Birth of the RAF
In April 1918 Britain formed the world’s first independent air force in a bid to dominate the nascent aerial battlefields of the Western Front
Learn how Britain created the world’s first air force after deadly German raids
The formation of the RAF was the culmination of issues and problems dating back to 1912, but the major catalyst for change was the start of a new German strategic bombing campaign against Britain in May 1917. The Germans had been using airships – popularly known as ‘Zeppelins’ regardless of actual manufacturer – to raid Britain since January 1915. These raids had been small-scale affairs, with a handful of ships acting largely independently to attack targets over a wide area. Target location and aiming were rudimentary, and bomb loads were small, so in military and material terms they had caused few casualties and little damage. However, they made a serious impact on public morale.
For a thousand years, it was commonly said, Britain had been safely defended from any foreign attack by the English Channel. Louis Blériot’s crossing of the Channel by air in July 1909 had provided a warning, but it was not taken seriously until the coming of the airships. For 20 months the British armed forces (commonly held to be the best in the world) seemed unable to stem the attacks, but this was not a completely fair view. The British were working from scratch to build an unprecedented air defence system.
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) had originally followed the traditional role of the Royal Navy in protecting Britain’s shores. In February 1916 this changed, and while the RNAS retained responsibility for the seas and coast, the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) took over the inland defences, attacking airships over the UK. However, actually intercepting Zeppelins was difficult. The war on the Western Front was the main focus of RFC activities, and it was as voracious for aeroplanes as it was for men. The RFC struggled to keep up with demands from the front, and only a few outdated aircraft could be spared for home defence.
The BE2C was the most common plane used, and with a ceiling of around 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) it could barely reach the heights habitually used by the Zeppelins. It was not just the height that was a factor, but also time. It took a BE2C over 45 minutes to reach that altitude. A pilot could take off with a definite fix on the Zeppelin’s position, but he could not communicate with the ground. After take-off, he would have no idea where in the night sky the enemy was unless the airship were picked up by searchlights.
“FOR A THOUSAND YEARS, IT WAS COMMONLY SAID, BRITAIN HAD BEEN SAFELY DEFENDED FROM ANY FOREIGN ATTACK BY THE ENGLISH CHANNEL”
This drawback – the inability to provide realtime information to the pilot – was perhaps the biggest problem faced by the defence squadrons. Radar, of course, would have been very useful, but within the technical limitations of the day, by the summer of 1916 the air defence system had become remarkably sophisticated. Wireless intercepts could let the British know when an enemy was taking off from its base, as it tested its own wireless equipment. Any subsequent transmissions by the raider, asking for a navigation fix for example, would also be picked up and plotted. This would warn the defenders that a raid was coming, and possibly its size, but would not identify a target to help them concentrate their forces. In some areas of the coast, acoustic receivers (‘sound mirrors’) listened for the drone of approaching engines, but this technology was highly unreliable.
Once the aircraft were over land, they would be picked up by the extensive observer organisation that was spread across the country. Police and also railway staff backed up dedicated observer posts manned by soldiers. It may seem incongruous, but the railways formed a dense network across the country and, crucially, were well connected with both telegraph and telephone lines.
Observations would be passed rapidly to sector operations rooms, then copied back to London. Positions were plotted on gridded maps, eventually using coloured markers that corresponded to coloured segments on a clock, each colour a five-minute period. The age of the plot could then be instantly discerned, and those older than ten minutes removed. These techniques and organisations would be resurrected in the late 1930s and formed a pillar of the air defence system during the Battle of Britain.
From the operations room, requests for action could be sent to the HQS commanding the different defence elements. Apart from aeroplanes, there were two lines of anti-aircraft (AA) guns around London at eight kilometres (five miles) and 14 kilometres (nine miles) from the city centre, supported by a screen of search lights and balloon barrages. The system constantly evolved and improved, as did the
“WIRELESS INTERCEPTS COULD LET THE BRITISH KNOW WHEN AN ENEMY WAS TAKING OFF FROM ITS BASE, AS IT TESTED ITS OWN WIRELESS EQUIPMENT”