---
title: "History of aviation"
chunk: 11/15
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_aviation"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:59:18.099578+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Almost as soon as they were invented, aeroplanes were used for military purposes. The first country to use them for military purposes was Italy, whose aircraft made reconnaissance, bombing and artillery correction flights in Libya during the Italian-Turkish war (September 1911 – October 1912). This war also saw Ottoman soldiers shoot down a warplane for the first time in history. The first warplane reconnaissance mission flown on 23 October 1911 by the Italian air force's Captain Carlo Piazza, and the first bombing mission was flown on 1 November 1911 by Italy's Second Lieutenant Giolio Gavotti. Bulgaria later followed this example. Its planes attacked and reconnoitred Ottoman positions during the First Balkan War 1912–13. The first war to see major use of aeroplanes in offensive, defensive and reconnaissance capabilities was World War I. The Allies and Central Powers both used aeroplanes and airships extensively.
While the concept of using the aeroplane as an offensive weapon was generally discounted before World War I, the idea of using it for photography was one that was not lost on any of the major forces. All of the major forces in Europe had light aircraft, typically derived from pre-war sporting designs, attached to their reconnaissance departments. Radiotelephones were also being explored on aeroplanes, notably the SCR-68, as communication between pilots and ground commander grew more and more important.

=== World War I (1914–1918) ===

==== Combat schemes ====

It was not long before aircraft were shooting at each other, but the lack of any sort of steady point for the gun was a problem. The French solved this problem when, in late 1914, Roland Garros attached a fixed machine gun to the front of his plane. Adolphe Pegoud became known as the first "ace", getting credit for five victories before also becoming the first ace to die in action, it was German Luftstreitkräfte Leutnant Kurt Wintgens who, on 1 July 1915, scored the very first aerial victory by a purpose-built fighter plane, with a synchronized machine gun.
Aviators were styled as modern-day knights, doing individual combat with their enemies. Several pilots became famous for their air-to-air combat; the most well known is Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the "Red Baron", who shot down 80 planes in air-to-air combat with several different planes, the most celebrated of which was the Fokker Dr.I. On the Allied side, René Paul Fonck is credited with the most all-time victories at 75, even when later wars are considered.
France, Britain, Germany, and Italy were the leading manufacturers of fighter planes that saw action during the war, with German aviation technologist Hugo Junkers showing the way to the future through his pioneering use of all-metal aircraft from late 1915.

=== Between the World Wars (1918–1939) ===