World War I

In 1914, airplanes first served as observation platforms. They flew unopposed above enemy lines, reporting troop movements and the disposition of opposing forces. But when the machine gun was mated to agile single seat aircraft, the fighter was born. Observation aircraft could no longer fly unchallenged, and armed with both machine guns and bombs, the fighter plane added one more grim threat to the foot soldiers' tenuous existence in the trenches.

Many fighter pilots on both sides gained fame by their aerial exploits in combat. Flying planes like the Albatros, the Nieuport, the Fokker and the S.P.A.D., the "aces" of the war -- Rickenbacker, Bishop, Richthofen, Fonck, Nungesser and many others -- became heroes at home and abroad.

Examples of these vintage aircraft are on display in the Museum along with an observer's balloon basket, an incredibly detailed scale model Zeppelin, and memorabilia of the time.

As wartime demands became greater, aircraft designs advanced rapidly. As airplanes became larger and engines more powerful, long-range bombers of giant proportions joined lighter-than-air Zeppelins in spreading terror over England as well as the continent of Europe.

Aviation progress was greatly accelerated simply because of pressing military requirements, but this progress was achieved at a terrible cost of lives and equipment. As early as 1918, cynics referred to the conflict as the "First World War" with the implication that it would not be the world's last global conflict, and by September 1939, everyone knew that indeed, it had simply been World War I.