French Combat Tactics

[Pips 5]

For a really good breakdown of how the French trained their pilots (and which the fledgling USAS adopted) check out Flyright's post here:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2517302/WWI_Basic_Combat_Maneuver_draw.html

 

Excellent detail.

[Olham 164]

Fine stuff - I'll copy all drawings onto my rig. Thanks for posting, Pips!

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

That is an excellent reference source Pips, I have all those charts in my collection in various forms, and Flyright's notes are great. Thanks for sharing Sir. BTW, I have used such original drawings and training notes in the past to learn each of those various maneuvers in OFF, and they can all be picked up very well from these sources. I used the N17 to originally get the hang of the 'Vrille', the 'Virage', the 'Renversement' and the rest when I first began in OFF. If you get them to become second nature to you, you will increase your odds of survival a hundredfold in the virtual skies.

 

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[Hasse Wind 46]

If you get them to become second nature to you, you will increase your odds of survival a hundredfold in the virtual skies.

 

At least if you're a scout pilot. My Fee gunner disagrees with vrilles and stuff!

 

I've sometimes wondered just how many more British pilots would have survived the war if the RFC leadership had decided to imitate the French and spend some extra resources for improving pilot training. The Americans were definitely wise to adopt the French system as a basis for their own pilot training.

[Shiloh 12]

I need to work on some of my maneuvers - thanks Pips!

[Mike Dora 171]

At least if you're a scout pilot. My Fee gunner disagrees with vrilles and stuff!

 

I've sometimes wondered just how many more British pilots would have survived the war if the RFC leadership had decided to imitate the French and spend some extra resources for improving pilot training. The Americans were definitely wise to adopt the French system as a basis for their own pilot training.

 

 

Actually the British did begin investing in such improved training, at just about the same time as the French. Smith-Barry founded the Gosport School of Special Flying in August 1917, and at about the same time the School of Aerial Fighting and Gunnery was opened at Turnberry in SW Scotland. A lot of the accounts of the surviving British & Empire airmen speak of their time at one or both of these establishments.

 

It could be argued that the final Allied air supremacy in 1918 was largely due to these, and the corresponding French measures. It certainly wasn't their aircraft, they were still using 1916/17 fighter designs (Camel, SE5, SPAD XIII) to the end of the War, in the face of more modern machines like the Fokker DVII.

 

 

Sadly though these measures came too late for all the Allied airmen who fought and died before late 1917..

 

Mike

[Hasse Wind 46]

The Germans had an advantage in their system of getting fighter pilots from bomber and recon units, which meant these pilots were often quite experienced already when they graduated from fighter schools. As far as I know, the French also did that a lot.

[Olham 164]

Well, the S.E.5a and the SPAD XIII were very strong designs, and their inline engines provided them with

greater speed than any German design had.

But definitely, a better education for fighter pilots was, what made the Germans superiour early on,

and what the Allied later caught up with. That, and the sheer numerical superiority, made it a lost case

for the Germans.

But what makes me really sad - and really angry - is the refusal of parachutes for the flyers, simply because

one feared that they would abandon their damaged aircraft too easily. The Germans later ONLY got them,

because the qualified pilots became more and more rare. How cynical that is!

Edited November 8, 2011 by Olham

[Capitaine Vengeur 263]

The French training was famed throughout the World before the War. One of our oldest military airfields next to my hometown of Reims (closed just last year) saw the first international air meeting in 1909. There had been formed in the early 1910s the first military pilots of many small nations like Serbia. Several allied Russians had received their military pilot's licenses there before the War, and so had Francesco Baracca, Italian top ace ever, in 1912.

[Olham 164]

Yeah, I also noticed, that many words from early aviation are not English, as it might be today, but French - like "nacelle" or "aileron" for example.

[SirMike1983 3]

The general feel of the movements is the same, but you sort of have to re-learn them a bit when your French/Lafayette/American unit transitions from Nieuports to Spads. The jump (from N.17 to S.VII especially) should not be underestimated in terms of predicting how your aircraft will respond to certain changes of direction.

Edited November 12, 2011 by SirMike1983

[Olham 164]

But I guess, changing from rotary to inline should be easier than the other way round?

Flying mostly Albatros, I find those rotaries often behaving very quirky.

[SirMike1983 3]

But I guess, changing from rotary to inline should be easier than the other way round?

Flying mostly Albatros, I find those rotaries often behaving very quirky.

 

Mixed bag, I suppose. You gain torque with a rotary, but then again you gain a more responsive aircraft for changes of direction. They're two different beasts, I suppose. You lose the ability to change direction so quickly, but you gain the ability to take your movements into the vertical plain, and escape at will by diving away. I tend to think the vertical elements of the French training really played to the Spad strengths. With a Nieuport, the movements in the training are possible against Albs, but can be disastrous against a Dr.1. The 24 does a little better due to extra speed (Dr.1 is slow), but any sort of climb, or especially climb-turn, movements will get you killed fast against a Dr.1. The Spad is a different beast in that the turning elements of the movements are a bit difficult, but the vertical elements and the opportunity to abort and dive away are always there. As much as I love the Nieuports as dogfighting planes, the Spad almost has an "off" switch. If you feel like things have gone south, you can peg it and dive away where no other plane can follow (D.VII included), assuming down isn't just the ground.

Edited November 13, 2011 by SirMike1983