The original air aces

What about the airmen themselves?

But as a division of the British Army, the main role of the Royal Flying Corps, with its hundreds of pilots and thousands of ground crew, was very different.

Read the full Magazine article from 2009 Timewatch clip on aircraft of WWI

The Royal Flying Corps came into being 100 years ago and played a key role in World War I - but who were its heroic pilots and why was the corps so special?

By the end of the war, large fighters and long-range bombers were the norm, capable of much greater distances - and crucially, they were much more reliable.

Reading the squadron logs, it is heart-breaking how many pilots in the early stages of the war died or were seriously injured by aircraft that suffered mechanical breakdown or crash-landed, even before they got into combat.

Continue reading the main story Flying high Royal Flying Corps (RFC) formed 1912 Originally under Brigadier-General Henderson, with separate branches for Army and Navy Responsibilities involved aerial reconnaissance, fighter interception and tactical support There was a parallel force in the Royal Naval Air Service Of 14,000 airmen killed in WWI, well over half died in training Royal Air Force formed 1918 from a merger of RFC and the RNAS RAF interactive history of aviation Early Years of Military Flight (RAF) British Army 1916-18

At first, observers sketched rough maps of what they could see.

The first five squadrons to arrive in France included one of balloonists, brave men who risked their craft being set on fire or shot down as they were winched into position to survey the enemy. But before long, the fixed wing aircraft took on the main role of reconnaissance.

Continue reading the main story Find out more 100 Years of the Royal Flying Corps with Peter and Dan Snow is on BBC Radio 4, Monday 7 May at 11:00 BST

One artillery spotter reported having more than 600 rounds of explosive shells fired at him during a 40-minute crossing and re-crossing of the lines to direct the gunnery.

Initially, planes flew above enemy terrain almost unhindered. But soon enemy aircraft and ground-based anti-aircraft fire made the task more difficult and highly dangerous.

The Red Baron, a key rival

An Avro 504, in which pilots learned their craft

The real heroes of the war in the air were the pilots and observers who flew in all conditions to maintain British air superiority, and to keep the ground troops aware of everything that the enemy was doing.

The other was taking detailed photographs of the trenches. Cumbersome cameras had to be operated over the side of the cockpit, and reloaded at altitude as the aircraft dodged enemy fire.

Albert Ball VC and James McCudden VC - two of the most successful fighter aces - both started their careers as ordinary soldiers. And Mick Mannock VC was regarded as a "social misfit".

It was the eyes of the army.

For the first time in history, it was possible not only to get a detailed view of the enemy lines from above, but to see what was going on behind those lines - the trench systems, the support routes, the railways and road vehicles that manoeuvred troops and weaponry into position.

In most accounts of WWI, mention of the Royal Flying Corps goes hand-in-hand with stories of the fighter aces, men like Albert Ball and James McCudden, who downed dozens of enemy planes.

The Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden has one of the world's largest collections of airworthy WWI aircraft, and by today's standards they look terrifyingly flimsy.

But soon two distinct roles developed. One was helping the big guns of the Royal Artillery find their range, flying over the targets and signalling (later sending radio messages) to the gunners to improve the accuracy of their aim.

Notable RFC figures included (left to right) Hugh Trenchard, commander of the RFC and later Chief of the Air Staff, James McCudden VC and Albert Ball VC

But the men who commanded the RFC, Sir David Henderson, Frederick Sykes and Hugh Trenchard, recognised that they needed to train the very best men from all walks of life.

But the inspirational hero of both his squadron and the RAF was struggling to control his nerves.

"There was both a fierce personal rivalry and a mutual respect between the aces on both sides," says Snow. "When Albert Ball crashed after defeating the Red Baron's brother, the Germans buried him with full military honours."

The romance of gladiatorial combat in the air - initially firing revolvers at one another from the cockpit, and then shooting machine guns through the propellers of the aircraft - makes their adventures against such legendary foes as the Red Baron some of the most stirring tales of the Great War.

But all of them excelled in aerial combat, proving that the bravest and most resourceful of pilots could come from any walk of life.

"Feeling nervy and ill during the last week. Afraid I'm breaking up," he wrote in his diary.

Continue reading the main story Major Edward 'Mick' Mannock VC

He was a committed socialist and at 29 he was much older than his fellow pilots.

Behind his brash exterior was a deeply sensitive man. Born into a working class military family, Mannock was not the typical young public school airman associated with WWI movies.

At the start of the war, pilots had to pay for their own training, and were only reimbursed when they qualified. So initially being a pilot seemed to be a rich man's sport.

By 1918, the RFC had proved its worth to the army. But as Trenchard realised, it was beginning to develop a role for itself that was independent of the army and the navy, namely long-range bombing, far behind enemy lines. As the strategic need for a third, independent force grew, the RFC was subsumed into the new Royal Air Force.

When historian Dan Snow flew in the Avro 504 trainer at the collection, he felt every variation. The plane responded almost like a living thing to slight alterations in wind speed and felt different as it flew over buildings and trees.

It took five men on the ground to keep each pilot in the air, to start the aircraft, and to maintain and repair the planes.

The Royal Flying Corps saw the most rapid technological development of flying machinery ever. In 1912, when the corps was formed, its Farman "kites" were not unlike the Wright Brothers' aircraft that had made the first powered flight nine years before.

Despite the appalling noise, and his tiny wood and canvas aircraft being blown about the sky, he and his plane suffered no more damage than a tiny scratch to the upper wing.

The Pre-Fall Halftime Report

Photos: All Photos courtesy of their respective labels, except for Donna Karan: Robert Mitra

For all of Style.com’s pre-fall coverage, click here.

Like Resort before it, pre-fall is expanding, moving from what used to be a transitional offering into something that looks more like a full-fledged collection. As we’ve been going on pre-fall appointments and speaking with designers these past few weeks, everyone agrees that the collections are bigger, the demand greater, and the interest from the press stronger than in seasons past. (Labels like Oscar de la Renta and Donna Karan even opted to do runway shows.)

With bigger collections come more diverse offerings, and less singular trends to distill. (And pre-fall tends to be a more commercial season than either Fall or Spring.) But this much seems certain: The seventies influence will soldier on. Big, bold prints (and floor-sweeping, longer lines) were a mainstay of many of the collections we saw, like ADAM (top left), Thakoon (center), and Burberry Prorsum (right). On the other hand, so will the neutral moment that’s been going strong since Fall. Plenty of labels kept things minimal, like Helmut Lang (below left), Donna Karan (center), and Vera Wang (right).

‘Spider-Man’ Producer Laura Ziskin’s Santa Monica House Hits the Market

This story originally appeared in the April 13 issue of The Hollywood Reporter.

The 1942 Monterey-style traditional home owned by the late producer is about to come up for sale for $11.85 million.

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Obama officials back bill to hit China subsidies

That list includes “24 existing CVD orders on imports from China and Vietnam, as well as five pending investigations and two recently filed petitions,” Bryson and Kirk said.

On Wednesday, House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp said he was prepared to move quickly on a “narrowly targeted” bill to ensure the Commerce Department can impose countervailing duties on “non-market economies” like China and Vietnam.

“This matter is of the utmost urgency,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Commerce Secretary John Bryson said in one of several letters they sent to members of Congress. It was dated January 18 and obtained by Reuters on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) President Barack Obama’s administration is pressing Congress to restore an important weapon in the U.S. arsenal against subsidized imports from China by quickly passing legislation to undo a recent federal appellate court ruling.

“Absent legislation, should the (court) decision become final, Commerce will be required to revoke all CVD orders and terminate all CVD proceedings involving non-market economies,” the cabinet officials said.

The December 19 court ruling originally was due to take effect shortly after Feb 2. However, the court this week gave the Commerce Department an extension until March 5.

(Reporting By Doug Palmer; Editing by Vicki Allen)

The ruling could require the Commerce Department to lift or deny duties on some $4.7 billion worth of subsidized imports, mostly from China, they said.