document_title: Outline of technology

question_text: what are the two components of technology

text: Outline of technology

text: Components of technology[edit]

text:
Knowledge

Engineering
Procedure (term)
Process
Science
Skill

Tools

Utensil
Equipment
Invention
Machinery

Structures (buildings, roads, bridges, canals, dams, etc.)

Man-made systems (see system)

Infrastructure

Public utility

text: Branches of technology[edit]

text:
Aerospace – flight or transport above the surface of the Earth.

Space exploration – the physical investigation of the space more than 100 km above the Earth by either manned or unmanned spacecraft.

Applied physics – physics which is intended for a particular technological or practical use. It is usually considered as a bridge or a connection between "pure" physics and engineering.
Agriculture – cultivation of plants, animals, and other living organisms.

Fishing – activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping.

Fisheries – a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats, purpose of the activities or a combination of the foregoing features".
Fishing industry – industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the FAO as including recreational, subsistence and commercial fishing, and the harvesting, processing, and marketing sectors.

Forestry – art and science of tree resources, including plantations and natural stands. The main goal of forestry is to create and implement systems that allow forests to continue a sustainable provision of environmental supplies and services.
Organic gardening and farming
Sustainable agriculture

Communication –

Books –
Telecommunication – the transfer of information at a distance, including signaling, telegraphy, telephony, telemetry, radio, television, and data communications.

Radio – Aural or encoded telecommunications.
Internet – the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP).
Technology of television –

Television broadcasting – Visual and aural telecommunications.

Computing – any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computers. Computing includes designing and building hardware and software systems; processing, structuring, and managing various kinds of information; doing scientific research on and with computers; making computer systems behave intelligently; creating and using communications and entertainment media; and more.

Computer engineering – discipline that integrates several fields of electrical engineering and computer science required to develop computer systems, from designing individual microprocessors, personal computers, and supercomputers, to circuit design.

Computers – general purpose devices that can be programmed to carry out a finite set of arithmetic or logical operations. Since a sequence of operations can be readily changed, computers can solve more than one kind of problem.

Computer science – the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems.

Artificial intelligence – intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it.

Natural language processing –
Object recognition – in computer vision, this is the task of finding a given object in an image or video sequence.

Cryptography – the technology to secure communications in the presence of third parties.
Human-computer interaction

Information technology – the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications.
Software engineering – the systematic approach to the development, operation, maintenance, and retirement of computer software.

Programming – the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs.
Software development – development of a software product, which entails computer programming (process of writing and maintaining the source code), but also encompasses a planned and structured process from the conception of the desired software to its final manifestation.
C++ – one of the most popular programming languages with application domains including systems software, application software, device drivers, embedded software, high-performance server and client applications, and entertainment software such as video games.
Perl – high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Used for text processing, CGI scripting, graphics programming, system administration, network programming, finance, bioinformatics, and more.

Software – one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of the computer for one or more purposes. In other words, software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms and its documentation concerned with the operation of a data processing system.

Free software – software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction.
Search engines – information retrieval systems designed to help find information stored on a computer system.

Internet – the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP).
Computer industry

Apple Inc. – manufacturer and retailer of computers, hand-held computing devices, and related products and services.
Google – Google Inc. and its Internet services including Google Search.

Construction – building or assembly of any physical structure.
Design – the art and science of creating the abstract form and function for an object or environment.

Architecture – the art and science of designing buildings.

Electronics –
Energy –

Energy development – ongoing effort to provide abundant, efficient, and accessible energy resources through knowledge, skills, and construction.
Energy storage – the storage of a form of energy that can then be used later.
Nuclear technology – the technology and application of the spontaneous and induced reactions of atomic nuclei.
Wind energy –
Solar energy –

Engineering – the application of science, mathematics, and technology to produce useful goods and systems.

Chemical engineering – the technology and application of chemical processes to produce useful materials.
Computer engineering –
Control engineering –
Electrical engineering – the technology and application of electromagnetism, including electricity, electronics, telecommunications, computers, electric power, magnetics, and optics.
Geoengineering –
Software engineering – the technology and application of a systematic approach to the development, operation, maintenance, and retirement of computer software.

Firefighting – act of extinguishing fires. A firefighter fights fires to prevent destruction of life, property and the environment. Firefighting is a professional technical skill.
Forensic science – application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or a civil action.
Health

Biotechnology – applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts.
Ergonomics – the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movements, and its cognitive abilities.

Hydrology – The study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability.
Industry – production of an economic good or service.

Automation – use of machinery to replace human labor.
Industrial machinery –
Machines – devices that perform or assist in performing useful work.
Manufacturing – use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale.
Robotics – deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots.

Object recognition

Information science –

Cartography – the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.
Library science – technology related to libraries and the information fields.

Military science – the study of the technique, psychology, practice and other phenomena which constitute war and armed conflict.
Mining – extraction of mineral resources from the earth.
Nanotechnology – The study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with structures sized between 1 and 100 nanometre in at least one dimension, and involves developing materials or devices possessing at least one dimension within that size.
Prehistoric technology – technologies that emerged before recorded history (i.e., before the development of writing).
Sustainability – capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems. For humans, sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions.
Transport – the transfer of people or things from one place to another.

Rail transport – means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks consisting of steel rails installed on sleepers/ties and ballast.
Vehicles – mechanical devices for transporting people or things.

Automobiles – human-guided powered land-vehicles.
Bicycles – human-powered land-vehicles with two or more wheels.
Motorcycles – single-track, engine-powered, motor vehicles. They are also called motorbikes, bikes, or cycles.
Vehicle components

Tires – ring-shaped coverings that fit around wheel rims

text: Technology by region[edit]

text:
Science and technology in Africa

Science and technology in Algeria
Science and technology in Angola
Science and technology in Morocco
Science and technology in South Africa

Science and technology in Asia

Science and technology in Bangladesh
Science and technology in China
Science and technology in India
Science and technology in Indonesia
Science and technology in Iran
Science and technology in Israel
Science and technology in Japan
Science and technology in Malaysia
Science and technology in Pakistan
Science and technology in the Philippines
Science and technology in Russia
Science and technology in Turkey

Science and technology in Europe

Science and technology in Albania
Science and technology in Belgium

Science and technology in Brussels
Science and technology in Flanders
Science and technology in Wallonia

Science and technology in Bulgaria
Science and technology in France
Science and technology in Germany
Science and technology in Hungary
Science and technology in Iceland
Science and technology in Italy
Science and technology in Portugal
Science and technology in Romania
Science and technology in Russia
Science and technology in Spain
Science and technology in Switzerland
Science and technology in Ukraine
Science and technology in the United Kingdom

Science and technology in North America

Science and technology in Canada
Science and technology in the United States
Science and technology in Jamaica

Science and technology in South America

Science and technology in Argentina
Science and technology in Colombia
Science and technology in Venezuela

text: History of technology[edit]

text: History of technology

text:
Timelines of technology
Man vs. Technology
Technology museum –

text: History of technology by period[edit]

text:
Prehistoric technology (outline)

Control of fire by early humans

Ancient technology – c. 800 BCE – 476 CE

Ancient Egyptian technology –

Obelisk making technology in ancient Egypt –

Ancient Greek technology – c. 800 BCE – 146 BCE
Ancient Roman technology – c. 753 BCE – 476 CE
Science and technology of the Han dynasty – 206 BCE – 220 CE
Science and technology of the Tang dynasty – 618–907

Science and technology of the Song dynasty – 960–1279 CE
Medieval technology – 5th to 15th century

Byzantine technology – 5th to 15th century

Islamic Golden Age – 8th to 13th century
Science and technology in the Ottoman Empire – 14th to 20th century
Industrial revolution – 18th to 19th century
Second Industrial Revolution – 1820–1914
Technology during World War I – 1914–1918
Technology during World War II – 1939–1945

Allied technological cooperation during World War II –
American military technology during World War II –
German military technology during World War II –

1970s in science and technology
1980s in science and technology
1990s in science and technology
2000s in science and technology
2010s in science and technology

text: Technological ages[edit]

text:
Stone Age –
Bronze Age –
Iron Age –
The Renaissance –
Industrial Age –
Information Age –

text: Media about the history of technology[edit]

text:
Connections – documentary television series and 1978 book ("Connections" based on the series) created, written and presented by science historian James Burke. It took an interdisciplinary approach to the history of science and invention and demonstrated how various discoveries, scientific achievements, and historical world events were built from one another successively in an interconnected way to bring about particular aspects of modern technology. There were 3 seasons produced, and they aired in 1978, 1994, and 1997.
The Day the Universe Changed – documentary television series written and presented by science historian James Burke, originally broadcast in 1985 by the BBC. The series' primary focus is on the effect of advances in science and technology on western society in its philosophical aspects. Ran for one season, in 1986.

text: History of technology by region[edit]

text:
History of science and technology in the Mediterranean

Ancient Greek technology –
Ancient Roman technology –
Timeline of Polish science and technology –

History of science and technology in Africa –
History of science and technology in Asia

History of science and technology in China –

Science and technology of the Han dynasty –
Science and technology of the Tang dynasty –
Science and technology of the Song dynasty –
History of science and technology in the People's Republic of China –

History of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent –

Science and technology in ancient India –

History of science and technology in Korea –
Science and Technology in the Ottoman Empire –
Science and technology in the Soviet Union –

History of science and technology in North America

United States technological and industrial history –
History of science and technology in Mexico –

Technological and industrial history of Canada –

Technological and industrial history of 20th-century Canada –
Technological and industrial history of 21st-century Canada –

Technological and industrial history of the People's Republic of China –
Technological and industrial history of the United States –

text: History of technology by field[edit]

text:
History of invention
History of aerospace
History of artificial intelligence
History of agriculture
History of agricultural science
History of architecture, timeline
History of biotechnology
History of cartography
History of chemical engineering
History of communication

History of computing, timeline
History of computer science
History of computing hardware
History of the graphical user interface
History of hypertext, timeline
History of the Internet, Internet phenomena

History of the World Wide Web

History of operating systems
History of programming languages, timeline
History of software engineering

History of electrical engineering
History of energy development
History of engineering
History of industry
History of library and information science
History of microscopy
History of manufacturing

History of the factory
History of mass production

History of materials science, timeline
History of measurement
History of medicine
History of motor and engine technology
History of military science
History of transport, timeline
History of biotechnology –

Timeline of biotechnology –

History of display technology –
History of film technology –
History of information technology auditing –
History of military technology –
History of nanotechnology –
History of science and technology –
History of web syndication technology –
Timeline of agriculture and food technology –
Timeline of clothing and textiles technology –
Timeline of communication technology –
Timeline of diving technology –
Timeline of heat engine technology –
Timeline of hypertext technology –
Timeline of lighting technology –
Timeline of low-temperature technology –
Timeline of materials technology –
Timeline of medicine and medical technology –
Timeline of microscope technology –
Timeline of motor and engine technology –
Timeline of particle physics technology –
Timeline of photography technology –
Timeline of rocket and missile technology –
Timeline of telescope technology –
Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology –
Timeline of temperature and pressure measurement technology –
Timeline of time measurement technology –
Timeline of transportation technology –

text: Hypothetical technology[edit]

text: Potential technology of the future includes:

text: Hypothetical technology –

text: Femtotechnology – hypothetical term used in reference to structuring of matter on the scale of a femtometer, which is 10−15 m. This is a smaller scale in comparison to nanotechnology and picotechnology which refer to 10−9 m and 10−12 m respectively. Work in the femtometer range involves manipulation of excited energy states within atomic nuclei (see nuclear isomer) to produce metastable (or otherwise stabilized) states with unusual properties.

text: Philosophy of technology[edit]

text: Philosophy of technology –

text:
Appropriate technology –
Instrumental conception of technology –
Jacques Ellul –
Paradigm –
Posthumanism –
Precautionary principle –
Singularitarianism –
Techno-progressivism –
Technocentrism –
Technocracy –
Technocriticism –
Technological determinism –
Technological evolution –
Technological nationalism –
Technological revival –
Technological singularity –
Technology readiness level –
Technorealism –
Theories of technology –
Transhumanism –

text: Management of technology[edit]

text:
Human enhancement –
Science and technology –
Strategy of Technology –
Technology management –
Technology integration –
Technology intelligence –
Technology life cycle –

text: Advancement of technology[edit]

text:
DARPA
Emerging technologies

List of emerging technologies

Developing country
Hypothetical technology
Innovation
Invention
Inventor
Research and development
Technological superpowers
Technological transitions

text: Politics of technology[edit]

text:
AI takeover
Accelerating change
Format war
Information privacy
IT law
PEST analysis
Robot rights
Technological singularity
Technological sovereignty

text: Economics of technology[edit]

text:
Energy accounting
Nanosocialism
Post-scarcity economy
Technocracy
Technocapitalism
Technological diffusion
Technology acceptance model
Technology lifecycle
Technology transfer

text: Technology education[edit]

text: Technology education

text: Technology organizations[edit]

text: Science and technology think tanks[edit]

text:
Applied Biomathematics
Battelle Memorial Institute
Cicada 3301
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Edge Foundation, Inc.
Eudoxa
Federation of American Scientists
Free Software Foundation
GTRI Office of Policy Analysis and Research
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Institute for Science and International Security
Institute for the Encouragement of Scientific Research and Innovation of Brussels
Keck Institute for Space Studies
Kestrel Institute
Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology
Moore Center for Theoretical Cosmology and Physics
Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
Piratbyrån
RAND Corporation
Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
Res4Med
Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Swecha
Wau Holland Foundation

text: Technology media[edit]

text: Technology journalism –

text: Books on technology[edit]

text: Engines of Creation –

text: Technology periodicals[edit]

text:
Engadget –
TechCrunch –
Wired –

text: Websites[edit]

text: The Verge

text: Fictional technology[edit]

text: Fictional technology –

text:
In Death technology –
Technology in Star Trek –
Technology in Star Wars –
Technology in Stargate –

Ancient technology in Stargate –
Goa'uld technology in Stargate –

Technology in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy –
Technology in science fiction –
Technology of Robotech –
Technology of The Saga of Seven Suns –
Technology of the Discworld –
List of technology in the Dune universe –
List of technology in Judge Dredd –

text: Persons influential in technology[edit]

text:
List of engineers
List of inventors
List of scientists


document_title: Aviation in World War I

question_text: when was the first plane used in ww1

question_tokens: when was the first plane used in ww1

root

text: Aviation in World War I

text: The early years of war[edit]

text: At the 1911 meeting of the Institute of International Law in Madrid, legislation was proposed to limit the use of airplanes to reconnaissance missions and banning them from being used as platforms for weapons.[1] This legislation was rooted in a fear that airplanes would be used to attack undefended cities, violating Article 69 of the Den Hague Reglement (the set of international laws governing warfare).[2]

tag: p

text: At the start of the war, there was some debate over the usefulness of aircraft in warfare. Many senior officers, in particular, remained sceptical.  However the initial campaigns of 1914 proved that cavalry could no longer provide the reconnaissance expected by their generals, in the face of the greatly increased firepower of twentieth century armies, and it was quickly realised that aircraft could at least locate the enemy, even if early air reconnaissance was hampered by the newness of the techniques involved.  Early skepticism and low expectations quickly turned to unrealistic demands beyond the capabilities of the primitive aircraft available.[3]

text: Even so, air reconnaissance played a critical role in the "war of movement" of  1914, especially in helping the Allies halt the German invasion of France. On 22 August 1914, British Captain L.E.O. Charlton and Lieutenant V.H.N. Wadham reported German General Alexander von Kluck's army was preparing to surround the BEF, contradicting all other intelligence. The British High Command took note of the report and started to withdraw toward Mons, saving the lives of 100,000 soldiers. Later, during the First Battle of the Marne, observation aircraft discovered weak points and exposed flanks in the German lines, allowing the allies to take advantage of them.[4]

text: In Germany the great successes of the early Zeppelin airships had largely overshadowed the importance of heavier-than-air aircraft. Out of a paper strength of about 230 aircraft belonging to the army in August 1914 only 180 or so were of any use.[5] The French military aviation exercises of 1911, 1912, and 1913 had pioneered cooperation with the cavalry (reconnaissance) and artillery (spotting), but the momentum was if anything slacking.[6]

text: Great Britain had "started late" and initially relied largely on the French aircraft industry, especially for aircraft engines. The initial British contribution to the total allied airwar effort in August 1914 (of about 184 aircraft) was three squadrons with about 30 serviceable machines. By the end of the war, Great Britain had formed the world's first air force to be independent of either army or naval control, the Royal Air Force.[7] The American army and navy air services were far behind; even in 1917, when the United States entered the war, they were to be almost totally dependent on the French and British aircraft industries for combat aircraft.[8]

text: The Germans' great air "coup" of 1914 (at least according to contemporary propaganda) was at the Battle of Tannenberg in East Prussia, where an unexpected Russian attack was reported by Leutnants Canter and Mertens, resulting in the Russians' being forced to withdraw.[9]

text: Early Western Front reconnaissance duties[edit]

text: By the end of 1914 the line between the Germans and the Allies stretched from the North Sea to the Alps. The initial "war of movement" largely ceased, and the front became static. Three main functions of short range reconnaissance squadrons had emerged by March 1915.

text: The first was photographic reconnaissance: building up a complete mosaic map of the enemy trench system. The first air cameras used glass plates. (Kodak cellulose film had been invented, but did not at this stage have sufficient resolution).[10]

text: Artillery "spotting" enabled the ranging of artillery on targets invisible to the gunners. Radio telephony was not yet practical from an aircraft, so communication was a problem. By March 1915, a two-seater on "artillery observation" duties was typically equipped with a primitive radio transmitter transmitting using Morse code, but had no receiver. The artillery battery signalled to the aircraft by laying strips of white cloth on the ground in prearranged patterns. Observation duties were shared with the tethered balloons, which could communicate directly with their batteries by field telephone, but were  far less flexible in locating targets and reporting the fall of shot.

text: "Contact patrol" work attempted to follow the course of a battle by communicating with advancing infantry while flying over the battlefield. The technology of the period did not permit radio contact, while methods of signalling were necessarily crude, including dropping messages from the aircraft. Soldiers were initially reluctant to reveal their positions to aircraft, as they (the soldiers) found distinguishing between friend and foe problematic.

text: Reconnaissance flying, like all kinds, was a hazardous business. In April 1917, the worst month for the entire war for the RFC, the average life expectancy of a British pilot on the Western Front was 69 flying hours.[11]

text: Early bombing efforts[edit]

text: Typical 1914 aircraft could carry only very small bomb loads – the bombs themselves, and their stowage, were still very elementary, and effective bomb sights were still to be developed. Nonetheless the beginnings of strategic and tactical bombing date from the earliest days of the war. Notable are the raids by the RNAS on the German airship sheds at Düsseldorf, Cologne and Friedrichshafen in September, October and November 1914, as well as the formation of the Brieftauben Abteilung Ostende (or "Ostend carrier pigeon detachment", cover name for the first German strategic bombing unit), which mounted the first token raid over the English Channel in December.

text: The dawn of air combat[edit]

text: As Dickson had predicted, initially air combat was extremely rare, and definitely subordinate to reconnaissance.  There are even stories of the crew of rival reconnaissance aircraft exchanging nothing more belligerent than smiles and waves.[10] This soon progressed to  throwing grenades, and other objects – even grappling hooks.[12] The first aircraft brought down by another was an Austrian reconnaissance aircraft rammed on 8 September 1914 by Russian pilot Pyotr Nesterov in Galicia in the  Eastern Front. Both planes crashed as the result of the attack killing all occupants. Eventually pilots began firing handheld firearms at enemy aircraft,[10] however pistols were too inaccurate and the single shot rifles too unlikely to score a hit. On October 5, 1914, French pilot Louis Quenault opened fire on a German aircraft with a machine gun for the first time and the era of air combat was under way as more and more aircraft were fitted with machine guns.

text: Evolution of fighter aircraft[edit]

text: The pusher solution[edit]

text: As early as 1912, designers at the British firm Vickers were experimenting with machine gun carrying aircraft. The first concrete result was the Vickers Experimental Fighting Biplane 1, which featured at the 1913 Aero Show in London.[13] and appeared in developed form as the FB.5 in February 1915. This pioneering fighter, like the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b and the Airco DH.1, was a pusher  type. These had the engine and propeller behind the pilot, facing backward, rather than at the front of the aircraft, as in a tractor configuration design. This provided an optimal machine gun position, from which the gun could be fired directly forward without an obstructing propeller, and reloaded and cleared in flight. An important drawback was that pusher designs tended to have an inferior performance to tractor types with the same engine power because of the extra drag created by the struts and rigging necessary to carry the tail unit. The F.E.2d, a more powerful version of the F.E.2b, remained a formidable opponent well into 1917, when pusher fighters were already obsolete. They were simply too slow to catch their quarry.

text: Machine gun synchronisation[edit]

text: The forward firing gun of a pusher "gun carrier" provided some offensive capability – the mounting of a machine gun firing to the rear from a two-seater tractor aircraft gave defensive capability. There was an obvious need for some means to fire a machine gun forward from a tractor aircraft, especially from one of the small, light, "scout" aircraft, adapted from pre-war racers, that were to perform most air combat duties for the rest of the war. It would seem most natural to place the gun between the pilot and the propeller, firing in the direct line of flight, so that the gun could be aimed by "aiming the aircraft". It was also important that the breech of the weapon be readily accessible to the pilot, so that he could clear the  jams and stoppages to which early machine guns were prone. However, this presented an obvious problem: a percentage of bullets fired "free" through a revolving propeller will strike the blades, with predictable results.

text: Early experiments with synchronised machine guns had been carried out in several countries before the war. Franz Schneider, then working for Nieuport in France but later working for  L.V.G. in Germany, patented a synchronisation gear on 15 July 1913. An early Russian gear was designed by a Lieutenant Poplavko: the Edwards brothers in England designed the first British example, and the Morane-Saulnier company were also working on the problem in 1914. All these early experiments failed to attract official attention, partly due to  official inertia and partly due to the terrifying results of failures of these early synchronising gears, which included dangerously ricocheting bullets as well as disintegrating propellers.[14]

text: The Lewis gun, used on many early Allied aircraft, proved next to impossible to successfully synchronise due to its open bolt firing cycle. In an open bolt firing cycle, it is impossible to predict the exact time any given round will fire, a problematic characteristic in a weapon one is attempting to fire between the spinning blades of a propeller. Photographs of fuselage-mounted Lewis guns aimed directly ahead on RNAS aircraft, and looking as if they "should" be synchronised — as with some of their Bristol Scouts — were probably in fact free firing, hardly a satisfactory solution.

text: The Maxim guns used by both the Allies (as the Vickers) and Germany (as the Parabellum MG 14 and Spandau lMG 08) had a closed bolt firing cycle that started with a bullet already in the breech and the breech closed, so the firing of the bullet was the next step in the cycle. This meant that the exact instant the round would be fired could be predicted, making these weapons considerably easier to synchronise.

text: The standard French light machine gun, the Hotchkiss, was also most unamenable to synchronisation due to rounds "hanging fire".  The Morane-Saulnier company designed a "safety backup" in the form of "deflector blades" (metal wedges), complete with metal tiebars extending outwards from the propeller hub for bracing, fitted to the rear surfaces of a propeller at the radial point where they would be struck by a bullet.  Roland Garros tried out this system in a Morane-Saulnier L in April 1915. He managed to score several kills, although it proved to be an inadequate and dangerous solution.  Garros eventually was forced by engine failure (possibly caused by the repeated strain on his aircraft's crankshaft of the "deflected" bullets striking his propeller) to land behind enemy lines, and he and his secret weapon were captured by the Germans.[15]

text: Famously, the German High Command passed Garros' captured Morane to the Fokker company – who already produced Morane type monoplanes for the German Air Service – with orders to copy the  design. The deflector system was totally unsuitable for the steel-jacketed German ammunition so that the Fokker engineers were forced to revisit the synchronisation idea (perhaps infringing Schneider's patent), crafting the Stangensteuerung system by the spring of 1915, used on the examples of their pioneering Eindecker fighter. Crude as these little monoplanes were, they produced a period of German air superiority, known as the "Fokker Scourge" by the Allies. The psychological effect exceeded the material – the Allies had up to now been more or less unchallenged in the air, and the vulnerability of their older reconnaissance aircraft, especially the British B.E.2 and French Farman pushers, came as a very nasty shock.

text: Other methods[edit]

text: Another method used at this time to fire a machine gun forward from a tractor design was to mount the gun to fire above the propeller arc. This required the gun to be mounted on the top wing of biplanes and be mounted on complicated drag-inducing structures in monoplanes. Reaching the gun so that drums or belts could be changed, or jams cleared, presented problems even when the gun could be mounted relatively close to the pilot. Eventually the excellent Foster mounting became more or less the standard way of mounting a Lewis gun in this position in the R.F.C.:[16] this allowed the gun to slide backward for drum changing, and also to be fired at an upward angle, a very effective way of attacking an enemy from the "blind spot" under its tail. This type of mounting was still only possible for a biplane with a top wing positioned near the apex of the propeller's arc – it put considerable strain on the fragile wing structures of the period, and it was less rigid than a gun mounting on the fuselage, producing a greater "scatter" of bullets, especially at anything but very short range.

text: The earliest versions of the Bristol Scout to see aerial combat duty in 1915, the Scout C, had Lewis gun mounts in RNAS service that sometimes were elevated above the propeller arc, and sometimes (in an apparently reckless manner) firing directly through the propeller arc without synchronisation. During the spring and summer of 1915, Captain Lanoe Hawker of the Royal Flying Corps, however, had mounted his Lewis gun just forward of the cockpit to fire forwards and outwards, on the left side of his aircraft's fuselage at about a 30° horizontal angle.  On 25 July 1915 Captain Hawker flew his Scout C, bearing RFC serial number 1611 against several two-seat German observation aircraft of the Fliegertruppe, and managed to defeat three of them in aerial engagements to earn the first Victoria Cross awarded to a British fighter pilot, while engaged against enemy fixed-wing aircraft.

text: 1915: The Fokker Scourge[edit]

text: The first purpose-designed fighter aircraft included the British Vickers F.B.5, and machine guns were also fitted to several French types, such as the Morane-Saulnier L and N. Initially the German Air Service lagged behind the Allies in this respect, but this was soon to change dramatically.

text: In July 1915 the Fokker E.I, the first aircraft to enter service with a "synchronisation gear" which enabled a machine gun to fire through the arc of the propeller without striking its blades, became operational. This gave an important advantage over other contemporary fighter aircraft. This aircraft and its immediate successors, collectively known as the Eindecker (German for "monoplane") – for the first time supplied an effective equivalent to Allied fighters.  Two German military aviators, Leutnants Otto Parschau and Kurt Wintgens, worked for the Fokker firm during the spring of 1915, demonstrating the revolutionary feature of the forward-firing synchronised machine gun to the embryonic force of Fliegertruppe pilots of the German Empire.

text: The first successful engagement involving a synchronised-gun-armed aircraft occurred on the afternoon of July 1, 1915, to the east of Lunéville, France when Leutnant Kurt Wintgens, one of the pilots selected by Fokker to demonstrate the small series of five Eindecker prototype aircraft, forced down a French Morane-Saulnier "Parasol" two seat observation monoplane behind Allied lines with his Fokker M.5K/MG Eindecker production prototype aircraft, carrying the IdFlieg military serial number "E.5/15". Some 200 shots from the synchronised Parabellum MG14 machine gun on Wintgens' aircraft had hit the Gnome Lambda rotary engine of the Morane Parasol, forcing it to land safely in Allied territory.[17]

text: By late 1915 the Germans had achieved air superiority, rendering  Allied access to  the vital intelligence derived from continual aerial reconnaissance more dangerous to acquire. In particular the  defencelessness of Allied reconnaissance types was exposed. The first German "ace" pilots, notably Max Immelmann, had begun their careers.

text: The number of actual Allied casualties involved was for various reasons very small compared with the intensive air fighting of 1917–18. The deployment of the Eindeckers was less than overwhelming: the new type was issued in ones and twos to existing reconnaissance squadrons,  and it was to be nearly a year before the Germans were to follow the British in establishing specialist fighter squadrons. The Eindecker was also, in spite of its advanced armament, by no means an outstanding aircraft, being closely based on the pre-war Morane-Saulnier H, although it did feature a steel tubing fuselage framework (a characteristic of all Fokker wartime aircraft designs) instead of the wooden fuselage components of the French aircraft.

text: Nonetheless, the impact on morale of the fact that the Germans were effectively fighting back in the air created a major scandal in the British parliament and press. The ascendancy of the Eindecker also contributed to the surprise the Germans were able to achieve at the start of the Battle of Verdun because the French reconnaissance aircraft failed to provide their usual cover of the German positions.

text: Fortunately for the Allies, two new British fighters  that were a match for the Fokker, the two-seat F.E.2b and the single-seat D.H.2, were already in production. These were both pushers, and could fire forwards without gun synchronisation. The F.E.2b reached the front in September 1915, and the D.H.2 in the following February. On the French front, the tiny Nieuport 11, a tractor biplane with a forward firing gun mounted on the top wing outside the arc of the propeller, also proved more than a match for the German fighter when it entered service in January 1916. With these new types the Allies re-established air superiority in time for the Battle of the Somme, and the "Fokker Scourge" was over.

text: The Fokker E.III, Airco DH-2 and Nieuport 11 were the very first in a long line of single seat fighter aircraft used by both sides during the war. Very quickly it became clear the primary role of fighters would be attacking enemy two-seaters, which were becoming increasingly important as sources of reconnaissance and artillery observation, while also escorting and defending friendly two-seaters from enemy fighters. Fighters were also used to attack enemy observation balloons, strafe enemy ground targets, and defend friendly airspace from enemy bombers.

text: Almost all the fighters in service with both sides, with the exception of the Fokkers' steel-tube fuselaged airframes, continued to use wood as the basic structural material, with fabric-covered wings relying on external wire bracing. However, the first practical all-metal aircraft was produced by Hugo Junkers, who also used a cantilever wing structure with a metal covering.  The first flight tests of the initial flight demonstrator of this technology, the Junkers J 1 monoplane, took place at the end of 1915 heralding the future of aircraft structural design.

text: 1916: Verdun and the Somme[edit]

text: When the battle of Verdun began on 21 February 1916, air superiority initially enabled the Germans to establish a blockade (luftsperre) on the French air squadrons. However the French were already arming their specialist fighter squadrons, the Escadrilles de chasse, with the Nieuport 11, and with a new offensive strategy they quickly overcame the luftsperre, establishing air superiority over the battle by April.[18]

text: In the meantime, in the aftermath of the Fokker Scourge, the need for a larger, better equipped RFC became obvious, and the process of raising many new British squadrons was started. In the short term, creating new units was easier than producing aircraft to equip them, and training pilots to man them. When the Battle of the Somme started in July 1916, most ordinary RFC squadrons were still equipped with the BE.2c, which had already proved an easy target for the Fokker Eindecker. New types such as the Sopwith 1½ Strutter had to be transferred from production intended for the RNAS. Even more seriously, replacement pilots were being sent to France with pitifully few flying hours.

text: Nonetheless, air superiority and an "offensive" strategy facilitated the greatly increased involvement of the RFC in the battle itself, in what was known at the time as "trench strafing" – in modern terms, close support. For the rest of the war, this became a regular routine, with both attacking and defending infantry in a land battle being constantly liable to attack by machine guns and light bombs from the air. At this time, counter fire from the ground was far less effective than it became later, when the necessary techniques of deflection shooting had been mastered.

text: The first step towards specialist fighter-only aviation units within the German military was the establishment of the so-called Kampfeinsitzer Kommando (single-seat battle unit, abbreviated as "KEK") formations by Inspektor-Major Friedrich Stempel in February 1916.  These were based around Eindeckers and other new fighter designs emerging, like the Pfalz E-series monoplanes, that were being detached from their former Feldflieger Abteilung units during the winter of 1915–16 and brought together in pairs and quartets at particularly strategic locations, as "KEK" units were formed at Habsheim, Vaux, Avillers, Jametz, and Cunel, as well as other strategic locations along the Western Front to act as Luftwachtdienst (aerial guard force) units, consisting only of fighters.[19]  In a pioneering move in March 1916, German master aerial tactician Oswald Boelcke came up with the idea of having "forward observers" located close to the front lines to spot Allied aircraft approaching the front, to avoid wear and tear on the trio of Fokker Eindecker scout aircraft he had based with his own "KEK" unit based at Sivry-sur-Meuse,[20] just north of Verdun. By April 1916, the air superiority established by the Eindecker pilots and maintained by their use within the KEK formations had long evaporated as the Halberstadt D.II began to be phased in as Germany's first biplane fighter design, with the first Fokker D-series biplane fighters joining the Halberstadts, and a target was set to establish 37 new squadrons in the next 12 months – entirely equipped with single seat fighters, and manned by specially selected and trained pilots, to counter the Allied fighter squadrons already experiencing considerable success, as operated by the Royal Flying Corps and the French Aéronautique Militaire. The small numbers of questionably built Fokker D.IIIs posted to the Front pioneered the mounting of twin lMG 08s before 1916's end, as the building numbers of the similarly armed, and much more formidable new twin-gun Albatros D.Is were well on the way to establishing the German air superiority marking the first half of 1917.

text: Allied air superiority was maintained during the height of both battles, and the increased effectiveness of Allied air activity proved disturbing to the German Army's top-level Oberste Heeresleitung command staff.[21] A complete reorganisation of the Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches into what became officially known as the Luftstreitkräfte followed and had generally been completed by October 1916. This reorganisation eventually produced the German strategic bombing squadrons that were to produce such consternation in England in 1917 and 1918, and the specialist close support squadrons (Schlachtstaffeln) that gave the British infantry such trouble at Cambrai and during the German Spring offensive of 1918. Its most famous and dramatic effect, however, involved the raising of specialist fighter squadrons or Jagdstaffeln – a full year after similar units had become part of the RFC and the French Aéronautique Militaire. Initially these units were equipped with the Halberstadt D.II (Germany's first biplane fighter), the Fokker D.I and D.II, along with the last few surviving Eindeckers, all three biplane design types using a single lMG 08, before the Fokker D.III and Albatros D.I twin-gun types arrived at the Front.

text: 1917: Bloody April[edit]

text: The first half of 1917 was a successful period for the jagdstaffeln and the much larger RFC suffered significantly higher casualties than their opponents. While new Allied fighters such as the Sopwith Pup, Sopwith Triplane, and SPAD S.VII were coming into service, at this stage their numbers were small, and suffered from inferior firepower:  all three were armed with just a single synchronised Vickers machine gun. On the other hand, the jagdstaffeln were in the process of replacing their early motley array of equipment with Albatros D-series aircraft, armed with twin synchronised MG08s. The D.I and D.II of late 1916 were succeeded by the new Albatros D.III, which was, in spite of structural difficulties, "the best fighting scout on the Western Front"[22] at the time. Meanwhile, most RFC two-seater squadrons still flew the BE.2e, a very minor improvement on the BE.2c, and still fundamentally unsuited to air-to-air combat.

text: This culminated in the rout of April 1917, known as "Bloody April". The RFC (Royal Flying Corps) suffered particularly severe losses, although Trenchard's policy of "offensive patrol", which placed most combat flying on the German side of the lines, was maintained.[23]

text: During the last half of 1917, the British Sopwith Camel and S.E.5a and the French SPAD S.XIII, all fitted with two forward firing machine guns, became available in numbers. The ordinary two seater squadrons in the RFC received the R.E.8 or the F.K.8, not outstanding warplanes, but far less vulnerable than the BE.2e they replaced. The F.E.2d at last received a worthy replacement in the Bristol F.2b.  On the other hand, the latest Albatros, the D.V, proved to be a disappointment, as was the Pfalz D.III. The exotic Fokker Dr.I was plagued, like the Albatros, with structural problems. By the end of the year the air superiority pendulum had swung once more in the Allies' favour.

text: 1918 – the Spring Offensive[edit]

text: The surrender of the Russians and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, and the resulting release of troops from the Eastern Front gave the Germans a "last chance" of winning the war before the Americans could become effectively involved. This resulted in the last great German offensive of the war, the "Spring Offensive", which opened on 21 March. The main attack fell on the British front on the assumption that defeat of the British army would result in the surrender of the mutiny-weakened French.[24]

text: In the air, the battle was marked by the carefully coordinated use of the Schlachtstaffeln or "battle flights", equipped with the light CL class two seaters built by the Halberstadt and Hannover firms, that had proved so effective in the German counter-attack in early October's Battle of Cambrai.[25]  The new German fighter aircraft, notably the Fokker D.VII,  that might have revived German air superiority in time for this battle had not however reached the Jagdstaffeln in sufficient numbers, despite its own premier on the Western Front in the mid-Spring of 1918. As with several offensives on both sides, thorough planning and preparation led to initial success, and in fact to deeper penetration than had been achieved by either side since 1914.[26] Many British airfields had to be abandoned to the advancing Germans in a new war of movement. Losses of aircraft and their crew were very heavy on both sides – especially to light anti-aircraft fire. However, by the time of the death of Manfred von Richthofen, the famed Red Baron, on 21 April, the great offensive had largely stalled.[27] The new German fighters had still not arrived, and the British still held general air superiority.

text: The month of April 1918 began with the consolidation of the separate British RFC and RNAS air services into the Royal Air Force, the first independent air arm not subordinate to its national army or navy. By the end of April the new Fokker, Pfalz and Roland fighters had finally begun to replace the obsolescent equipment of the Jagdstaffeln, but this did not proceed with as much dispatch as it might have, due to increasing shortages of supplies on the side of the Central Powers, and many of the Jastas still flew Albatros D types at the time of the armistice. The rotary engined Fokker D.VIII and Siemens-Schuckert D.IV, as well as surviving Fokker Triplanes, suffered from poor reliability and shortened engine life due to the Voltol-based oil that was used to replace scarce castor oil – captured and salvaged Allied aircraft (especially Sopwith Camels) were scrounged, not only for engines and equipment, but even for their lubricants. Nonetheless, by September casualties in the RFC had reached the highest level since "Bloody April"[28]  – and the Allies were maintaining air superiority by weight of numbers rather than technical superiority.

text: 1918, especially the second half of the year, also saw the United States increasingly involved.  While American volunteers had been flying in Allied squadrons since the early years of the war, not until 1918 did all-American squadrons begin active operations. Technically America had fallen well behind the European powers in aviation, and no American designed types saw action, with the exception of the Curtiss flying boats. At first, the Americans were largely supplied with second-rate and obsolete aircraft, such as the Nieuport 28, Sopwith 1½ Strutter, and Dorand AR.2 types, and inexperienced American airmen stood little chance against their seasoned opponents. As numbers grew and equipment improved with the introduction of the twin-gun SPAD XIII as well as the Sopwith Camel and even the S.E. 5a into American service near the war's end, the Americans came to hold their own in the air; although casualties were heavy, as indeed were those of the French and British, in the last desperate fighting of the war.  One of the French twin-seat reconnaissance aircraft used by the French and the USAAS, the Salmson 2.A2, was among the World War I-era aircraft to pioneer the use of "fixed" radial engines in military aircraft — the liquid-cooled radials designed by Georges Canton and Pierre Unné powered the 2.A2 aircraft, and were among the first "fixed" radial aircraft powerplants ever designed, and manufactured by the parent Société des Moteurs Salmson aircraft and automobile manufacturing firm, from 1908 to 1920.

text: Impact[edit]

text:
“

The day has passed when armies on the ground or navies on the sea can be the arbiter of a nation's destiny in war. The main power of defense and the power of initiative against an enemy has passed to the air.

”

— Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, November 1918[29]

tag: table

text: By war's end, the impact of aerial missions on the ground war was in retrospect mainly tactical – strategic bombing, in particular, was still very rudimentary indeed. This was partly due to its restricted funding and use, as it was, after all, a new technology. On the other hand, the artillery, which had perhaps the greatest effect of any military arm in this war, was in very large part as devastating as it was due to the availability of aerial photography and aerial "spotting" by balloon and aircraft. By 1917 weather bad enough to restrict flying was considered as good as "putting the gunner's eyes out".[30]

text: Some, such as then-Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, commander of all American air combat units in France, claimed, "[T]he only damage that has come to [Germany] has been through the air".[31] Mitchell was famously controversial in his view that the future of war was not on the ground or at sea, but in the air.

text: During the course of the War, German aircraft losses accounted to 27,637 by all causes, while Entente losses numered over 88,613 lost (52,640 France & 35,973 Great Britain)[32]

text: Anti-aircraft weaponry[edit]

text: Though aircraft still functioned as vehicles of observation, increasingly they were used as a weapon in themselves. Dog fights erupted in the skies over the front lines, and aircraft went down in flames. From this air-to-air combat, the need grew for better aircraft and gun armament. Aside from machine guns, air-to-air rockets were also used, such as the Le Prieur rocket against balloons and airships.  Recoilless rifles and autocannons were also attempted, but they pushed early fighters to unsafe limits while bringing negligible returns, with the German Becker 20mm autocannon being fitted to a few twin-engined Luftstreitkräfte G-series medium bombers for offensive needs, and at least one late-war Kaiserliche Marine zeppelin for defense – the uniquely armed SPAD S.XII single-seat fighter carried one Vickers machine gun and a special, hand-operated semi-automatic 37mm gun firing through a hollow propeller shaft.[33] Another innovation was air-to-air bombing if a fighter had been fortunate enough to climb higher than an airship.  The Ranken dart was designed just for this opportunity.

text: This need for improvement was not limited to air-to-air combat. On the ground, methods developed before the war were being used to deter enemy aircraft from observation and bombing. Anti-aircraft artillery rounds were fired into the air and exploded into clouds of smoke and fragmentation, called archie by the British.

text: Anti-aircraft artillery defenses were increasingly used around observation balloons, which became frequent targets of enemy fighters equipped with special incendiary bullets. Because balloons were so flammable, due to the hydrogen used to inflate them, observers were given parachutes, enabling them to jump to safety. Ironically, only a few aircrew had this option, due in part to a mistaken belief they inhibited aggressiveness, and in part to their significant weight.

text: First shooting-down of an aeroplane by anti-aircraft artillery[edit]

text: During a bombing raid over Kragujevac on 30 September 1915, private Radoje Ljutovac of the Serbian Army successfully shot down one of the three aircraft. Ljutovac used a slightly modified Turkish cannon captured some years previously. This was the first time that a military aeroplane was shot down with ground-to-air artillery fire, and thus a crucial moment in anti-aircraft warfare.[34][35][36]

text: Bombing and reconnaissance[edit]

text: As the stalemate developed on the ground, with both sides unable to advance even a few hundred yards without a major battle and thousands of casualties, aircraft became greatly valued for their role gathering intelligence on enemy positions and bombing the enemy's supplies behind the trench lines. Large aircraft with a pilot and an observer were used to scout enemy positions and bomb their supply bases. Because they were large and slow, these aircraft made easy targets for enemy fighter aircraft. As a result, both sides used fighter aircraft to both attack the enemy's two-seat aircraft and protect their own while carrying out their missions.

text: While the two-seat bombers and reconnaissance aircraft were slow and vulnerable, they were not defenseless. Two-seaters had the advantage of both forward- and rearward-firing guns. Typically, the pilot controlled fixed guns behind the propeller, similar to guns in a fighter aircraft, while the observer controlled one with which he could cover the arc behind the aircraft.  A tactic used by enemy fighter aircraft to avoid fire from the rear gunner was to attack from slightly below the rear of two-seaters, as the tail gunner was unable to fire below the aircraft.  However, two-seaters could counter this tactic by going into a dive at high speeds.  Pursuing a diving two-seater was hazardous for a fighter pilot, as it would place the fighter directly in the rear gunner's line of fire; several high scoring aces of the war were shot down by "lowly" two-seaters, including Raoul Lufbery, Erwin Böhme, and Robert Little.

text: Strategic bombing[edit]

text: The first aerial bombardment of civilians occurred during World War I.  In the opening weeks of the war Zeppelins bombed Liege, Antwerp and Warsaw, and other cities including Paris and Bucharest were targeted. And in January 1915 the Germans began a bombing campaign against England that was to last until 1918, initially using airships. There were  19 raids in 1915, in which 37 tons of bombs were dropped, killing 181 people and injuring 455. Raids continued in 1916. London was accidentally bombed in May, and in July, the Kaiser allowed directed raids against urban centres. There were 23 airship raids in 1916 in which 125 tons of ordnance were dropped, killing 293 people and injuring 691. Gradually British air defenses improved. In 1917 and 1918 there were only eleven Zeppelin raids against England, and the final raid occurred on 5 August 1918, resulting in the death of Peter Strasser, commander of the German Naval Airship Department. By the end of the war, 54 airship raids had been undertaken, in which  557 people were killed and  1,358 injured.[37]

text: The Zeppelin raids were complemented by the Gotha G bombers from 1917, which were the first heavier than air bombers to be used for strategic bombing, and by a small force of five Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI "giant" four engined bombers from late September 1917 through to mid-May 1918. Twenty-eight Gotha twin-engined bombers were lost on the raids over England, with no losses for the Zeppelin-Staaken giants.  It has been argued that the raids were effective far beyond material damage in diverting and hampering wartime production, and diverting twelve squadrons and over 17,000 men to air defenses.[38] Calculations performed on the number of dead to the weight of bombs dropped had a profound effect on attitudes of the British government and population in the interwar years, who believed that "The bomber will always get through".

text: Observation balloons[edit]

text: Manned observation balloons floating high above the trenches were used as stationary reconnaissance points on the front lines, reporting enemy troop positions and directing artillery fire. Balloons commonly had a crew of two equipped with parachutes: upon an enemy air attack on the flammable balloon, the crew would parachute to safety. Recognized for their value as observer platforms, observation balloons were important targets of enemy aircraft. To defend against air attack, they were heavily protected by large concentrations of antiaircraft guns and patrolled by friendly aircraft. Blimps and balloons helped contribute to the stalemate of the trench warfare of World War I, and contributed to air-to-air combat for air superiority because of their significant reconnaissance value.

text: To encourage pilots to attack enemy balloons, both sides counted downing an enemy balloon as an "air-to-air" kill, with the same value as shooting down an enemy aircraft. Some pilots, known as balloon busters, became particularly distinguished by their prowess at shooting down enemy balloons. The premier balloon busting ace was Willy Coppens: 35 of his 37 victories were enemy balloons.

text: Leading aces[edit]

text: As pioneer aviators invented air-to-air combat, the contending sides developed various methods of tracking aerial casualties and victories. Aviators with five or more aerial victories confirmed by their parent air service were dubbed "aces". Their numbers would burgeon, until by war's end, there were over 1,800 aces.

text: The following aces scored the most victories for their respective air services.

text:
Name

Air service

Confirmedvictories

Baracca, Francesco

Corpo Aeronautico Militare

34[39]

Bishop, William Avery

Royal Air Force

72[40]

Brumowski, Godwin

Luftfahrtruppen

35[41]

Cobby, Arthur Henry

Australian Flying Corps

29[citation needed]

Coppens de Houthulst, Willy Omer

Belgian Military Aviation

37[42]

Fonck, René

Aéronautique Militaire

75[43]

Kazakov, Alexander

Imperial Russian Air Force

20[44]

Richthofen, Manfred von

Luftstreitkräfte

80[45]

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

US Army Air Service

26[46][47]

text: Pioneers of aerial warfare[edit]

text: The following aviators were the first to reach important milestones in the development of aerial combat during World War I:

text:
Name

Date

Country

Event

Miodrag Tomić

12 August 1914

Serbia

First dogfight of the war[48][49]

Pyotr Nesterov

7 September 1914

Russia

First air-to-air kill, by ramming an Austrian aeroplane[50]

Louis Quénault and Joseph Frantz

5 October 1914

France

Pilot Frantz and Observer Quénault were the first fliers to successfully use a machine gun in air-to-air combat to shoot down another aircraft.[51]

Roland Garros

1 April 1915

France

First aerial victory with forward pointing fixed gun achieved while aiming gun with aircraft[52]

Adolphe Pégoud

3 April 1915

France

First flying "ace" and first French ace.[53]

Kurt Wintgens

1 July 1915

Germany

First aerial victory using a sychronised machine gun firing through the propeller arc[54]

Lanoe Hawker

11 August 1915

United Kingdom

First British ace.[55]

Oswald Boelcke

16 October 1915

Germany

First German ace.[56]

Otto Jindra

9 April 1916

Austria-Hungary

First Austro-Hungarian ace.[57]

Redford Henry Mulock

21 May 1916

Canada

First Canadian ace, as well as first Royal Naval Air Service ace.[58]

Eduard Pulpe

1 July 1916

Russia

First Imperial Russian Air Force ace.[59]

Roderic Dallas

9 July 1916

Australia

First Australian ace.[60]

Frederick Libby

25 August 1916

United States

First American ace.[61]

Etienne Tsu

26 September 1916

France

First Chinese ace; French Foreign Legion, Escadrille SPA.37.[62][63][64]

Mario Stoppani

31 October 1916

Italy

First Italian ace.[65]

Fernand Jacquet

1 February 1917

Belgium

First Belgian ace.[66]

Maurice Benjamin

27 April 1917

South Africa

First South African ace.[67]

Thomas Culling

19 May 1917

New Zealand

First New Zealand ace.[68]

Gottfried Freiherr von Banfield

31 May 1917

Austria-Hungary

First night victory and first Austro-Hungarian night victory.[69]

Richard Burnard Munday

29 September 1917

United Kingdom

First British night victory, over an observation balloon.[70]

Fritz Anders

20 August 1918

Germany

First German night victory. Anders was first night fighter ace.[71]

text: Aircraft[edit]

text:
Aircraft of the Entente Powers
Aircraft of the Central Powers

tag: ul


document_title: American Graffiti

question_text: who was the blonde in the thunderbird in american graffiti

text: American Graffiti

text: Plot[edit]

text: In early September 1962 in Modesto, California, on the last evening of summer vacation, recent high school graduates and longtime friends, Curt Henderson and Steve Bolander, meet John Milner, the drag-racing king of the town, and Terry "The Toad" Fields in the parking lot of the local Mel's Drive-In diner. Curt and Steve are scheduled to travel the next morning to Northeastern United States to start college. Despite receiving a $2,000 scholarship from the local Moose Lodge, Curt has second thoughts about leaving Modesto. Steve gives Toad his 1958 Chevrolet Impala to watch while he's away at college until he returns at Christmas. Steve's girlfriend, Laurie, who is also Curt's sister, arrives in her car. Steve suggests to Laurie, who is already glum about him going to college, that they see other people while he is away in order to "strengthen" their relationship. Though not openly upset, she is displeased with his proposal which affects their interactions the rest of the evening.

text: Curt accompanies Steve, last year's high school student class president, and Laurie, the current head cheerleader, to the back-to-high-school sock hop. In one story line, Curt is desperate to find a beautiful blonde girl driving a white 1956 Ford Thunderbird that he sees en route to the dance: at a stoplight, she appears to say "I love you" before disappearing around the corner. After leaving the hop, Curt is coerced by a group of greasers ("The Pharaohs") to participate in an initiation rite that involves hooking a chain to a police car and ripping out its back axle. The Pharaohs tell Curt that "The Blonde" is a trophy wife or prostitute, but he refuses to believe either. Determined to get a message to the blonde girl, Curt drives to the local radio station to ask DJ Wolfman Jack, who is omnipresent on the car radios, to announce a message for the blonde girl. Inside the radio station, Curt encounters a bearded man who tells him that the voice of The Wolfman is pre-taped from afar. The man still accepts the message from Curt to see what he could do. As he is leaving the station, Curt sees the man talking into the microphone and hears the voice of The Wolfman, and realizes the man is the actual DJ himself. Sure enough, The Wolfman eventually reads the message on the radio for "The Blonde" to meet Curt or call him at a number which happens to be a telephone booth. Curt waits by the telephone booth and early the next morning, he is awakened by the phone ringing. It turns out to be "The Blonde" who says she knows him and maybe she would see him cruising the coming night. Curt replies probably not, intimating that he decided to go to college and will be leaving that morning.

text: The Toad, in Steve's car, and John, in his yellow 1932 Ford Deuce Coupé hot rod, cruise the strip of Modesto. Toad, who is normally socially inept with girls, successfully picks up a flirtatious, and somewhat rebellious, girl named Debbie. John inadvertently picks up Carol, an annoying 12-year-old who seems fond of him. Another drag racer, the handsome and arrogant Bob Falfa, is searching out John in order to challenge him to a race.

text: Steve and Laurie have a series of arguments and make-ups through the evening. They finally split and, as the story lines intertwine, Bob Falfa picks up Laurie in his black 1955 Chevrolet One-Fifty Coupé. Bob finally finds John and goads him into racing. A parade of cars follow them to "Paradise Road" to watch the race. Laurie rides shotgun with Bob as Toad starts the race. As Bob begins taking a lead in the race, he loses control of the car when a front tire blows, and the car plunges into a ditch and rolls over. Steve and John leap out of their cars and rush to the wreck as a dazed Bob and Laurie stagger out of the car before it explodes. Distraught, Laurie grips Steve tightly and begs him not to leave her. He assures her that he will stay in Modesto.

text: At the airfield in the morning, Curt says goodbye to his parents, his sister Laurie, Steve, John and The Toad. As the plane takes off, Curt, gazing out of the window, sees the white Ford Thunderbird belonging to the mysterious blonde driving down a country road.

text: An on-screen epilogue reveals that John is killed by a drunk driver in December 1964, Toad is reported missing in action near An Lộc in December 1965, Steve is an insurance agent in Modesto, California, and Curt is a writer living in Canada.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Richard Dreyfuss as Curt Henderson
Ron Howard as Steve Bolander
Paul Le Mat as John Milner
Charles Martin Smith as Terry "The Toad" Fields
Cindy Williams as Laurie Henderson
Candy Clark as Debbie Dunham
Mackenzie Phillips as Carol Morrison
Wolfman Jack as himself
Bo Hopkins as Joe Young
Manuel Padilla, Jr. as Carlos
Harrison Ford as Bob Falfa
Lynne Marie Stewart as Bobbie Tucker
Terry McGovern as Mr. Wolfe
Kathleen Quinlan as Peg
Scott Beach as Mr. Gordon
Susan Richardson as Judy
Kay Lenz as Jane
Joe Spano as Vic
Debralee Scott as Falfa's Girl
Suzanne Somers as "The Blonde" in T-Bird

text: Development[edit]

text: Inspiration[edit]

text: During the production of THX 1138 (1971), producer Francis Ford Coppola challenged co-writer/director George Lucas to write a script that would appeal to mainstream audiences.[2] Lucas embraced the idea, using his early 1960s teenage experiences cruising in Modesto, California. "Cruising was gone, and I felt compelled to document the whole experience and what my generation used as a way of meeting girls," Lucas explained.[2] As he developed the story in his mind, Lucas included his fascination with Wolfman Jack. Lucas had considered doing a documentary about the Wolfman when he attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts, but dropped the idea.[3]

text: Adding in semi-autobiographical connotations, Lucas set the story in his hometown of 1962 Modesto.[2] The characters Curt Henderson, John Milner and Terry "The Toad" Fields also represent different stages from his younger life. Curt is modeled after Lucas's personality during USC, while Milner is based on Lucas's teenage street racing and junior college years, and hot rod enthusiasts he had known from the Kustom Kulture in Modesto. Toad represents Lucas's nerd years as a freshman in high school, specifically his "bad luck" with dating.[4] The filmmaker was also inspired by Federico Fellini's I Vitelloni (1953).[5]

text: After the financial failure of THX 1138, Lucas wanted the film to act as a release for a world-weary audience:[6]

text: [THX] was about real things that were going on and the problems we're faced with. I realized after making THX that those problems are so real that most of us have to face those things every day, so we're in a constant state of frustration. That just makes us more depressed than we were before. So I made a film where, essentially, we can get rid of some of those frustrations, the feeling that everything seems futile.[6]

text: United Artists[edit]

text: After Warner Bros. abandoned Lucas's early version of Apocalypse Now (1979) (during the post-production of THX 1138), the filmmaker decided to continue developing Another Quiet Night in Modesto, eventually changing its title to American Graffiti.[3] To co-write a fifteen-page film treatment, Lucas hired Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who also added semi-autobiographical material to the story.[7] Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz began pitching the American Graffiti treatment to various Hollywood studios and production companies in an attempt to secure the financing needed to expand it into a screenplay,[2] but they were unsuccessful. The potential financiers were concerned that music licensing costs would cause the film to go way over budget. Along with Easy Rider (1969), American Graffiti was one of the first films to eschew a traditional film score and successfully rely instead on synchronizing a series of popular hit songs with individual scenes.[8]

text: THX 1138 was released in March 1971[2] and Lucas was offered opportunities to direct Lady Ice (1973), Tommy (1975) or Hair (1979). He turned down those offers, determined to pursue his own projects despite his urgent desire to find another film to direct.[9][10] During this time, Lucas conceived the idea for a space opera (as yet untitled) which later became the basis for his Star Wars franchise. At the May 1971 Cannes Film Festival, THX was chosen for the Directors' Fortnight competition. There, Lucas met David Picker, then president of United Artists, who was intrigued by American Graffiti and Lucas's space opera. Picker decided to give Lucas $10,000 to develop Graffiti as a screenplay.[9]

text: Lucas planned to spend another five weeks in Europe, and hoped that Huyck and Katz would agree to finish the screenplay by the time he returned, but they were about to start on their own film, Messiah of Evil (1972),[7] so Lucas hired Richard Walter, a colleague from the USC School of Cinematic Arts for the job. Walter was flattered, but initially tried to sell Lucas on a different screenplay called Barry and the Persuasions, a story of East Coast teenagers in the late 1950s. Lucas held firm—his was a story about West Coast teenagers in the early 1960s. Walter was paid the $10,000, and he began to expand the Lucas/Huyck/Katz treatment into a screenplay.[9]

text: Lucas was dismayed when he returned to America in June 1971 and read Walter's script, which was written in the style and tone of an exploitation film, similar to 1967's Hot Rods to Hell. "It was overtly sexual and very fantasy-like, with playing chicken and things that kids didn't really do," Lucas explained. "I wanted something that was more like the way I grew up."[11] Walter's script also had Steve and Laurie going to Nevada to get married without their parents' permission.[5] Walter rewrote the screenplay, but Lucas nevertheless fired him due to their creative differences.[9]

text: After paying Walter, Lucas had exhausted his development fund from United Artists. He began writing a script, completing his first draft in just three weeks. Drawing upon his large collection of vintage records, Lucas wrote each scene with a particular song in mind as its musical backdrop.[9] The cost of licensing the 75 songs Lucas wanted was one factor in United Artists' ultimate decision to reject the script; the studio also felt it was too experimental—"a musical montage with no characters". United Artists also passed on Star Wars, which Lucas shelved for the time being.[10]

text: Universal Pictures[edit]

text: Lucas spent the rest of 1971 and early 1972 trying to raise financing for the American Graffiti script.[10] During this time, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures all turned down the opportunity to co-finance and distribute the film.[12] Lucas, Huyck and Katz rewrote the second draft together, which, in addition to Modesto, was also set in Mill Valley and Los Angeles. Lucas also intended to end American Graffiti showing a title card detailing the fate of the characters, including the death of Milner and the disappearance of Toad in Vietnam. Huyck and Katz found the ending depressing and were incredulous that Lucas planned to include only the male characters. Lucas argued that mentioning the girls meant adding another title card, which he felt would prolong the ending. Because of this, Pauline Kael later accused Lucas of chauvinism.[12]

text: Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz took the script to American International Pictures, who expressed interest, but ultimately believed American Graffiti was not violent or sexual enough for the studio's standards.[13] Lucas and Kurtz eventually found favor at Universal Pictures, who allowed Lucas total artistic control and the right of final cut privilege on the condition that he make American Graffiti on a strict, low budget.[10] This forced Lucas to drop the opening scene, in which the Blonde Angel, Curt's image of the perfect woman, drives through an empty drive-in cinema in her Ford Thunderbird, her transparency revealing she does not exist.[14]

text: Universal initially projected a $600,000 budget, but added an additional $175,000 once producer Francis Ford Coppola signed on. This would allow the studio to advertise American Graffiti as "from the Man who Gave you The Godfather (1972)". However, Lucas was forced to concede final cut privilege. The proposition also gave Universal first look deals on Lucas's next two planned projects, Star Wars (1977) and Radioland Murders (1994).[13] As he continued to work on the script, Lucas encountered difficulties on the Steve and Laurie storyline. Lucas, Katz and Huyck worked on the third draft together, specifically on the scenes featuring Steve and Laurie.[15]

text: Production proceeded with virtually no input or interference from Universal. American Graffiti was a low-budget film, and executive Ned Tanen had only modest expectations of its commercial success. However, Universal did object to the film's title, not knowing what "American Graffiti" meant;[15] Lucas was dismayed when some executives assumed he was making an Italian movie about feet.[12] The studio therefore submitted a long list of over 60 alternative titles, with their favorite being Another Slow Night in Modesto[15] and Coppola's Rock Around the Block.[12] They pushed hard to get Lucas to adopt any of the titles, but he was displeased with all the alternatives and persuaded Tanen to keep American Graffiti.[15]

text: Production[edit]

text: Casting[edit]

text: The film's lengthy casting process was overseen by Fred Roos, who worked with producer Francis Ford Coppola on The Godfather.[7] Because American Graffiti's main cast was for younger actors, the casting call and notices went through numerous high school drama groups and community theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area.[4] Among the actors was Mark Hamill, the future Luke Skywalker in Lucas' Star Wars trilogy.[14]

text: Over 100 unknown actors auditioned for Curt Henderson before Richard Dreyfuss was cast; George Lucas was impressed with Dreyfuss's thoughtful analysis of the role,[4] and, as a result, offered the actor his choice of Curt or Terry "The Toad" Fields.[14] Roos, a former casting director on The Andy Griffith Show, suggested Ron Howard for Steve Bolander; Howard accepted the role to break out of the mold of his career as a child actor.[4] Howard would later appear in the very similar role of Richie Cunningham on the Happy Days sitcom.[16] Bob Balaban turned down The Toad out of fear of becoming typecast, a decision which he later regretted. Charles Martin Smith, who, in his first year as a professional actor, had already appeared in two feature films including 20th Century Fox's The Culpepper Cattle Co. and four TV episodes, was eventually cast in the role.[17]

text: Although Cindy Williams was cast as Laurie Henderson, the actress hoped she would get the part of Debbie Dunham, which ended up going to Candy Clark.[7] Mackenzie Phillips, who portrays Carol, was only 12 years old, and under California law, producer Gary Kurtz had to become her legal guardian for the duration of filming.[14] For Bob Falfa, Roos cast Harrison Ford, who was then concentrating on a carpentry career. Ford agreed to take the role on the condition that he would not have to cut his hair. The character has a flattop in the script, but a compromise was eventually reached whereby Ford wore a stetson to cover his hair. Producer Francis Ford Coppola encouraged Lucas to cast Wolfman Jack as himself in a cameo appearance. "George Lucas and I went through thousands of Wolfman Jack phone calls that were taped with the public," Jack reflected. "The telephone calls [heard on the broadcasts] in the motion picture and on the soundtrack were actual calls with real people."[15]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Although American Graffiti is set in 1962 Modesto, California, Lucas believed the city had changed too much in 10 years and initially chose San Rafael as the primary shooting location.[14] Filming began on June 26, 1972. However, Lucas soon became frustrated at the time it was taking to fix camera mounts to the cars.[18] A key member of the production had also been arrested for growing marijuana,[12] and, in addition to already running behind the shooting schedule, the San Rafael City Council immediately became concerned about the disruption that filming caused for local businesses and therefore withdrew permission to shoot beyond a second day.[18]

text: Petaluma, a similarly small town approximately 20 miles north of San Rafael, became more cooperative and American Graffiti moved there without the loss of a single day of shooting. Lucas convinced the San Rafael City Council to allow two further nights of filming for general cruising shots, which he used to evoke as much of the intended location as possible in the finished film. Shooting in Petaluma began on June 28 and proceeded at a quick pace.[18] Lucas mimicked the filmmaking style of B movie producer Sam Katzman in attempting to save money and authenticated low-budget filming methods.[14]

text: In addition to Petaluma, other locations included Mel's Drive-In in San Francisco, Sonoma, Richmond, Novato, and the Buchanan Field Airport in Concord.[19] The freshman hop dance was filmed in the Gus Gymnasium, previously known as the Boys Gym, at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley.[20]

text: More problems ensued during filming: Paul Le Mat was sent to the hospital after an allergic reaction to walnuts. Le Mat, Harrison Ford and Bo Hopkins were claimed to be drunk most nights and every weekend, and had conducted climbing competitions to the top of the local Holiday Inn sign.[21] One actor set fire to Lucas's motel room. Another night, Le Mat threw Richard Dreyfuss into a swimming pool, gashing Dreyfuss' forehead on the day before he was due to have his close-ups filmed. Dreyfuss also complained over the wardrobe that Lucas had chosen for the character. Ford was kicked out of his motel room at the Holiday Inn.[21] In addition, two camera operators were nearly killed when filming the climactic race scene on Frates Road outside Petaluma.[22] Principal photography ended on August 4, 1972.[19]

text: The final scenes in the film, shot at Buchanan Field, feature a Douglas DC-7C airliner of Magic Carpet Airlines which had previously been leased from owner Club America Incorporated by the rock band Grand Funk Railroad from March 1971 to June 1971.[20][23][24]

text: Cinematography[edit]

text: Lucas considered covering duties as the sole cinematographer, but dropped the idea.[14] Instead, he elected to shoot American Graffiti using two cinematographers (as he had done in THX 1138) and no formal director of photography. Two cameras were used simultaneously in scenes involving conversations between actors in different cars, which resulted in significant production time savings.[18] After CinemaScope proved to be too expensive,[14] Lucas decided that American Graffiti should have a documentary-like feel, and shot the film using Techniscope cameras. He believed that Techniscope, an inexpensive way of shooting on 35 mm film and utilizing only half of the film's frame, would give a perfect widescreen format resembling 16 mm. Adding to the documentary feel was Lucas's openness for the cast to improvise scenes. He also used goofs for the final cut, notably Charles Martin Smith's arriving on his scooter to meet Steve outside Mel's Drive-In.[25] Jan D'Alquen and Ron Eveslage were hired as the cinematographers, but filming with Techniscope cameras brought lighting problems. As a result, Lucas commissioned help from friend Haskell Wexler, who was credited as the "visual consultant".[18]

text: Editing[edit]

text: Lucas had wanted his wife, Marcia, to edit American Graffiti, but Universal executive Ned Tanen insisted on hiring Verna Fields, who had just finished editing Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express (1974).[26] Fields worked on the first rough cut of the film before she left to resume work on What's Up, Doc? (1972). After Fields's departure, Lucas struggled with editing the film's story structure. He had originally written the script so that the four (Curt, Steve, John and Toad) storylines were always presented in the same sequence (an "ABCD" plot structure). But the first cut of American Graffiti was three-and-a-half hours long, and in order to whittle the film down to a more manageable two hours, so many scenes had to be cut, shortened, or combined that the film's structure became increasingly loose, and no longer adhered to Lucas's original "ABCD" presentation.[25] Lucas completed his final cut of American Graffiti, which ran 112 minutes, in December 1972.[27] Walter Murch assisted Lucas in post-production for audio mixing and sound design purposes.[25] Murch suggested making Wolfman Jack's radio show the "backbone" of the film. "The Wolfman was an ethereal presence in the lives of young people," said producer Gary Kurtz, "and it was that quality we wanted and obtained in the picture."[28]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: Lucas's choice of background music was crucial to the mood of each scene, but he was realistic about the complexities of copyright clearances and suggested a number of alternative tracks. Universal wanted Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz to hire an orchestra for sound-alikes. The studio eventually proposed a flat deal that offered every music publisher the same amount of money. This was acceptable to most of the companies representing Lucas's first choices, but not to RCA—with the consequence that Elvis Presley is conspicuously absent from the soundtrack.[10] Clearing the music licensing rights had cost approximately $90,000,[28] and as a result there was no money left for a traditional film score. "I used the absence of music, and sound effects, to create the drama," Lucas later explained.[27]

text: A soundtrack album for the film, 41 Original Hits from the Soundtrack of American Graffiti, was issued by MCA Records. The album contains all the songs used in the film (with the exception of "Gee" by the Crows, which was subsequently included on a second soundtrack album), presented in the order in which they appeared in the film.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Release[edit]

text: Despite unanimous praise at a January 1973 test screening attended by Universal executive Ned Tanen, the studio told Lucas they wanted to re-edit his original cut of American Graffiti.[27] Producer Coppola sided with Lucas against Tanen and Universal, offering to "buy the film" from the studio and reimburse it for the $775,000 (equivalent to $4,437,291 in 2016)[29] it had cost to make it.[19] 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures made similar offers to the studio.[3] Universal refused these offers and told Lucas they planned to have William Hornbeck re-edit the film.[30]

text: When Coppola's The Godfather (1972) won the Academy Award for Best Picture in March 1973, Universal relented, and agreed to cut only three scenes (about four minutes) from Lucas' cut—an encounter between Toad and a fast-talking car salesman, an argument between Steve and his former teacher Mr. Kroot at the sock hop, and an effort by Bob Falfa to serenade Laurie with "Some Enchanted Evening"—but decided that the film was fit for release only as a television movie.[19]

text: However, various studio employees who had seen the film began talking it up, and its reputation grew through word of mouth.[19] The studio dropped the TV movie idea and began arranging for a limited release in selected theaters in Los Angeles and New York.[8] Universal presidents Sidney Sheinberg and Lew Wasserman heard about the praise the film had been garnering in LA and New York, and the marketing department amped up its promotion strategy for it,[8] investing an additional $500,000 (equivalent to $2,697,526 in 2016)[29] in marketing and promotion.[3] The film was released in the United States on August 11, 1973[1] to sleeper hit reception.[31] The film had cost only $1.27 million (equivalent to $7,271,432 in 2016)[29] to produce and market, but yielded worldwide box office gross revenues of more than $55 million (equivalent to $296,727,886 in 2016)[29].[32] It had only modest success outside the United States, but became a cult film in France.[30]

text: Universal reissued Graffiti in 1978 and earned an additional $63 million (equivalent to $231,332,143 in 2016)[29], which brought the total revenue for the two releases to $118 million (equivalent to $433,288,776 in 2016)[29].[3] The reissue included stereophonic sound,[32] and the additional four minutes that the studio had removed from Lucas's original cut. All home video releases also included these scenes.[19] Also, the date of John Milner's death was changed from June 1964 to December 1964 to fit the narrative structure of the upcoming sequel More American Graffiti. At the end of its theatrical run, American Graffiti had one of the greatest cost-to-profit ratios of a motion picture ever.[3] Producer Francis Ford Coppola regretted having not financed the film himself. Lucas recalled, "He would have made $30 million (equivalent to $161,851,574 in 2016)[29] on the deal. He never got over it and he still kicks himself."[30] It was the 13th-highest-grossing film of all time in 1977,[31] and, adjusted for inflation, is currently the 43rd highest.[33] By the 1990s, American Graffiti had earned more than $200 million (equivalent to $366,632,705 in 2016)[29] in box office gross and home video sales.[3] In December 1997 Variety reported that the film had earned an additional $55.13 million in rental revenue (equivalent to $82,249,297 in 2016)[29].[34]

text: Universal Studios Home Entertainment first released the film on DVD in September 1998,[35] and once more as a double feature with More American Graffiti (1979) in January 2004.[36] Aside from the four minutes originally deleted from Lucas' original cut retained, the only major change in the DVD version is the main title sequence, particularly the sky background to Mel's Drive-In, which was redone by ILM. Universal released the film on Blu-ray on May 31, 2011.[37][38]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: American Graffiti received widespread critical acclaim. Based on 43 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of the critics enjoyed the film with an average score of 8.4/10. The consensus reads: "One of the most influential of all teen films, American Graffiti is a funny, nostalgic, and bittersweet look at a group of recent high school grads' last days of innocence."[39] Roger Ebert gave the film a full four stars and praised it for being "not only a great movie but a brilliant work of historical fiction; no sociological treatise could duplicate the movie's success in remembering exactly how it was to be alive at that cultural instant".[40]

text: Jay Cocks of Time magazine wrote that American Graffiti "reveals a new and welcome depth of feeling. Few films have shown quite so well the eagerness, the sadness, the ambitions and small defeats of a generation of young Americans."[41] A.D. Murphy from Variety felt American Graffiti was a vivid "recall of teenage attitudes and morals, told with outstanding empathy and compassion through an exceptionally talented cast of unknown actors".[42] Dave Kehr, writing in the Chicago Reader, called the film a brilliant work of popular art that redefined nostalgia as a marketable commodity, while establishing a new narrative style.[43]

text: Themes[edit]

text: American Graffiti depicts multiple characters going through a coming of age, such as the decisions to attend college or reside in a small town.[7] The 1962 setting represents nearing an end of an era in American society and pop culture. The musical backdrop also links between the early years of rock and roll in the mid-late 1950s (i.e. Bill Haley & His Comets, Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly) and the early 1960s British Invasion, which Don McLean's "American Pie" and the 1972 revival of 1950s acts and oldies paralleled during the conception and filming. The setting is also before the outbreaks of the Vietnam War and the John F. Kennedy assassination[7] and before the peak years of the counterculture movement. American Graffiti evokes mankind's relationship with machines, notably the elaborate number of hot rods—having been called a "classic car flick", representative of the motor car's importance to American culture at the time it was made.[44] Another theme is teenagers' obsession with radio, especially with the inclusion of Wolfman Jack and his mysterious and mythological faceless (to most) voice.

text: Accolades[edit]

text: American Graffiti was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture but lost to The Sting (1973). Further nominations at the 46th Academy Awards included Best Director (George Lucas), Best Original Screenplay (Lucas, Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz), Best Supporting Actress (Candy Clark) and Best Film Editing (Verna Fields and Marcia Lucas).[45] The film won Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) at the 31st Golden Globe Awards, while Paul Le Mat won Most Promising Newcomer. Lucas was nominated for Best Director and Richard Dreyfuss was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical.[46] More nominations included Cindy Williams by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for Best Actress in a Supporting Role,[47] Lucas for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing,[48] and Lucas, Huyck and Katz by the Writers Guild of America for Best Original Comedy.[30]

text: The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

text:
1998: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – #77[49]
2000: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – #43[50]
2007: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – #62[51]

text: Legacy[edit]

text: Internet reviewer MaryAnn Johanson acknowledged that American Graffiti rekindled public and entertainment interest in the 1950s and 1960s, and influenced other films such as The Lords of Flatbush (1974) and Cooley High (1975) and the TV series Happy Days.[52] Alongside other films from the New Hollywood era, American Graffiti is often cited for helping give birth to the summer blockbuster.[53] The film's box office success made George Lucas an instant millionaire. He gave an amount of the film's profits to Haskell Wexler for his visual consulting help during filming, and to Wolfman Jack for "inspiration". Lucas's net worth was now $4 million, and he set aside a $300,000 independent fund for his long cherished space opera project, which would eventually become the basis for Star Wars (1977).[19]

text: The financial success of Graffiti also gave Lucas opportunities to establish more elaborate development for Lucasfilm, Skywalker Sound, and Industrial Light & Magic.[32] Based on the success of the 1977 reissue, Universal began production for the sequel More American Graffiti (1979).[3] Lucas and writers Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz later collaborated on Radioland Murders (1994), also released by Universal Pictures, for which Lucas acted as executive producer. The film features characters intended to be Curt and Laurie Henderson's parents, Roger and Penny Henderson.[32] In 1995 American Graffiti was deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[54] In 1997 the city of Modesto, California, honored Lucas with a statue dedication of American Graffiti at George Lucas Plaza.[2]

text: Director David Fincher credited American Graffiti as a visual influence for Fight Club (1999).[55] Lucas's Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) features references to the film. The yellow airspeeder that Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi use to pursue the bounty hunter, Zam Wesell, is based on John Milner's yellow deuce coupe,[56] while Dex's Diner is reminiscent of Mel's Drive-In.[57] Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman conducted the "rear axle" experiment on the January 11, 2004, episode of MythBusters.[58]

text: Given the popularity of the film's cars with customizers and hot rodders in the years since its release, their fate immediately after the film is ironic. All were offered for sale in San Francisco newspaper ads; only the '58 Impala (driven by Ronny Howard) attracted a buyer, selling for only a few hundred dollars. The yellow Deuce and the white T-bird went unsold, despite being priced as low as US$3,000.[59] The registration plate on Milner's yellow deuce coupe is THX 138 on a yellow, California license plate, slightly altered, reflecting Lucas's earlier science fiction film.