Did planes play a significant role during the first world war at all?

>>1835419
yes.

They were first used in primarily reconissance roles, but eventually became valuable for ground strikes and such. They changed the flow of the war, and all wars, forever.

So, no.

>>1835419
Yes. They all first started out doing very useful shit such as
>Artillery Spotters
>Aerial Reconnaissances
Then planes with the express purpose of shooting these fuckers down showed up. Touching off an arms race.

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Yes, they were used for reconnaissance and bombing (obviously on a smaller scale than later periods).

It's a big plus if you get to see the enemy's artillery and/or see where your artillery can hit them.

>>1835419
>Ottomans trying to take the Suez
>been planning this for years
>Have wells dug in the desert so the army can cross it
>sneak across the desert
>"they'll never see us coming!"

Planes see them coming

>Absolutely destroy the Turk forces

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Zhere are even whole legendary figures related to planes in first world war. If it was irrelevant so would the pilots be irrelevant

>>1835830
Not necessarily. The air war was mostly glorified due to its knightly duel character which contrasted with the faceless masses that clashed on the ground. Propaganda also played a role on both sides. In terms of tactical value, the air war was mostly about reconnaissance for artillery strikes, as others mentioned already. Air superiority in WW1 was not nearly as decisive as in WW2.

>>1835430
>Artillery Spotters

Really?
How did they communicate with the artillery crews without radio?

Balloons were used for arty spooting

>>1835999

Balloons were on the own side of the front. Planes could fly on top of enemy lines or behind them and photograph the ground.

Shooting down enemy balloons was also on of the most dangerous duties of scouts (as fighter planes were knwon back then).

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This is an extremely good book on the subject by a man who was there.

>>1836100
Were balloons only used for spotting?

>>1836184

General intelligence gathering as well. Funnily enough the people in the balloons were given parachutes, but the men flying the planes didn't get them (with the exception of Germans in the very late war) because it was thought that they would immediately abandon their plane at the slightest sign of trouble.

Pilots carried handguns with them mainly in order to shoot themselves if they were burning or spiraling to their death since they couldn't do anything about it.

>>1836192
Damn

>>1836192
Harsh

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>>1835999
Visual signals like lamps or signal flares
They also had one way radios (only morse code), but they were heavy and slowed down the aircraft.

If a rad recon plane had not spotted the Huns pushing towards Paris the war could have been completely different

>>1836184
No they were used for birthdays

>>1836511
they use exactly that lamp for artillery ranging in Wings: https://youtu.be/_DyqFxfLx2o?t=40m35s

Good series, if a little focused on the personal drama. Made when WW1 was still living memory.