Wings Assignment #2 - Rachael Kneice

1. Did flight have any influence outside of aviation? If so, how?

                The new discoveries being made with flight influenced and intrigued much more than just the aviators of the day. Artists and poets became excited. Pablo Picasso was involved in building model airplanes, and produced a piece entitled “Still Life: Our Future is in the Air.” This piece was reflecting on how important aviation was becoming to the defense of countries. An Italian poet wrote about planes, and was the leader of a new artistic movement called Futurism, and believed that “artists should participate in technologies that will shape the future” (Crouch, 122). Popular culture was also impacted. Theater presentations, toys, puzzles, postcards, and comic books; all were being swept up in the aviation movement.

6. How did the military use the airplane prior to and during WWI?

                Before the war, militaries around the world started experimenting with aircraft. During the Balkan Wars, the countries of Turkey and Bulgaria each had aircraft and used them as reconnaissance planes. Everyone could see how this would change and that “the sky has become a new battlefield” (Crouch, 150). During the First World War, airplanes quickly took over the cavalry’s role of being the long-range eyes and ears of the armies (Crouch, 153). France and Germany were the main leaders of the war in the air. In 1915, machine guns were mounted on planes so that they could bring down enemy planes while in the air. Tactical maneuvers and group missions began to evolve and develop between the countries.

7. What was the cult of the heroic airman?

                The author states that the cult of the heroic airman “began as a natural extension of the adulation lavished on the aeronautical heroes of the prewar era” (Crouch, 156). France already greatly honored their racing and exhibition pilots, and so they considered it heroic and worthy of celebration when these pilots and others went off to defend their country. The news of the great deeds and courage of these men in the air inspired others to put on uniforms and enlist. The author also puts emphasis on these great men, and states that “aviators would emerge as the most celebrated heroes of war” (Crouch, 158).