What country held the edge in military aircraft during World War 1?

Answer 1

This is actually a difficult question to fairly. Many countries were involved in the pioneering of fighter based aviation, and pushed the limits design and more. It really is a matter of personal opinion concering which was the most prominent. This is based less on the pilots than on the advances in aviation and aviation tactics.

France. This is based on the fact that many French aircraft were adopted by other countries. The aviation branch of the US Army obtained most of their airplanes from France. France developed some of the greatest aircraft including the SPAD.

England had designers like Tommy Sopwith who designed aircraft that were able to compete head on with the Fokker designs. His work included the Camel, Snipe, Pup, Triplane and others. The SE5a, by the Royal Aircraft Factory, helped halt the horrible Bloody April of 1917.

Italy became a prominent aviation leader soon after WW1 and broke many aviation records.

United States ranked at the bottom of the list. US had very few aircraft in 1916. They had to buy aircraft from France or England. The only aircraft that was made in the USAand flown in combat was the DH-4 with the Liberty engine (some Curtis seaplanes also flew coastal patrols).

Germany should also be a consideration because of it's pioneering in aviation warfare tactics. Read up on Boelcke's Dicta which laid out the rules of combat for air warfare. This dicta is still in use to this day. Oswald Boelcke was considered one of the great pilots because of his grasp of tactics. Another German pilot who also aided in the development of fighter tactics was Manfred Von Richthoven. He advanced Boelcke's ideas and build up one of the most feared fighter units of the war.

German aircraft helped with their supremacy in the air during a lot of the war. However the designer of many of the German aircraft was a Dutchman named Anthony Fokker. His aircraft design led to what was called the Fokker Scourge. It was also Fokker who developed the synchronization gear that allowed machine guns to shoot between the propeller blades, thus allowing the first true fighter aircraft to take off in effectiveness.

Answer 2

France helped the Allies have the advantage in war planes during WW 1. France was a leader in aircraft due in part for its focus on building many more planes than did Germany. France was a leader in aircraft technology and as a whole the Allies built over 120,000 fighter and bomber planes than did Germany which built only 48,000.