What is the most shocking thing about the air force in World War 1?

Answer 1

1: Most shocking thing about the US air force was that it did not exist. The US had very few airplanes or pilots. The air force was actually assigned to the Army Air Corps of the US Army. When the US decided to go to war in 1917, they had to obtain older aircraft from France.

2: The rapid advancements in technology was amazing. The Wright Brothers first flew in 1903, and a few years after this, the a/c development was very slow. However, by 1916, the aircraft was armed and flying acrobatic maneuvers. By 1917, multi-engine bombers were flying long-range bombing missions.

Custermen

The most shocking thing to modern thinking is the lack of parachutes. Although parachutes were available, and used by balloon operators, airplane pilots were forbidden to wear them. They were seen as detrimental to the "fighting spirit of pilots and [might] cause them to abandon machines which might otherwise be capable of returning to base for repair". This condemned many pilots to a terrible death. With no way to bail out of the aircraft they had no choice but to crash. An even worse fait was when the airplane caught fire (not an uncommon thing) and the pilot, if he survived, would be horribly burned. A pilot's greatest fear was to be shot down in flames. There are many eye witness accounts of pilots leaping out of burning airplanes to avoid burning to death - although they died, at least it wasn't as terrifying in their minds.

Towards the end of the war, the German government relented and allowed their pilots to use parachutes, but the British, French and US governments didn't until after the war.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above comment is true, and many pilots were horribly burned. Some, like the ace Raoul Lufbery, jumped to their deaths rather than burn. Yet, whatever the official reason, the only practical material for making parachutes at that time was silk which was expensive and in short supply. This factor would have been especially important to Germany which was forced to weigh flour with sawdust to make enough ersatz bread for the German Army. Also, a parachute would have added another 60lb to the fighter plane and cut down on its performance. After the war, improved aircraft could more easily carry the extra weight of parachutes (and radios). The balloon observers had no chance of crash-landing if their balloon was shot down, so it was logical that the parachutes should go to them.

I agree with Custermen. The most shocking thing about war in the air is how quickly the airplane changed from an unarmed reconnaissance machine to the deadly fighter and bomber, and there was none of the romantic chivalry as portrayed in many films. On the ground or in the air, by 1916 it was kill or be killed on the Western Front. Second Lieutenant Frank Luke (the Balloon Buster), 27th Aero Squadron, is a good example. Several articles about him on the Web, including WikiPedia and Hall of Heroes.com. Luke had confirmed kills of four enemy fighters and fourteen balloons, and he did it primarily for his ego, as did his fellow pilots on both sides of the air war.