Man is a warlike creature. It took only eight years to realize the beautiful dream of flying freely in the air and letting death go to heaven. The first real air battle was three years later.
With the progress of science and technology, steam engines, motors, internal combustion engines and other power devices have come out one after another, and the power source of balloons has been solved. Therefore, people have carried out a comprehensive study on flying balloon-airship. 1852, French engineer Giffard made a study. In September of the same year, Giffard made its first test flight and achieved success.
After many tests, it is found that there are many problems in the flexible airship, and the airbag of the airship is not only difficult to keep the shape unchanged, but also easy to be damaged. So, someone tried to fix an annular keel in the airbag and succeeded. This is a semi-rigid airship. Later, a flying enthusiast in Germany made an external bracket for the airship airbag with wooden materials, and fixed the airbag in the bracket to keep its shape, thus making a rigid airship. This improvement not only completely solves the problem of keeping the shape of the airbag, but also facilitates the control of the airship. This structure has gradually become the standard style of future airships.
1At the end of 885, German engineers Ben Ci and Daimler jointly invented a practical gasoline engine, which provided mankind with a power plant with greater thrust. Since then, the development of aircraft has become faster and faster.
1898, Zeppelin, Germany designed and manufactured the rigid airship for the first time. This airship uses a complete skeleton to keep the shape of the airbag, and uses a piston engine as the power, so it has good flight performance and heavy load. 1900, Zeppelin successfully flew over Lake Constance in his huge rigid airship, causing a sensation. 1903, the French Lebodi brothers built the world's first truly practical airship. This airship flew 6 1. 1.02 that year.
Since then, the development of balloons and airships has entered a peak period, and they have been widely used in military and transportation fields. Militarily, Germany, France, Russia, Britain and other countries have set up airship troops to introduce airships into the battlefield. For example, in the Italian-Turkish war of 19 1 1, Italy used three airships for reconnaissance and bombing of Turkey for the first time. 1965438+On August 5, 2004, German supplies Berlin airship bombed the French fortress city of Liege on a large scale; A year later, the Germans sent five LZ-38 led zeppelin planes across the English Channel to bomb London. Seven people were killed and more than 30 people were injured, which caused the "Led Zeppelin" panic among the British. In terms of transportation, on June 28th, 19 10, Germany established a regular airship air route between Frankfurt and Dü sseldorf. The LZ-7 led zeppelin, which can carry 24 passengers and 12 aircrew, flies at a speed of over 70km per hour. 19 12, it took led zeppelin 20 days to fly around the world for the first time.
1903 12 17, the Wright brothers conducted the first continuous flight test of power and maneuver in human history. In the test, the plane successfully flew about 260 meters. The media widely reported the breakthrough of the Wright brothers. However, this success has not attracted the attention and recognition of the American government and the public. European countries can hardly believe this. Nine days after the Wright brothers successfully flew, a plane developed by Langley crashed in the test flight, which further affected the promotion of the plane. Americans generally criticize the development of airplanes as a waste of taxpayers' money. The Wright brothers were disappointed that their efforts for several years were not recognized, and even wanted to say goodbye to the plane at one time. After a period of calm thinking, the Wright brothers are determined to continue the development work. They firmly believe that their achievements will be fairly evaluated sooner or later. In order not to arouse public criticism, the Wright brothers kept the development work a secret. 1905, they built a plane that could stay in the air for more than half an hour. The Wright brothers intend to send the plane to the American government, but the authorities still ignore their achievements. In desperation, the Wright brothers had to temporarily suspend their research on airplanes.
Driven by the achievements of the Wright brothers, the aviation industry in Europe, especially in France, made great progress in 1909. In August this year, a grand flight rally was held in Reims, France, and European pilots successively set various flight records. However, what shocked the world strongly was the French pilot Louis Blériot. He successfully flew the plane across the English Channel and landed on the land of Great Britain. This incident not only left a deep impression on the world public, but also surprised the British people: they realized some sudden danger. With the development of aircraft, they have a hunch that it is impossible to guarantee national security by relying solely on maritime defense forces in the future.
With the continuous development of aviation industry, military authorities in various countries have realized the development prospect of aviation gas in the military field, and major European countries have also begun to collect various aircraft for the army. But at this time, the plane is mainly used for reconnaissance, and the development of the plane is mostly carried out by private people, so the progress is quite slow. In Germany, people's interest mainly focused on the huge led zeppelin, because public donations made Led Zeppelin continue to engage in research and development as a pioneer of the airship, and finally proved the practical value of this airship to the Germans. In the other two aviation powers, France and Britain, aircraft began to receive more attention.
However, the soldiers can't wait to use this new weapon in the war. Although there are still many problems with airplanes at this time, and even often bring some disastrous consequences, soldiers with dangerous careers can't care so much. Therefore, this plane made its debut in the Italian-Turkish war.
By the outbreak of the First World War, although aviation was still in a rather naive period, aircraft had already shown its extraordinary role and broad development prospects in practice. The weapons and equipment on the plane gradually developed from pistols and grenades to machine guns and bombs. Subsequent war practice has proved that the participation of aircraft in the war has fundamentally changed the whole combat style and battlefield appearance of the war. Human killing also flew into the air from the ground and the sea.
1914 In August, the first world war broke out, which brought great disasters to human society. At that time, it was an unpredictable new war: a huge army, dense soldiers, months or even years of front confrontation ... before the war, no one expected that the plane would advance by leaps and bounds in this war. However, facts have proved to people that this war has sown many styles of air combat. Since then, the idea of air combat has been lingering in the minds of the world, which has further changed the face of the whole war.
For hundreds of years, cavalry has always regarded itself as the eyes of the army, because it can search the enemy and report the enemy's situation to the headquarters. However, in World War I, the cavalry was "threatened" by airplanes, because an airplane could complete the same reconnaissance mission at an altitude of several hundred feet, and the pilot could send the obtained information to the headquarters in a few minutes.
Reconnaissance is the first application field of aircraft in the military, and it is also the core task of aircraft in the early stage of war. 1965438+On September 3, 2004, a French reconnaissance plane found that the Germans no longer rushed forward around the western suburbs of Paris, but rushed eastward into the city, thus exposing their right wing. This information enabled the French army to seize the weakness of the Germans. The French army seized the opportunity and launched the massive Battle of the Marne River, which stopped the German attack and reversed the unfavorable situation on the battlefield.
At the earliest time, there were no weapons installed on the plane, just for reconnaissance. You fly over, I fly over, greet you when I meet you, and wave like a gentleman. However, the good times did not last long, and soon the era of air combat came.
The first air battle in human history: during World War I, French pilot Andre flew a biplane to Liè ge, Belgium to carry out reconnaissance missions; At the same time, German pilot Hans also flew a plane to the Marne River to perform the same task. Two planes met head-on in the air. Hans waved to each other like a gentleman according to the pilot's rules, but Andre didn't buy it. Instead, he held out his little finger derisively. This insult made Hans very angry.
Revenge prompted Hans to immediately turn his nose and pounce on Andre. Andre did not show weakness. He drove Hawke back and shook his little finger at Hans again. Damn it! Hans pulled out his gun and fired, and Andre fired back with his gun, so the two men fought in the air. However, the bullets of the two men bounced off, and neither of them could kill the other, so they soon lost interest. So the two simply waved goodbye and parted ways. The first air battle in human history ended so hastily.
However, the quarrelling between the two men in the air made the military strategists enlightened. After Hans returned to the camp, he was full of complaints, which made the Germans excited. The first armed soldier in the history of human war was born.
10.5, French pilot Joseph Franz and sergeant Louis Kai Nuo, mechanic and observer, patrolled the position with a Wazzan plane. This kind of plane has a compact structure, two seats and a propulsion engine. The observer is located in the front of the guidance cabin and operates a movable Lewis light machine gun with a caliber of 0.303 inch. Lewis light machine gun was one of the most advanced vehicle-mounted machine guns at that time. This machine gun is a light air-cooled weapon designed by American Colonel saac lewis in the early 20th century. It has a drum magazine with 47-90 bullets in it, which is inserted at the top of the magazine. After removing the barrel sleeve, the machine gun is much lighter and is a good airborne weapon. Sergeant Kai Nuo put the machine gun on the nose, and the base of the machine gun is movable. He fiddled with the machine gun, wondering if it really worked, and wanted to have a chance to try it. Just as his fingers itched, an unlucky German avia Tick two-seat reconnaissance plane came into his sight. Franz flew over, and the German plane didn't rush to escape, because the pilot didn't see the terrible machine gun. When the distance between the two planes approached, the terrible machine gun spewed "flames", and the panicked German plane was hit and crashed in a short time. This is the first machine gun air combat in the history of war, and the era of air pursuit and annihilation begins.
In World War I, aircraft were also widely used in air-ground cooperative operations. In the battle of Cambre on1917165438+120, the British army sent more than 1000 planes to participate in the war. These planes covered the rumble of tanks with the noise of low-altitude hovering, supported the action of ground troops with ground bombing and machine gun strafe, and bombed the German artillery and headquarters. After a fierce battle of 10 hour, the British army broke through the German defense line, captured more than 8,000 enemies and seized more than 100 guns. 165438+1On October 30th, the Germans counterattacked with the support of more than 1000 planes, recovered lost territory, captured more than 9,000 enemy troops, and seized 0/08 tanks 148 artillery pieces/kloc-0. This campaign was the first coordinated operation of tanks, planes, infantry and artillery, which laid the foundation for the emergence of the theory of coordinated operation. The low-altitude attack tactics of aviation have also been developed in this campaign. During this period, the Germans were in a leading position in the cooperation between the aircraft and the army. They specially produced armored J-class aircraft and light CL-class aircraft for attacking ground targets.
Germany's J-class Junk aircraft is the prototype of modern attack aircraft. Its fuselage is all made of aluminum alloy, and its belly is equipped with down-fired machine guns. The cockpit is surrounded by 5 mm thick steel plates. The aircraft carries cluster grenades and hand-thrown light bombs, which can effectively carry out the task of attacking the ground. Germany also defined the specific application method of aviation in coordinated operations of various services and arms +09 18 in the detailed rules of Attack in positional warfare promulgated on June 26th, 2008. 1918 On March 2, 20081day, the German Air Force implemented this detailed rule in the attack on Piccadilly. Reconnaissance aviation flies first, conducts battlefield surveillance, and collects intelligence so that the headquarters can grasp the assault process at any time; Destroy aviation and master "air superiority"; The attacking aviation immediately went into battle, strafing the enemy infantry and artillery. The next day, German infantry, supported by 30 attack planes, crushed the resistance of the 50th and 6th1divisions of the British army. On the third day, the German attack on the aviation effectively stopped the advance of the British Fifth Army reserve, and dealt a blow to the retreating British army and the trench team. This campaign has accumulated rich experience in using aviation in coordinated operations.
1965438+In August 2004, the Royal Navy modified three seaplane carriers, each of which can carry three seaplanes. 1914165438+10. In October, the Royal Navy decided to use these three water carriers to launch an attack on the led zeppelin warehouse south of the port of Cook from the sea. This will be a real naval aviation operation. The aircraft will take off from the mother ship at sea and attack targets far beyond the operational radius of any land-based aircraft.
On February 24th 17, a huge fleet consisting of three water carriers, two cruisers, 10 destroyer and 10 submarine set off from Harich. Under the cover of darkness, the fleet successfully passed through the North Sea at 4: 30 a.m. and arrived at the scheduled position 40 nautical miles north of Vango in Frisia Islands at 6: 00 sharp.