The first world war has been raging on for almost 3 years already. It is 7 November 1916. This is the first war fought on such a large scale, as the battlefields range from Western Europe to Africa to Eastern Europe and the Middle-East. Never before a war of this enormity was waged. This also, aside from the first global war, the first war to be fueled by the industry. Industry and war are now working together with lethal effects. Human lives seem worthless and are thrown away uselessly as the conflict progresses. After both sides realised on the Western front that they could not break through the enemies defences, they dug in. After digging in more about 2 and a half year ago, both sides are still hidden in their trenches. Both sides, realising victory through normal means is impossible, have started a new way of warfare. The attrition war. They now try to kill as many foes and demoralise theml as much as possible instead of winning and gaining terrain. The one side to have their enemies all dead or on the run the first wins, but for 2 and a half year the situation hasn't changed a bit. Meanhile on the seas the bitter conflict also remains undecided. Even after the Battle of Jutland, about 3 months ago, the war still rages on over the seas. But, for the first time, war is also waged in the air. Brave pilots overcome the dangerous and instable planes to take the fight into the skies, conducting knightly duels with enemy aircraft. The pilots of these new machines are admired amongst all people, braving unknown yet terrible odds of survival every day. However, not all is sunshine and flowers. The life of a pilot is a hard one. The average pilot's career lasted 2 to 3 weeks, and the average age was between 20 and 26 years old. They flew the earliest and inreliable planes, scary to fly even during good circumstances, during war. When crashing on your own was that easy already, death was very frequent when you added enemy fire, both from planes and AA. The very first planes in the war were used as scouts and observers for artillery. They used a morse machine with an easy code to relay the information towards the artillery so they could easier adjust fire and score their marks. However, pilots soon realised they could take weapons aboard, and on 5 Octobre 1914 the first plane is shot down. During the past year the different plane building companies have created dozens more of planes, and new innovative ways of adding armament. Roland Garros created a system with which he could fire throguh his propellor without damaging it, but after he crashed the Germans captured it and spread an improved version of it amogst their ranks. The genius Dutch planebuilder Fokker synchronised the machineguns with the propellor so it was impossible to hit the propellor while firing. Not much later, the Allies captured his design and included it in their own planes.
You are a volunteer. Welcome to the Royal aviation school. Here you will learn your theoretical and practical lessons with the aircraft. You will learn about how your plane works, how to operate it, how to navigate above the clouds, how to predict the weather, how torepair your plane, and how to kill your enemies. If you ahve shown capable enough, you might join one of our glorious escadrilles, squadrons or jastas. Ifyou are not, you will still be allowed into the artillery regiments as a spotter or as a bomber pilot, as we would not want to waste your enthousiasm and skill. Good luck!
Originally Posted by reccon
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