Download or read book French Aircraft in the First World War written by Vital Ferry and published by . This book was released on 2015-01-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the cradle of aviation, at the beginning of the Great War, France had access to only a few dozen military aircraft, with a staff who didn't quite know what to do with them. However, during the course of the conflict, the embryonic Air Force, dedicated to the creation of reconnaissance and bombing missions, evolved like wildfire to the point that by the Armistice of 11 November 1918, French military aviation had become one of the world's most powerful as a result of the construction of 10,000 aircraft spread throughout nearly 300 squadrons. Having became the first nation equipped with an air force, the French aviation industry in its infancy before the war, had been able to produce in four years 50,000 aircraft, may of which would go on to support a number of her allies, including Britain, Russia and especially the United States. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of the French Air Force from 1914 to 1918 through a historical narrative peppered with anecdotes and illustrated with many unpublished pictures from the period and profiles of the most iconic devices. The work is complete with full specifications of aircraft built and used by France during the four years of the Great War.
Download or read book The Rise and Fall of the French Air Force written by Greg Baughen and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 10 May 1940, the French possessed one of the largest air forces in the world. On paper, it was nearly as strong as the RAF. Six weeks later, France had been defeated. For a struggling French Army desperately looking for air support, the skies seemed empty of friendly planes. In the decades that followed, the debate raged. Were there unused stockpiles of planes? Were French aircraft really so inferior? Baughen examines the myths that surround the French defeat. He explains how at the end of the First World War, the French had possessed the most effective air force in the world, only for the lessons learned to be forgotten. Instead, air policy was guided by radical theories that predicted air power alone would decide future wars. Baughen traces some of the problems back to the very earliest days of French aviation. He describes the mistakes and bad luck that dogged the French efforts to modernise their air force in the twenties and thirties. He examines how decisions made just months before the German attack further weakened the air force. Yet defeat was not inevitable. If better use had been made of the planes that were available, the result might have been different.
Download or read book French Aircraft 1939 1942 Dewoitine to Potez written by André Jouineau and published by . This book was released on 2005-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thanks to this second volume, every single one of France's combat aircraft (fighters, bombers and recce aircraft) in the early years of W.W.II is now offered to the international audience, including the lesser known types. Each type is featured with an historical text, period photographs and color profiles.
Download or read book French Aeroplanes Before the Great War written by Leonard E. Opdycke and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 1999 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: French Aeroplanes Before the Great War is a catalog of the aeroplanes of the nearly 700 French builders who worked before the onset of World War I. Most of these aeroplanes flew some did not some were never even finished but all of them reflect the extraordinary vitality and sense of optimism that powered the aeronautical world before the future of the aeroplane began to become clearer in wartime. If the Wrights had not flown in 1903, one of the early French builders would very quickly have won the laurels for the first flight. Some of the machines appear in these pages probably for the first time in print; others are rarely seen. This collection serves as a kind of super Exposition Internationale de Locomotion Arienne; readers are invited to enter the Grand Palais, as they might have in 1908 or 1909, to enjoy these marvelous aircraft.
Download or read book The French Air Force in the First World War written by Ian Sumner and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2018-01-30 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The French air force of the First World War developed as fast as the British and German air forces, yet its history, and the enormous contribution it made to the eventual French victory, is often forgotten. So Ian Sumner's photographic history, which features almost 200 images, most of which have not been published before, is a fascinating and timely introduction to the subject. The fighter pilots, who usually dominate perceptions of the war in the air, play a leading role in the story, in particular the French aces, the small group of outstanding airmen whose exploits captured the publics imagination. Their fame, though, tends to distract attention from the ordinary unremembered airmen who formed the body of the air force throughout the war years. Ian Sumner tells their story too, as well as describing in a sequence of memorable photographs the less well-known branches of the service the bomber and reconnaissance pilots and the variety of primitive warplanes they flew.
Download or read book L Arm e Franc aise written by Edouard Detaille and published by Waxtel & Hasenauer. This book was released on 1992 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First produced in 1883, this book revisits the French armies of the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the Mexican Expedition, and the Conquest of North Africa, among others.
Download or read book Vichy Air Force at War written by Jonathan Sutherland and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "At the beginning of World War II the French faced the German invasion with 4,360 modern combat aircraft and 790 new machines currently arriving from French and American factories each month. When the phony war finally ended, some 119 of 210 squadrons were ready for action on the north-eastern front. The others were reequipping or stationed in the French colonies. Of the 119 squadrons France could bring into action only one-fourth of the aircraft were battle-ready.With France overrun by June 1940, what remained of the French air force was either concentrated in the unoccupied zone or had been hastily redeployed to the colonies. Nonetheless, in retaliation for the British attack on the French fleet in Oran, French bombers, based in French Morocco, carried out retaliatory air raids over Gibraltar. The Armee de l'Air de Vichy was born and would fight to the best of its ability against the Free French's allies in theatres as distant as north-west Africa, Syria, Lebanon, Madagascar and the Far East. Not only would they take to the skies against the British and later the Americans, they would also willingly take part in aerial duels against Free French pilots.Only a handful of books have been written on French aircraft, but never has there been a complete history of the operations of the Vichy Air Force and its fratricidal war. This title literally spans the globe, examining forgotten air combats. It is also important to note that many of the Vichy pilots that survived the air combats later volunteered to join the Free French and would fight with great courage and distinction alongside the very pilots that they had been trying to kill.rnrnThis book describes all major theatres of combat, examines the aircraft flown and lengthy appendices cover operational units, victory credits and the Aeronautique Navale"--Dust jacket.
Download or read book Beyond the Beach written by Stephen Bourque and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2018-04-15 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An important rethinking of the Normandy war narrative Beyond the Beach examines the Allied air war against France in 1944. During this period, General Dwight David Eisenhower, as Supreme Allied Commander, took control of all American, British, and Canadian air units and employed them for tactical and operational purposes over France rather than as a strategic force to attack targets deep in Germany. Using bombers as his long-range artillery, he directed the destruction of bridges, rail centers, ports, military installations, and even French towns with the intent of preventing German reinforcements from interfering with Operation Neptune, the Allied landings on the Normandy beaches. Ultimately, this air offensive resulted in the death of over 60,000 French civilians and an immense amount of damage to towns, churches, buildings, and works of art. This intense bombing operation, conducted against a friendly occupied state, resulted in a swath of physical and human destruction across northwest France that is rarely discussed as part of the D-Day landings. This book explores the relationship between ground and air operations and its effects on the French population. It examines the three broad groups that the air operations involved, the doctrine and equipment used by Allied air force leaders to implement Eisenhower’s plans, and each of the eight major operations, called lines of effort, that coordinated the employment of the thousands of fighters, medium bombers, and heavy bombers that prowled the French skies that spring and summer of 1944. Each of these sections discusses the operation's purpose, conduct, and effects upon both the military and the civilian targets. Finally, the book explores the short and long-term effects of these operations and argues that this ignored narrative should be part of any history of the D-Day landings.
Download or read book Unflinching Zeal written by Robin Higham and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2012-09-15 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This consequential work by a pioneer aviation historian fills a significant lacuna in the story of the defeat of France in May-June 1940 and more fully explains the Battle of Britain of July–October of that year and the influence it had on the Luftwaffe in the 1941 invasion of the USSR. Robin Higham approaches the subject by sketching the story and status of the three air forces--the Armée de l’Air, the Luftwaffe, and the Royal Air Force--their organization and preparation for their battles. He then dissects the the campaigns, their losses and replacement policies and abilities. He paints the struggles of France and Britain from both the background provided by his recent Two Roads to War: From Versailles to Dunkirk (NIP, 2012) and from the details of losses tabulated by After the Battle’s The Battle of Britain (1982, 2nd ed.) and Peter Cornwell’s The Battle of France Then and Now (2007), as well as in Paul Martin’s Invisible Vainqueurs (1990) and from the Luftwaffe summaries in the British National Archives Cabinet papers. One important finding is that the consumption and wastage was not nearly as high as claimed. The three air forces actually shot down only 19 percent of the number claimed. In the RAF case, in the summer of 1940, 44 percent of those shot down were readily repairable thanks to the salvage and repair organizations. This contrasted with the much lower 8 percent for the Germans and zero for the French. Brave as the aircrews may have been, the inescapable conclusion is that awareness of consumption, wastage, and sustainability were intimately connected to survival.
Download or read book A Concise History of the U S Air Force written by Stephen Lee McFarland and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 1997 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.
Download or read book French Flying Boats of WWII written by Gérard Bousquet and published by MMP. This book was released on 2013 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here you will find a global and unique coverage of the subject. This work will also help you fill out your knowledge and will be a very useful reference work. In addition to monographs of each aircraft type, whole families of aircraft are presented along with comparative studies, which set French aviation in the context of the period, thus giving an appreciation of its real value. The text has been illustrated with photographs and high quality color profiles.REVIEWS MMP has a deserved reputation for providing superbly researched and usable books that are a delight for both the enthusiast and modeler. This one has raised that bar another notch in terms of the sheer wealth of information that has been provided on what is to many, a pretty obscure, yet historically important subject. It is an absolute must have for any modeler and a book that gets my highest recommendation.Model Madness The lavishly illustrated, annotated account begins with sections recapping French naval aviation in 1939, technical programs, asset dispositions and losses...Photos, drawings and color profiles by the late, great Teodor Liviu Morosanu illustrate text... The stunning illustration of "Antares" in aluminum and anti-corrosion red with "livree d'esclave" Vichy red-and-yellow "slave stripes" nearly gave me whiplash...Roundly recommended.Cybermodeler
Download or read book Military Aviation written by Clément Ader and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book--the first English translation of Clm̌ent Ader's L'Aviation militaire--contains Ader's ideas about flight formed in the last decade of the nineteenth century, arranged in manuscript form by Ader in 1907, and published in 1909 in Paris by Berger-Levrault. The text is reproduced in its entirety, including notes added by Ader and explanatory notes and a bibliographical note by the editor and translator, Lee Kennett. Ader explains his ideas about the development of airplanes based on creatures in nature. He studied the bat and the bird, especially the vulture. Chapters detail the design of bases for aircraft, runway construction, naval airplanes, vertical artillery, air lanes, schools of aviation, and strategy for waging war in the air.
Download or read book The Great War in the Air written by John H. Morrow and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2009-01-13 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Starting in 1909 with the beginnings of military aviation and the aviation industry and ending with their catastrophic postwar contraction, the book examines the totality of the air war: its heroism, romantic myths, politics, strategies, and cost in men and materiel. John H. Morrow, Jr., also elaborates on the advancements in aircraft and engine technology and production during airpower's development into a viable and threatening military weapon within a decade of its origins.
Download or read book A clash of military cultures German French written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Military Aircraft Origins to 1918 written by Justin D. Murphy and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2005-04-27 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An expert examination of the evolution of military aviation and its profound impact on warfare—from the employment of balloons during the French Revolutionary wars to the use of aircraft in World War I. Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918: An Illustrated History of Their Impact is a detailed, authoritative exploration of the role and development of military aviation, from its beginnings to the conclusion of World War I. Military history scholar Justin Murphy carefully illustrates the impact of aircraft on military warfare, examines the different types of aircraft, and includes a wealth of photographs and descriptions. Organized thematically, the work covers everything from the origins of military aviation and the impact of aircraft on World War I to the role of reconnaissance missions, auxiliary aircraft, fighters, and bombers. Each chapter highlights key individuals, advancements in aviation technology, industrial organization and aircraft production, and the influence of aircraft on military tactics and strategy. Murphy also demonstrates how aircraft contributed to the development of total war and blurred the lines that had traditionally separated combatants and noncombatants.
Download or read book Aviation in the U S Army 1919 1939 written by Maurer Maurer and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 706 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Birth of Military Aviation written by Hugh Driver and published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd. This book was released on 1997 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A survey of the development of British military aviation from 1903 to 1914, revealing the consequences of its annexation by the state as a branch of armaments as an underlying cause of aircraft inadequacies on the outbreak of war. A mine of information, drawing on an impressive range of archives. It will become an important point of reference. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW This book aims to demonstrate how the crisis evident in British military aviation in the early years of the First World War was inherent in the entire development of aviation in the years preceding the conflict. After outlining the work of the early pioneers and the growth of an aviation industry as a branch of armaments, Dr Driver considers the objectives of the War Office in increasingly seeking to divert design development to their research establishment at Farnborough. He shows how the resultant virtual state monopoly in designand procurement had disastrous consequences for aircraft innovation and development, suffocating both competition and initiative, and leading to the maintenance of inadequate aircraft by the Royal Flying Corps following the outbreak of war. The continuing dispute and its culmination in the "Fokker Scourge" controversy of 1915-1916 graphically characterise the strained development of military-industrial relations in this area. Dr HUGH DRIVER gained an MA in War Studies from King's College London, and a D.Phil in modern history at Oriel College, Oxford.
