,iffil
*-a*i*eal;$gEi
machi4e gun, tanks'r,gas, etc.1, None howdver, would clange the faee:ofiiritarll
as much as the aiSplane. When the war began, the Gerdarn aii forcehad
several advantagqs- They had more airplanes ea4 Fritain:andifru"C..,.fna
German FOKIGR rirpl""" had a machirne gun tirnsd so the,n"fi.ts *""f4
!
not hit tle propeller
blades,
80 yi0toribs
Pilots'did not suffer the mud of the trenches. They had good food and
clean beds, As a result, many have gtauilourized the life of &e '@kfs of
the airn, The death rate among plots however, was hl'gher than any other
seryice. Few pilots were given parachutes. By 1916, the average tife span of
a pilot was 3 weeks.
lu*ui.1i
War at Sea
Gennan sLrbrnarines or
had been nsed since the start of the
1914. The sLrbrnarine was Gennany's most deaCv
undenvater for
war in
Subs could stay
holLrs. SLibs carried a crew of 35 and
torpedoes. The
sLtbrnalines sank botir passenger and warslups. Dunng the war the German subs
.
sank all of tlte boats enterins
Sinkng their supply ships, hufi Britain
because the-y were an island nation. To protect their supply ships Britain used a
anned destr-oyers.
\
C)cean. The Lrnarined sliip carried ahnost
sunl< by a Gennan
passengerq. The ship was
torpedo. Approxrmately
passengers dror+ned.
The sinking gf the LLrsitania r-rpset the
passengers on tl:e ship were Anericans.
because half the
.
.
,.
eqtriprnent to pick up the sound of the subs' engines underwater.
By tiig end of the warthey
Lrsed
subrlalines and then dropped depth
a
,
r
1 ,1
echoes to fi-ud the position of tfre
,
1
was only partly'effectjve because by the end of the war
.:
sLrnli
..
boats.
,
to destooy
tle
,1
them, This technique
German submarines
The \x/ar in the Air
Wren war broke
oLit
in lgll,the
au-plane was a new and unproven rnvention.
Few rnilitary ieaciers liad confidence rn the arrplane as a weapon
of
ca'ada had no air force of its own, brit canadia's who wanted to
fly jorned the
At
fir-st Lrnanned airpianes were used just to
enemy posihons. Some
pilots caLrglit in battle threw
or links of nisty chan at the propeliers of
opposing planes. The percentage ofpilots
was lugher than any other
branch of the rniiitary. It was said tlrat tlre average life of a pilot
was
Tliere were
parachutes for the pilots when ther plane
was darnaged.
At tire begiruring of the war,
air baftles. Genna:ry had
planes wlule the French had
and
Britain had
The Germans also had gas filled b.arloons called Zeppehns or
The Gerrnans had also developed a superior plaie ca-lled the
Fokk";; *r, ,r-.d
with a
with a fi"-g mecharusm t'ned so the bullets did not lut
ttsowtipropellorbIades.TIreFokkertriplanes,had
speed of this pline was
rniles per hour.
Nevertheless, rn a dogfl grt u
sl<tlled ptlof ttsttaily had the advantage because he could
tuql tightly. The Gerinan
ace Manfr1d von Richthofen also ftp-own as
,";;
pJane' To be considered an '!ace" a pilot would have
to shoot down
enemv
,4
pla'es. The Red Baron downed
BLitish and canadian pilots flew the s.E.5a or the sopwith
I
't1
t
.t
,r
the
:
*, *. *-'
These planes were called carners beca'se of the
over its twn rnachine
glrns. Billy
and Roy
, two of Canada's top pilots flew the
Sopwitir Carnel. Biiiy Bishop r,vas considered Canada,s finest ace slnce
he shot
down
arvarded the
planes during World War
Victoria
i. By the end of the war Brlly Bishop rvas
by Bntarn and the highest honours of
on Ap|il 21, 19 i8. Roy Brovvn shot dorvn the R-ed Baron r,,,ho -,vas
killed at ihe age
of