The Airplane's Role In The Twentieth Century

The power that airplanes held in a time of war, was very different then all the other vessels that where used during conflict. For example, ground troops, tanks and ships as “The access [an airplane] provides makes it a faster, more flexible, and more precise than any other form of military power.” Before the 20th century, nations had not held the power for aerial bombardments on such a large scale. First used by the Italians in the Italo-Turkish War, planes went on to have an important role in World War I which cemented their importance’s in warfare, and changed the way that wars were fought even on the ground. The use of the airplane was not only limited to airstrikes and bombings. Planes could also be used for humanitarian aid, evacuations, and the deployment of troops and supplies over enemy lines. Planes also brought a whole new battlefield to the war. Now there was not only fighting on the ground and on the seas, but the skies became a battle ground as
Even before planes were equipped with guns, pilots could take detailed accounts on where the enemies camps and artilleries were located. This also resulted in the need for troops to organize their movements to occur during the cover of darkness, as movement was harder to track from the air at night. “Water, food and more ammunition were man-carried up to the front lines, each night, by working parties of 100 to 200 men, each carrying a load of 80 pounds on his back. Two or three trips a night was normal, more before an attack was to go in. ” The introduction of the airplane in war not only brought the war to the air, but it also changed the way in which war was fought on the ground. This support the argument that the airplane was one of the most important weapons to be used in