Planes in World War I: The Revolution of Aviation

Matthew and Daniel Urke Group Website Junior Division

Over the course of World War I, aircraft was revolutionized as countries such as Britain, France and Germany fought for aerial control. When the war started, countries reacted to the recent invention of the airplane by quickly converting them for military purposes. From 1903 to 1918 planes evolved from light kites into heavy aircraft with machine guns capable of firing through the propellers. Technology was later used to reform these military planes into the advanced aircraft used in wars today. Aircraft in World War I was our first idea for History Day which also happened to be on the suggestion sheet. Our motivation for this topic included our interest in World War I and our grandpa who is a pilot. In addition to participating in the field trip to Central Library for our school, we also attended the Gopherballoo at Wilson Library on the University of Minnesota campus. Prior to starting research in class, we conducted an interview with General Tom Wier, former director of the Air National Guard Museum. This was our most valuable source because it provided great insight on flying World War I vintage planes. Our best primary source was the book Knights of the Air which documented the wartime revolution from cavalry to planes. As we conducted further research into World War I aircraft, we discovered more connections to the History Day theme which we used to formulate our thesis and website. We also gained a deeper understanding of our topic and the impacts it had following the war and up to today. All of our notes were initially included in our text box rough drafts which greatly exceeded the website word limit. Therefore, we ended up cutting the material that was less directly connected to our thesis. Choosing what form of project to do was difficult. We considered either a website or a media documentary. We chose the website because creating it would be a good learning experience. The process of completing this project included helpful edits and suggestions by our

parents and social studies teacher. We dedicated significant time to constructing our website and included many special features. Aircraft in World War I were historically important because they revolutionized warfare and aviation around the world. Not only was this project a valuable learning experience on conducting research and building a website, it also expanded our understanding of the impact aviation development had on society.