manufacturers, however, resulting in substantial production delays.

Moreover, the S.E.5a had priority for the limited supplies of the Hispano-Suiza 8. Redesign of the T.1 airframe to accommodate the heavier Sunbeam Arab incurred further delays.

In February 1918, the Admiralty issued a production order to Blackburn Aircraft, an experienced aircraft manufacturer.

Blackburn delivered its first T.1 in May 1918.

The aircraft immediately experienced undercarriage and tail skid failures, requiring redesign of those components.

The T.1 also required an enlarged rudder and offset vertical stabilizer to combat its tendency to swing to the right.

Fairfield and Pegler finally began production in August and October, respectively.

A total of 300 T.1s were ordered, but only 90 aircraft had been delivered by the Armistice.

A total of 232 aircraft had been completed by the time production ended in 1919.

Blackburn Aircraft produced 162 aircraft, while Fairfield Engineering completed 50 and Pegler & Company completed another 20.

After the Armistice, many T.1s were delivered directly to storage depots at Renfrew and Newcastle.

After undergoing service trials at RAF East Fortune, the T.1 was recommended for squadron service.

Deliveries to the Torpedo Aeroplane School at East Fortune commenced in early August 1918.

Training took place in the Firth of Forth, where Cuckoos launched practice torpedoes at targets towed by destroyers. Cuckoos of No. 185 Squadron embarked on HMS Argus in November 1918, but hostilities ended before the aircraft could conduct any combat operations.

In service, the aircraft was generally popular with pilots because the airframe was strong and water landings were safe.

The T.1 was easy to control and was fully aerobatic without a torpedo payload.

The Arab engine proved unsatisfactory, however, and approximately 20 T.1s were converted to use Wolseley Viper engines.

These aircraft, later designated Cuckoo Mk. IIs, could be distinguished by the Viper’s lower thrust line. The Arab-engined variant was designated Cuckoo Mk. I.

The Cuckoo’s operational career ended when the last unit to use the type, No. 210 Squadron, disbanded at Gosport on 1 April 1923.

The Cuckoo was replaced in service by the Blackburn Dart.

Planned use
Throughout 1917, Commodore Sueter proposed plans for an aerial torpedo attack on the German High Seas Fleet at its base in Germany.

The carriers HMS Argus, HMS Furious, and HMS Campania, and the converted cruisers HMS Courageous and HMS Glorious, were to have launched 100 Cuckoos from the North Sea.

In September 1917, Admiral Sir David Beatty, commander of the Grand Fleet, proposed a similar plan involving 120 Cuckoos launched from eight converted merchant vessels.

Datafile 90: Sopwith Cuckoo

Sopwith Camel

The Sopwith Camel of World War 1

Sopwith Camel was introduced in 1917 and made by Sopwith Aviation Company.

The company was founded in Kingston upon Thames in the United Kingdom by Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith.

The Warplane was a single-seater biplane fighter, the Plane was regarded as a difficult plane to handle.

The Sopwith Camel had shot down over almost 1300 enemy Aircraft during the First World War more than any other allied fighter plane during the First World War.

The Sopwith Camel was used more as a ground attack aircraft during the later stages of the War as it became outclassed with newer technology in Air to Air Battle

The Sopwith Camel was armed with twin synchronised Machine guns and a powerful Rotary engine.

The Sopwith Camel soon became unpopular with Student pilots being a difficult Aircraft to handle.

By the mid-1918 the Aircraft was more restricted as a day fighter due to the slow speed of the plane and poor performances at high altitudes.

The Sopwith Camel played a key role in the ground-attack and infantry support aircraft during the German offensive of March 1918.

Camel File

Little Willie

Little Willie British Tank of World War 1

Little Willie was a prototype in the development of the British Mark I tank.

Constructed in the autumn of 1915 at the behest of the Landship Committee, it was the first completed tank prototype in history.

Little Willie is the oldest surviving individual tank and is preserved as one of the most famous pieces in the collection of The Tank Museum, Bovington, England. ork on Little Willie’s predecessor was begun in July 1915 by the Landship Committee to meet The United Kingdom’s requirement in World War I for an armoured combat vehicle able to cross an 8-foot (2.4 m) trench.

After several other projects where single and triple tracks had failed, on 22 July William Ashbee Tritton, director of the agricultural machinery company William Foster & Company of Lincoln, was given the contract to develop a “Tritton Machine” with two tracks.

It had to make use of the track assemblies – lengthened tracks and suspension elements (seven road wheels instead of four) – purchased as fully built units from the Bullock Creeping Grip Tractor Company in Chicago.

On 11 August actual construction began; on 16 August Tritton decided to fit a wheeled tail to assist in steering. On 9 September the Number 1 Lincoln Machine, as the prototype was then known, made its first test run in the yard of the Wellington Foundry.

It soon became clear that the track profiles were so flat that ground resistance during a turn was excessive. 

To solve this, the suspension was changed so that the bottom profile was more curved.

Then the next problem showed up: when crossing a trench the track sagged and then would not fit the wheels again and jammed. The tracks were also not up to carrying the weight of the vehicle (about 16 tons).

Tritton and Lieutenant Walter Gordon Wilson tried several types of alternative track design, including balatá belting and flat wire ropes. 

Tritton, on 22 September, devised a robust but outwardly crude system using pressed steel plates riveted to cast links and incorporated guides to engage on the inside of the track frame.

The track frames as a whole were connected to the main body by large spindles.

This system was unsprung, as the tracks were held firmly in place, able to move in only one plane. This was a successful design and was used on all First World War British tanks up to the Mark VIII, although it limited speed.

Tanks of World Wars I and II: An IIllustrated A-Z Catalogue of Tanks, Armoured Vehicles, Tank Destroyers, Command Versions and Specialized Tanks from ... Machine "Little Willie" to the Panzers

Great Britain & Empire

Great Britain in World War One

Great Britain entered the First World War due to the German’s violation of the Treaty of London (1839) in defense of Belgium Neutrality.

The tension between Great Britain and Germany had been rising for some time due to the determination of the Germans to rival the United Kingdom’s dominance in its Navy.

The Germans invaded Belgium on the way through to France in 1914 with the British protesting against Germany regarding their obligations of the treaty.

German Foreign Minister Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg

referred to the treaty as a ” Mere scrap of paper” and could not believe Britain was entering the War.

With the treaty being almost 100 years old the Germans did not expect the British to stand by their pledge.

The British Army had sustained substantial losses in the Horror and July 1st, 1916 in The Battle of the Somme and regarded as the worst disaster in the History of the British Army.

But as the war unfolded this paved a new way for a new type of warfare and an inspiration for new technology and weapons in a modern war that led to victory which was finally achieved in 1918.

The Royal Navy

The Royal Flying Corps

The British Army

 

Entente Powers
W98 Vintage WWI British Join The Royal Marines World War 1 Recruitment Poster WW1 Re-Print - A2+ (610 x 432mm) 24" x 17"

Royal Flying Corps

The Royal Flying Corps of World War 1

During the early part of the war, the RFC supported the British Army by artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance.

This work gradually led RFC pilots into aerial battles with German pilots and later in the war included the strafing of enemy infantry and emplacements, the bombing of German military airfields, and later the strategic bombing of German industrial and transport facilities.

At the start of World War I the RFC, commanded by Brigadier-General Sir David Henderson, consisted of five squadrons – one observation balloon squadron (RFC No 1 Squadron) and four airplane squadrons.

These were first used for aerial spotting on 13 September 1914 but only became efficient when they perfected the use of wireless communication at Aubers Ridge on 9 May 1915.

Aerial photography was attempted during 1914, but again only became effective the next year. By 1918, photographic images could be taken from 15,000 feet and were interpreted by over 3,000 personnel.

Parachutes were not available to pilots of heavier-than-air craft in the RFC – nor were they used by the RAF during the First World War – although the Calthrop Guardian Angel parachute (1916 model) was officially adopted just as the war ended.

By this time parachutes had been used by balloonists for three years.

On 17 August 1917, South African General Jan Smuts presented a report to the War Council on the future of airpower.

Because of its potential for the ‘devastation of enemy lands and the destruction of industrial and populous centers on a vast scale’, he recommended a new air service be formed that would be on a level with the Army and Royal Navy.

The formation of the new service would also make the under-used men and machines of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) available for action on the Western Front and end the inter-service rivalries that at times had adversely affected aircraft procurement.

On 1 April 1918, the RFC and the RNAS were amalgamated to form a new service, the Royal Air Force (RAF), under the control of the new Air Ministry.

After starting in 1914 with some 2,073 personnel, by the start of 1919, the RAF had 4,000 combat aircraft and 114,000 personnel in some 150 squadrons.

Entente Powers
The Bridge to Airpower: Logistics Support for Royal Flying Corps Operations on the Western Front, 1914 18 (History of Military Aviation)

The British Army

The British Army during World War 1

The British Army The British Army during World War I fought the largest and most costly war in its long history.

Unlike the French and German Armies, the British Army was made up exclusively of volunteers—as opposed to conscripts—at the beginning of the conflict.

Furthermore, the British Army was considerably smaller than its French and German counterparts.

Men of the Wiltshire Regiment attacking near Thiepval, 7 August 1916, during the Battle of the Somme.

During World War I, there were four distinct British armies.

The first comprised approximately 247,000 soldiers of the regular army, over half of which were posted overseas to garrison the British Empire, supported by some 210,000 reserves and a potential 60,000 additional reserves.

This component formed the backbone of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), which was formed for service in France and became known as the Old Contemptibles.

The second army was provided by the approximately 246,000-strong Territorial Force, initially allocated to home defence but used to reinforce the BEF after the regular army suffered heavy losses in the opening battles of the war.

The third army was Kitchener’s Army, comprising men who answered Lord Kitchener’s call for volunteers in 1914–1915 and which went into action at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

The fourth army was the reinforcement of existing formations with conscripts after the introduction of compulsory service in January 1916.

By the end of 1918, the British Army had reached its maximum strength of 3,820,000 men and could field over 70 divisions.

The vast majority of the British Army fought in the main theatre of war on the Western Front in France and Belgium against the German Empire.

Some units were engaged in Italy and Salonika against Austria-Hungary and the Bulgarian Army, while other units fought in the Middle East,

Africa and Mesopotamia—mainly against the Ottoman Empire—and one battalion fought alongside the Japanese Army in China during the Siege of Tsingtao.

The war also posed problems for the army commanders, given that, prior to 1914, the largest formation any serving General in the BEF had commanded on operations was a division.

The expansion of the British Army saw some officers promoted from brigade to corps commander in less than a year.

Army commanders also had to cope with the new tactics and weapons that were developed. With the move from manoeuvre to trench warfare, both the infantry and the artillery had to learn how to work together.

During an offensive, and when in defence, they learned how to combine forces to defend the front line. Later in the war, when the Machine Gun Corps and the Tank Corps were added to the order of battle, they were also included in the new tactical doctrine.

The men at the front had to struggle with supply problems–there was a shortage of food; and disease was rife in the damp, rat-infested conditions.

Along with enemy action, many soldiers had to contend with new diseases: trench foot, trench fever and trench nephritis.

When the war ended in November 1918, British Army casualties, as the result of enemy action and disease, were recorded as 673,375 killed and missing, with another 1,643,469 wounded. The rush to demobilise at the end of the conflict substantially decreased the strength of the British Army, from its peak strength of 3,820,000 men in 1918 to 370,000 men by 1920.

Supplying the British Army in the First World War

The Royal Navy

The Royal Navy during World War 1

During the First World War, the Royal Navy’s strength was mostly deployed at home in the Grand Fleet, confronting the German High Seas Fleet across the North Sea.

Several inconclusive clashes took place between them, chiefly the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

The British numerical advantage proved insurmountable, leading the High Seas Fleet to abandon any attempt to challenge British dominance.

Elsewhere in the world, the Navy hunted down the handful of German surface raiders at large.

During the Dardanelles Campaign against the Ottoman Empire in 1915, it suffered heavy losses during a failed attempt to break through the system of minefields and shore batteries defending the straits.

Upon entering the war, the Navy had immediately established a blockade of Germany.

The Navy’s Northern Patrol closed off access to the North Sea, while the Dover Patrol closed off access to the English Channel.

The Navy also mined the North Sea.

As well as closing off the Imperial German Navy’s access to the Atlantic, the blockade largely blocked neutral merchant shipping heading to or from Germany.

The blockade was maintained during the eight months after the armistice was agreed to force Germany to end the war and sign the Treaty of Versailles.

The most serious menace faced by the Navy came from the attacks on merchant shipping mounted by German U-boats.

For much of the war this submarine campaign was restricted by prize rules requiring merchant ships to be warned and evacuated before sinking. 

In 1915, the Germans renounced these restrictions and began to sink merchant ships on sight, but later returned to the previous rules of engagement to placate neutral opinion.

A resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917 raised the prospect of Britain and its allies being starved into submission.

The Navy’s response to this new form of warfare had proved inadequate due to its refusal to adopt a convoy system for merchant shipping, despite the demonstrated effectiveness of the technique in protecting troop ships. 

The belated introduction of convoys sharply reduced losses and brought the U-boat threat under control.

Royal Navy Roll of Honour - World War 1, by Date and Ship/Unit