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The Staaken RVI, or 'Giant". This was by far the largest and most powerful of any aircraft in WWI. They were used chiefly for night raids against London where they caused heavy damage and casualties.
The First Battle of Britain Part II
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In the first part of this feature, we saw the development of the zeppelin menace against Great Britain in World War One, and how it was ultimately defeated. In this part we follow the development of a new menace which took over from the airships. It is the story of the bomber raids against England, and how these became the very first ‘blitz’ in history. At first they completely overwhelmed the defences, but gradually new methods were found to deal with this new threat. The bombers were then gradually pushed from the skies as had been the zeppelins. The creation of the Royal Air Force as an independent service is an important part of these events. They also led to the development of principles and tactics of air defence which were to be applied so successfully by the new service during the later and more famous Battle of Britain a quarter century later in the summer of 1940.
The Bomber Offensive
A Bold Raid
In broad daylight, at noon on 28th November 1916, a single high-flying German aircraft dropped six 10 kg bombs on London. This was the first direct attack on London by an enemy aircraft. Prior to this, small German aircraft and seaplanes, in ones or twos, had dropped a few small bombs along the coast, mainly in the Dover area. The first of these raids occurred as early as 24th December 1914, and by the time of this first London raid there had been a total of twenty-four such raids. However, they did little damage, produced few casualties and were considered merely a routine nuisance.
The damage to London from this first aircraft raid was certainly very slight, with casualties of only ten injured, and no deaths. However, it came without warning and the raider got clean away without any reaction from the defenders. The raid was not repeated and was soon regarded as one with the ‘hit and run’ raids on the coast. Although not known at the time, this was to be the last raid on London of any kind, either by airship or aircraft, for just on six months.
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