Social Studies dog fighting

Dog Fighting

By. Charlie Balachandran

fokker dr.i

One of the most commonly used planes for dog fighting in World War 1

What is dogfighting?

Dog fighting History

Dogfighting first occurred during the Mexican Revolution in 1913, shortly after the invention of the airplane. It was a factor in every major war, but it steadiliy decreased in commonness, until the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. Since then, longer-range weapons such as range missiles have made dogfighting largely unneccacary.

A dogfight, is an aerial battle between fighter planes at close range. More specifically its to attack one or more opponents using complex maneuvers at very close range. This is a lot different from regular aerial warfare, which deals with the strategy involved in planning and executing various missions from a far.

What role did dogfighting play in WW1

Dog fighting became a great tactic in the first world war. These planes were originally scout planes, used for spotting artillery. But it was quickly realized that they could be used for combat. Most planes even being synchronized to shoot bullets through the propellers spinning blades. Once piolits were thoroughly taught about the maneuvers and strategies, dog fighting became a threat for opposing planes, as for the first time it depended more of on the skill of the piolit then it did the model of the plane. As shown with piolits like René Fonck, who had a total of 75 confirmed kills from dogfighting.