Effect of Airplanes on Soldiers

There is an interesting book I read once about the battle of Hamel . It tells how the Australian leader Monash , used all arms to great affect . One of those parts was the use of ground attack aircraft . From a small amount of reading about Monash , I get the feeling that his was a learning curve over some years of commanding , and he would probably have collected idea's over time , and not really invented this idea ( I read a small amount about him during the Dardenelles operation and he didn't seem to be quite as proficient as in 1918 ) , but the book also stated that this " minor " operation was used as a blueprint for the last 100 days ( even if there was only 99 of them ). Just as an intereting aside . I can't imagine MvR being too interested in ground attack , it wouldn't fit into his idea of how a fighter pilot should operate .

[Vin]

From the perspective of the involvement of aircraft, Monash’s use of 3AFC and 9RFC is instructive. During the two weeks leading up to the attack on 3 July, the 2 squadron’s RE 8s carried out extensive photo reconnaissance of the German side of the lines at Hamel. At the same time both rehearsed dropping supplies of ammunition from bomb racks, sketching an advancing line from flares, marking down hostile batteries and bombing and machine gunning ahead of the line of infantry. The target territory was extensively photographed in the last days of June and German batteries frequently bombed. During the morning of the attack, a roster of aircraft was arranged so that there was always at least 2 aircraft patrolling the advancing line and directing artillery. Another flight continuously photographed the advancing line and a third maintained contact patrols throughout the attack. All non-contact patrol aircraft carried and used bombs during their patrols. An elaborate system of signals was worked out with certain aircraft responsible for directing specific batteries. As the battle commenced, aircraft flew low over Hamel and dropped bombs, with the intent of distracting the enemy by noise and bombing from the approach of Tanks.

[ww1 ace]

I was watching the History Channel about the U.S Air force long ago.It said that we did bombing,and also I did figure out that the brits did some bombing,but little.By September,the americans had an offensive ready.

[ww1 ace]

But Manfred von Richthofen could have done strafing,couldn't he?