Wireless communication

[willycoppens]

Hello again,
By war's end, had great progress been made in the science of air to ground communication? If the answer is "yes", I would guess that the British were ahead of anyone else.
I believe it was the British who installed two wireless transmitters in aircraft experimentally in 1916, and worked on it from there.
TIA, willy

I was thinking they had done it earller than that, but can't confirm my hunch.

[gregoire]

wirless in aircraft was done before 1916 and not only in britain in the last issue of cross and cockade there is a nice article on wireless
the first british test of wireless in an aircraft was during the september 1910 manoever (the plane was a bristol boxkite)
I do not know if the british were the first but france have some wireless during the 1912 manoever (earliest date I have found so far)
by early 15 wireless were a standard equipment on french corps planes (caudron, breguet michelin, voisin)
now we were talking about morse code
for wireless telephony the first test took place in 16 (the RFC) by the end of the war a limited number of plane mounted wireless telephone were in service and only used for specific task
the central power never used wireless telephone but were the first to play electronic warefare

[Vigilant]

The first RFC test in speech transmission took place in 1915 following the invention of the triode thermionic valve - the wireless set used being now on display in the London Science Museum. By 1916, Maurice Baring (Trenchard's personal assistant and interpreter of the Great Man's thoughts into polished English) could write the following verse:

For talking on a telephone
From Paris to the torrid zone,
From Lundy Isle to Salisbury spire
To Rome, without the aid of wire.

An improved transmitter designed by Major C.E. Prince, RFC, went into limited production in 1916. Air-air experiments were also carried out. In the winter of 1917/18 a school of wireless telephony was opened at Biggin Hill at which Home Defence and 22 Squadron pilots received a week's tuition. No.22 flew Bristol Fighters in France, and were due to begin using their new kit in March 1918 - but the German advance meant that the sets were removed from aircraft through fear of capture. The sets were reinstalled in May, and in June R/T was used for the first time ever over enemy territory. Communication was both air-ground and air-air.

The transmissions went out in plain English and could be picked up by ordinary Morse receivers, so they were immediately overheard. Allegedly, jasta pilots were offered two weeks' leave if they could bring down a 22 Squadron aircraft intact for inspection by the army boffins. On their part, the pilots of 22 Sqdn do not seem to have thought highly of the equipment and took to using the bright filament valves as bedside reading lights - much to the annoyance of Capt. Stewart, their radio officer.

At this stage an event took place for the first time that would become common during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The listeners in the squadron radio hut picked up Capt. Bulmer, a Canadian flight commander, leading his men into a dogfight and then shouting unrepeatable comments as the action took place, 30 miles away.

The equipment was demonstrated to Gen. Hubert Plumer, the Second Army commander, that summer by the squadron. Subsequently 88 Squadron was similarly equipped. However, plans for large scale expansion were halted by the Armistace in November.

Regards

Vigilant

[retread]

* The first air to ground wireless experiment was conducted on Long Island, New York (U.S.) August 27th,1910. The pilot was J.D.A. McCurdy,a Canadian.
* Exactly one month later-September 27th on a government owned airfield (Lark Hill, Salisbury Plain).Robert Loraine (pioneer aviator,actor,later C.O. of 40 Squadron and still later a wing commander) piloted while transmitting a wireless communication a distance of 1/4 mile. He used a 14lb. portable transmitter attached to the passenger seat. The tests were sponsored by a newspaper named "The Daily Mirror".
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[jempie]

Hello!
I guess there are German websites with more accurate information on German Wireless history!
For Germany it was TELEFUNKEN which was the leader in these things!
No idea which was the first one to become for being equiped with wireless stations, but 1909, June 7th, the Gross airship MII might have been one of the first to test wireless comminucations between airship and earth station...experiment which was done again on 17th August 1910...giving proof for the communication was possible.

I know Parsval airships and Zeppelins were than equiped with wirelass stations.
1912 the Victoria Louise was equiped with one for more.
Published into the Yearbooks of M.St.G. (Parseval firm) covering period half June 1911- half 1912 TELEFUNKEN had ground stations based at Frankfurt.a.m and Manheim (on grounds of Schütte Lanz Airship Factory. Foreseen was during this period a network of groundstations all alon,g the Geman borders each covering +/-100 km!(Some 35!)
They had also smaller wireless equipment for planes, inclusive the pilots special helmet with inbuilt ear speakers.
Illustrations-photos from these inclusive published!
Also an article is published about radio-compass use
based on wireless stations for airships and planes.
Its acceptabel that Germany was busy with first captive balloons wireless use before and than develped further the equipment for use on airships and planes about 1909!
Wish not to claim Germany was the first to use it or developed it, but they were busy with the development those years.
Than you had already into the early 1900's the radiowave controlled stearing on distance from model boats and model airships existed!
For more 1903 at Bilboa-harbor,the Spanish Engeneer Torres-Quevedo (made fame with his own developped Torres-Quevedo and later Astra-Torres airships!) gave a demonstration with a model boat guided by radio waves!

Radio controlled models, it's surely at least a 100 year old invention!
Wright 1903-2003 ccentennial of Flight?
"Radio controlled models" are it too!

VBR

Jempie.

[jempie]

Sorry!
Did click on "send" instead of "spell check!"
So there are some "typo errors" occuring!
My apologies for!
I am not a good typewriter!

MII second test was on 27th August 1909, not 1910! That's the main one!
The rest are smaller typo's!

VBR

Jempie.

[retread]

Harry Balfour wrote in "An Airman Marches" that in 1918, while serving in 43 Squadron at La Gourge Aerodrome the British were applying triangulation to locate transmitting German observation aircraft and that a flight could be in air within two minutes of reception of its approximate location.
La Gorgue was furnished with a wireless station and in telephone contact with another twenty miles to the south.After determining the angle of the transmission relative to each wireless station they were able to roughly determine the location of the German aircraft.
Obviously then by 1918 wireless air to ground transmissions were fairly well developed along the Western Front.

[Vigilant]

So we have speech transmissions and radio fixes by 1918. All very modern!

Does anyone know if jamming (ECM) was ever attempted??

Vig.

[gregoire]

Yes jaming and ECM warfare were present in WW1

some german unit were pioner in that field and there was within german two seater squadron some plane and crew that were doing jaming