t below. That same year a French pilot by the name of Roland Garros mounted deflector plates to the propeller blades making it possible for the first time for a pilot to fire a machine gun since the steel wedges diverted any bullets, protecting the propellers. Later that fall a Dutchman Anthony Fokker who ran an aircraft factory developed a machine gun that could fire through the blades of a propeller and soon was putting in his interrupter gear, a synchronizing gear linked to the shaft of the trigger and propellers skipping the release of a bullet when they were lined up, manufacturing the first real fighter aircraft.
The following year Germany developed the same technology and began to shoot down large numbers of the British air force. Max Immelmann was shot down and killed in June 15th, but not before he had destroyed seventeen Allied aircraft in his Eindecker.
Oswald Boelcke another infamous German pilot claimed forty victims before he too was killed later that fall. About this time any pilot who had more than eight 'kills', became known as a Flying Ace.
During the spring of 1916 France and Britain joined the Dutch and began adding synchronized machine-guns systems to their aircraft and pilots such as René Paul Fonck and William Bishop gained notoriety as flying aces. In addition they began mounting the aircraft engines behind the pilot and placed a forward-firing Lewis machine-gun. The absence of an engine in front gave the pilot an uninterrupted view of his target.
In July with the new innovation of tracer ammunition added to the arsenal, a pilot of Royal Flying Corps could now see his line of fire and make adjustments for more accuracy. Spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ explains how the tactics of dogfighting evolved:
Organisation and tactics changed with the introduction of the synchronized machine-gun. At first flying aces adopted "lone wolf" tactics. However, by 1917 British pilots tended to seek out enemy aircraft in groups of six. The flight commander would be in front, with an aircraft on either side forming a V shape. To the rear and above were two other planes and at the back was the sub-leader. However, when in combat, the pilots operated in pairs, one to attack, and the other to defend. German pilots preferred larger formations and these were later known as circuses.
One of the most important figures in the development of dogfight tactics was Major Mick Mannock. Between May 1917 and his death in July 1918, Mannock became Britain's leading flying ace with seventy-three victories. When attacking, the best tactic was to dive upon the target out of the sun. This strategy reduced the time that the pilot being attacked could bank or dive and avoid being hit. Later in the war some observers fixed mirrors in line with their gun, which could them be used to reflect the rays of the sun back into the eyes of the attacking pilot.
Fighter pilots also made good use of cloud-cover. This enabled a pilot to attack the enemy and quickly return to the safety of the cloud. Pilots did not have long to destroy their target. Fighter aircraft at that time only carried enough ammunition to fire at the enemy for about fifty seconds. Therefore pilots had to make sure they used their machine-guns wisely. René Paul Fonck, the French flying ace, usually took no more than five or six rounds to down an enemy aircraft.
"There are certain rules about a war and rule number one is young men die."
-Henry Blake, *M*A*SH*
The more experienced pilots would train and send young men into combat after only 30 hours of instruction. Unfortunately most of them were between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. The death rate was very high because hands on training had to take place at the battlefronts.
I can't write much these days. I'm too nervous. I can hardly hold a pen. I'm all right in the air, as calm as a cucumber, but on the ground I'm a wreck and I get panicky. Nobody in the squadron can get a glass to his mouth with one hand after one of these decoy patrols except Cal and he's got no nerve - he's made of cheese. But some nights we both have night