WW1 Cult of the Hero Pilot

Why did the pilots of World War 1 (the Great War) so capture the public’s imagination?

Why did they become national heroes? For it may be argued that the pilots were carrying out their duties in just the same way as the soldiers and sailors.

Was government propaganda responsible for the publicity surrounding the pilots thereby boosting public morale; or were their other factors involved? This presentation will seek to explain that propaganda and other factors helped to make the Cult of the Hero Pilot, including popular fiction and pioneers of flight.

· worcestershireregiment.com., available at: http://www.worcestershireregiment.com/wr.php?main=inc/vc_w_l_robinson_page1, (nd), (19 Nov 2013).

· J.K. Williams, albertball.homestead.com., photos, available at: http://albertball.homestead.com/Gallery1.html, (2010), (19 Nov 2013).

· J.K. Williams, albertball.homestead.com., honours, available at: http://albertball.homestead.com/Honours.html, (2010), (19 Nov 2013).

Flying Machines for Good or Evil

During the late 1800s and early 1900s popular fiction portrayed flying machines and their masters as having immense capabilities for evil, for example: ruling the world, or for good by creating utopia.

One of the first novels to portray the adventures of a flying machine was Jules Verne’s ‘Robur the Conqueror’, published in 1886, in which Robur takes himself and some passengers on a journey around the world. In Robur’s next adventure, 1904, in ‘The Master of the World’, Robur becomes an evil genius and he and his airship become capable of ruling the world.

In Collingwood’s book of 1887, ‘The Log of the Flying Fish’, he sees the flying machine as helping create utopia.

In H.G. Wells’ novel, ‘The War in the Air’ he describes the devastation that could be wrought from flying machines.

Hence the public’s perception of powered flight, and of what the future may hold, was forming before it became a reality.

· Michael Paris, The Rise of the Airmen: The origins of Air Force Elitism, c.1890-1918, Journal of Contemporary History, (Vol. 28, No 1. Jan 1993), pp. 123-141, p. 126.

· Joshua Levine, Fighter Heroes of WW1, (London, Collins, 2009), p. 8.

· Andrew Nash, julesverne.ca., Robur-le-Conquérant – 1886, http://www.julesverne.ca/vernebooks/jvbkrobur.html, (2011), (16 Nov 2013).

· Andrew Nash, julesverne.ca., The Master of the World, http://www.julesverne.ca/vernebooks/jvbkmaster.html (2011), (16 Nov 2013).

· archive.org., The Log of the Flying Fish (1887), https://archive.org/details/Harry_Collingwood_The_Log_of_the_Flying_Fish, (nd), (16 Nov 2013).

Boys’ Magazines

Boy’s magazines, such as ‘The Boy’s Herald’, ‘The Boy’s Own Paper’ and ‘Ranger’. They told heroes tales of brave airmen defeating a dastardly enemy and winning the fair damsel. Depending on Britain’s foreign policy at the time, the enemy could be French, German, Russian or Asian.

One popular fictional character was Jack Stornaway, who in 1908, with his flying machine saved London from an air attack by Japanese.

The popular fiction would have been read by many boys from the middle and upper classes. It was some of those boys who grew up to be the pilots of World War 1. Even those in charge of the Royal Flying Corp and Royal Air Foirce admitted that when young they had read boys’ magazines.

· Unknown, friardale.co.uk., available at: http://www.friardale.co.uk/Images/Index%2018.jpg, (nd), (19 Nov 2013).

· Unknown, friardale.co.uk, available at: http://www.friardale.co.uk/Boys'%20Herald/Boys'%2085.jpg, (nd), (19 Nov 2013).

· Unknown, friardale.co.uk, available at: http://www.friardale.co.uk/Boys'%20Herald/Boys'%2085.jpg, (nd), (19 Nov 2013).

Moving Pictures

The film ‘Rescued in the Air’, Pathe 1906, has a heroic pilot in his flying machine rescuing a damsel in distress, the unfortunate damsel had fallen from a hot-air balloon and landed on a church steeple.

In Charles Urban’s science fiction film of 1909, ‘The Airship Destroyer’: a young talented inventor is about to try out his flying machine. Suddenly, a seemingly invincible army of airships attack with bombs. The film eerily anticipates the air raids of World War 1; and the inventor manages to rescue a fair maiden.

· eafa.org.uk, East Anglian Film Archive, Rescued in Mid Air, available at: http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/213326, (1904), (19 Nov 2013).

· europeanfilmgateway.eu., The Airship Destroyer, available at: http://www.europeanfilmgateway.eu/detail/The%20Airship%20Destroyer/dk::59120d49163e2ec857b307b94e0a5074 , (1909), (19 Nov 2013).

Pioneers of Flying Pre 1914

The chronology of manned flight is as follows:

1900: Airships were being developed by Germany, which by 1907 Germany began to view for their military potential.

1903: The Americans, Orville and Wilbur Wright demonstrated their flying machine which flew at a height of 10’, over a distance of 100’.

1905: Orville wright flew a distance of 24 miles at a speed of 38 miles per hour.

1909: John-Moore Brabazon was the first Britain to achieve powered flight. He won a competition run by the Daily Mail, to complete a 1 mile circuit.

25Jul1909: Prizes offered by the Daily Mail were due to the fear of Britain falling behind in its research and development of aeroplanes, and of course, the prizes helped to sell the newspapers. The competition in July was a prize for the first plane to land in Britain after taking off from France – although Bleriot a Frenchman won to great acclaim – he was not British!

1910: Claude Graham-White entered another competition run by the Daily Mail : for the first plane to reach Manchester from London in under 24 hours. The winner was sadly, another Frenchman Louis Paulhan (Isidore Auguste Marie Louis Paulhan). Although Graham-White did not win, he was British and a pilot therefore the public saw him as a hero. His knowledge of publicity, or propaganda, saw the film of his flight appear in British cinemas, allowing a very wide audience to view his exploit.

Graham-White, the British hero of the London to Manchester air race had, in early 1910, established the London Aerodrome at Hendon, now the Royal Air Force Museum. Crowds would gather to watch daring aerial displays by young, dashing dare-devil pilots.

The Air Battalion, Royal Engineers was set up in 1911, although any budding young pilot would not have been from the working class, mainly because they had to pay for themselves to learn to fly before applying to the Battalion. If they were successful in their application their money was refunded.

· Joshua Levine, Fighter Heroes of WW1, (London, Collins, 2009), p. 8-9, 11-12.

· Michael Paris, The Rise of the Airmen: The origins of Air Force Elitism, c.1890-1918, Journal of Contemporary History, (Vol. 28, No 1. Jan 1993), pp. 123-141, p. 130-131.

· britishpathe.com., available at: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/pupils-at-graham-whites-flying-school-at-hendon, (1917), (19 Nov 2013).

· Joshua Levine, Fighter Heroes of WW1, (London, Collins, 2009), pp. 14-18.

· Michael Paris, The Rise of the Airmen: The origins of Air Force Elitism, c.1890-1918, Journal of Contemporary History, (Vol. 28, No 1. Jan 1993), pp. 123-141, pp. 134-5.

Propaganda

The British Government were wise enough to realise that the public’s morale could only be nurtured but not generated. They could appeal to the British sense of fair play and that of course: they had right on their side.

The press were quick to take note of the new heroes in the air. Newspapers such as the Illustrated London News, Sphere and Daily Mail reported regularly on their actions.

During the early part of the war newspapers had to depend on artists’ depictions. The Government stepped in with the advent of war photography. Bourne says that in the 250,000 photographs of WW1 in the Imperial War Museum there are no British dead or wounded;, all were excluded.

Films were used for propaganda. The National War Aims Committee, established in June 1917, toured Britain with vans refurbished as mobile cinemas. They projected the films onto the outside end walls of houses.

As the war progressed it became unthinkable that the Western Front could be reported as a positive experience , therefore writers, poets and politicians focused on pilots as their inspiration. Such as in 1917 when pilots were hailed as, ‘young heroes of the Flying Corps”, and that aerial combat was the ‘finest sport of all’. The pilots were also written of as if they were ‘Knights of Old in Crusades’, ‘whose chivalry shone out wherever they were’.

In the House of Commons, in 1916, David Lloyd George (Prime Minister) alluded to pilots as, ‘The cavalry of the clouds.. the chivalry of the air’.

In July 1918, Sir Walter Raleigh, Official Historian of the Royal Air Force used phrases such as: ‘The Spirit of England’, The Young gallants who were gay and reckless’.

For the mass public there was plenty for them to enjoy collecting, such as cigarette cards , postcards and serviettes.

· J. M. Bourne, Britain and the Great War 1914-1918, (New York, Routledge, 1994), pp. 204, 208-9.

· Gerard J. DeGroot, Blighty British Society in the Era of the Great War, (Essex, Addison Wesley Longman Ltd, 1996), p. 179.

· Niall Ferguson, The Pity of War 1914-1918, (London, Penguin, 1998), p. 234.

· Michael Paris, The Rise of the Airmen: The origins of Air Force Elitism, c.1890-1918, Journal of Contemporary History, (Vol. 28, No 1. Jan 1993), pp 134-136.

· iwm.org.uk.,napkin, souvenir available at: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30081605, (1916), (25 Nov 2013).

· Paul Hageman and Jerry Kosanovich, WW1-propaganda-cards.com., "The Aerial Duel"

G. Reynolds, Ld. London, available at, http://www.ww1-propaganda-cards.com/index.html, (2010), (25 Nov 2013).

Zeppelin Raids.

1, 413 killed in Britain in Zeppelin raids.

Britain’s moral was shaken during 1915-1916 as Germany carried out night time bombing over Britain from their airships. British citizens were alarmed that the was being carried out on their homes. After one particular raid on Hull, passers-by stoned a vehicle belong to the Royal Flying Corp, for the RFC were supposed to be defending Britain an in their perception they were just not doing their job.

During 1914/15 one of the many difficulties facing British pilots was the lack of night-time training or even lights to aid navigation.

Armaments on planes were in the development stage. Humphrey Leigh, a Royal Naval Air Services officer remembers, “Two men, armed with just a rifle went up in a Sopwith against German aircraft”.

Britain’s government stepped in to organise a better defensive role for the airmen. It wa decided, at a Cabinet meeting in February 1916, that the Germans would be stopped from reaching Britain by the Royal Naval Air Service. Any that unfortunately did reach Britain’s shores would be attacked by the Royal Flying Corp.

British pilots were given training in night-time flights and issued with incendiary bullets. Early warning systems were set up, they were vital – as the British planes could take over an hour to reach the height of the airships: 10,000’ .

In De Groot’s book, he states that British newspapers exaggerated the effect of German airship bombing raids. It was useful propaganda, which encouraged the British public in their hatred of Germans: that a country who they were fighting a war against would bomb innocent citizens just proved what monsters Germans and their flying machines were.

· Gerard J. DeGroot, Blighty British Society in the Era of the Great War, (Essex, Addison Wesley Longman Ltd, 1996), pp 189, 199-200.

· Joshua Levine, Fighter Heroes of WW1, (London, Collins, 2009), pp. 282-4-6.

· nationalarchives.gov.uk., spotlights on history/ air raids, available at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/spotlights/airraids.htm, (nd), (24 Nov 2013).

Lt William Leefe-Robinson: Jul 1895 - 31 Dec 1918

On the night of 2^nd/3^rd September1916, a young pilot, Lt William Leefe-Robinson shot down an airship. It was the first to be shot down over Britain. Three days later he was awarded the Victoria Cross. There were many who either stood and watched the event unfolding, or witnessed its final eruption and plummet to earth.

The airship was a wooden frame Schutte Lanze not a Zeppelin.

Leefe-Robinson was hailed as a hero. Joshua Levine, though, states that it is hard to deny that the award was also part of the government’s propaganda exercises.

The Times, of Wednesday 6^th September, has the announcement of Leefe-Robinson’s award of the Victoria Cross, a short biography, an account of the attack and a transcript of an inquest carried out on the deceased Germans. The award, ‘For most conspicuous bravery. He attacked an enemy airship under circumstances of great difficulty and danger and sent it crashing to the ground as a flaming wreck. He had been in the air for more than two hours, and had previously attacked another airship during his flight.’

The inquest makes for interesting reading as witnesses testify to there being a pause of 3-4 minutes before the airship came down. The Coroner addressing the Foreman of the Jury stated that he would have no objection to them saying that it was brought down by an aeroplane. Another officer present stated that without the aeroplane the Zeppelin would have got away. In the same article there is a communique from the Field Marshall commander-in-Chief, Home Forces which states , ‘It is established beyond doubt that an aeroplane of the Royal Flying Corp brought it down’.

In addition to the Victoria Cross, Leefe-Robinson was given a gold watch, £2,000 and £500. The Overseas Club which founded the Imperial Aircraft flotilla decide to ask him to accept an inscribed gold watch. £2,000 was offered by Col. Joseph Cowen of Stella Hall, Blagdon to Lt. Robinson as the first man to bring down an airship over Britain.

Leefe-Robinson visited the wreck the following day, as did Lloyd-George.

Among the many visits RL made was on to a children’s home, The Cottage Homes, Hornchurch, where the children and staff had taken a collection to buy him a memento of his bravery.

LR thus became one of the public’s many heroic pilots.

· iwm.org.uk, The Wreck of the L33, available at: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060000207 (Gaumont,1918), (16 Nov 2013).

· britishpathe.com.,The Hero Airman 1916, http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-hero-airman-1/query/leefe+robinson, (1916), (16 Nov 2013).

· The Times, Wednesday, 06 Sep 1916.

· Unknown, nationalarchives.gov.uk., spotlights on history/ air raids, available at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/spotlights/airraids.htm, (nd), (24 Nov 2013).

· John Dziadecki, spot.colorado.edu., LTA Germany Schütte-Lanz, available at: http://spot.colorado.edu/~dziadeck/airship/schutte-lanz.htm, (2009), (23 Nov 2013).

Albert Ball: Aug 1896 - 07 May 1917

In contrast to LR’s one action to gain the VC, Albert Ball performed many actions for which he was awarded various medals.

27Jul1916: Military Cross

Destroying an enemy kite balloon. Another occasion: attacked six in one flight , forced down two.

26Sep1916 Distinguished Service Order

Saw seven enemy aircraft and immediately attacked one. Saw five more and shot one down, then another, returned for more ammunition and attacked three more planes, with his plane being badly shot about.

25Nov1916 Second Bar added to Distinguished Service Order

Attacked three hostile machines and brought one down. He has brought down eight hostile machines in a short period , he crashed and died in combat, 07^th May 1917. It is likely that Ball became disorientated in the cloud and his engine cut out when his plane inverted.

02Jun1917 Legion D’Honneur, Croix de Chavalier

Presented by the President of the French Republic.

08Jun1917 Victoria Cross

In all Captain Ball has destroyed forty-three German aeroplanes and has always displayed most exceptional courage, determination and skill.

Russian Order of St. George (4th Class)

Honorary Freedom of the City Nottingham

· J.K. Williams, albertball.homestead.com., honours, available at: http://albertball.homestead.com/Honours.html, (2010), (19 Nov 2013).

· The London Gazette, Supplement to the London Gazette, (27 July, 1916,) p. 7435., (26 September, 1916), p. 9419; (26 September,1916), p. 9421; (25 November, 1916), p. 1153; (2 JUNE, 1917), p. 5452; (8 June, 1917), p. 5702.

Conclusion

Through early popular fiction the public’s imagination was already thinking of pilots as heroes.

The pioneers of flight were seen as dare-devil adventurers.

Through propaganda, the pilots were doing more than just a job or just carrying out orders, they were heroes of the sky.

The public could see the battles first hand taking place in the skies, rather than hearing second-hand of the war on mainland Europe.

K.Cox 2013-2018