The technology of air power during the great war

AbstractThis paper traces the technological advancement in military aviation during the First World War. The quality of aircraft, tactics, photography and weaponry is examined by the author to demonstrate the rapid improvement in aerial combat throughout the war years. The author postulates that the increasing reliance on technology in the field of military aviation fostered the positive and optimistic outlook on technology now held by 20th Century man. In other words, the war experience is perceived as the borderline between the ambivalence toward technology characteristic of 19th Century culture and the 20th Century confidence in contemporary technology