Development of Spy Aircraft 21 February 2000 Since the beginning of time
there has always been conflict and inevitably war. Because of war, it is logical
that enemies would seek out information about each other in order to increase
their own chances of survival. Reconnaissance would be the proper terminology
for gathering this information.
There are many ways in which to gather reconnaissance, however I am going to
talk about aerial reconnaissance and the use of spy aircraft as a method of
acquiring important information. The first documented evidence of aerial
reconnaissance was in 1794 when Captain J.M.J. used his captive balloon to
observe his enemy at the Battle of Fleurus.
The first documented use of airplane reconnaissance was in 1911, when Italian
Captain Piazza spent an hour in his Blerot making notes on the Turkish positions
between Azizia and Triopoli. The next year in 1912, this same pilot recorded the
first aerial reconnaissance sortie using a camera. These first methods of
reconnaissance were very cumbersome events because the cameras of those days
would fill your entire lap. Because it greatly increased range of sight, it was
extremely advantageous to observe from a higher elevation.
For example, an average 6ft man can see approximately 3 miles, however, when
put in an aircraft 65 feet above the earth’s surface, his horizon increase to 10
miles. Moreover, put him in an aircraft 35,000 ft above the earth’s surface and
his horizon is no less than 230 miles. This paradigm shift in intelligence would
lead to astounding innovations in aerial reconnaissance within this century.
The Great War (World War I) was basically a ground war, which consisted of
bloody fighting throughout an immense system of interconnected trenches. Because
of this, each side needed a reliable source of intelligence about each other’s
movements At the beginning of the Great War aircraft had only been used as an
effective fighting machine. After realizing that these high-flying aircraft
could observe and bring back panoramic photographs of enemy fortifications and
movements, each side began modifying aircraft to carry large cameras of the
time.
