The Fokker D.VII was arguably the best fighter aircraft of World War I. As a part of the Armistice Agreement, the U.S. received 142 Fokker D.VII aircraft as war reparation payment. Eleven of them came here to Dayton, Ohio, to the Engineering Division at McCook Field. There, engineers made extensive modifications to their powerplants by installing Liberty and Packard engines. They also gave them “P” designators, such as P-108 and P-127. The Army Air Service pilots all agreed that none of the...

When World War I started, all the warring powers had airplanes, but lacked in a complete understanding of their potential. British and French aviators made critical reconnaissance observations that helped save 100,000 British troops from capture at Mons and win the First Battle of the Marne. One of the most difficult tasks was getting ground commanders to believe them. The French aviators took up artillery officers to view German gun positions. They asked to bring their personal cameras and...

Wilbur Wright enabled the first use of airplanes in combat by teaching two Italian officers to fly in 1909. The Italians used airplanes in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911. That conflict marked the first use of reconnaissance aircraft (a Bleriot XI on Oct. 23, 1911) and the first bombing attack (a German Etrich Taube on Nov. 1, 1911). The Italians even took photographs from their newly discovered intelligence platform. However, many nations, including the U.S., lacked vision as to...

Air intelligence did not begin with the Wright Brothers. It initially became possible because of the Montgolfier brothers’ first manned balloon flight on 21 November 1783. Count Pilatre de Rozier and Marquis d’Arlandes ascended up to 3,000 feet in a hot air balloon and traveled for five miles (see model above you). Eleven years later, the French first used the balloon in combat. The Battle of Fleurus took place in June 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars. The French defeated the...

The National Museum of the United States Air Force began in 1923, not as a tourist attraction, but as an educational tool for Army engineers to study aeronautical engineering techniques from around the world. In the ensuing years, the museum also served as a place to study the application of air power, ballistic missiles and the contributions the Air Force made to the space race. Since 1996, the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) has used the museum as a place to educate...