ABSTRACT
Airplanes were not much more than wire, canvas, and strings when the war began in 1914. In earlier wars, military leaders had tried using balloons to spy on enemy troops to learn which direction they were moving and how many soldiers they had on the ground. The balloons were helpful, but they were easy to shoot down and difficult to control. Their effectiveness as a spy tool was limited. But airplanes showed real promise for spying. Airplanes could fly higher and faster than balloons, plus in the hands of a good aviator, they had great maneuverability. One of the first big battles was at Mons, in southern Belgium. The British had a two-seated biplane flying above the battleground. At first, the pilots just carried pistols. The pilots became like cowboys of the Wild West, only instead of riding horses and shooting at each other, they were flying planes and shooting at each other.
