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Royal Air Force Bomber
Command 60th Anniversary
Development of the Strategic Bomber
THE FIRST BOMBERS
The very first use of bombs dropped from an aeroplane occurred in November
1911 when, during the Turkish-Italian War in North Africa, Lieutenant
Gavotti dropped four 41/2lb bombs on a Turkish camp in Libya. Although
no significant damaged resulted, the outcry against the attack, which
many saw as ungentlemanly, was almost universal. Indeed, this new use
for the aeroplane, which was still seen with great scepticism by many
military commanders, was not developed further for some years.
 In
September 1914 four aircraft of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS),
operating from Antwerp in Belgium, dropped 20lb bombs on the German
Zeppelin sheds at Cologne and Dusseldorf - the first attempts at aerial
bombardment by British aircraft to be made in anger. Two months later,
the Zeppelin factory at Friedrichshafen was bombed by a number of Avro
504s (a type more suited to training than bombing). To counter the threat
of the giant German airships bombing Britain, Handley Page were asked
to produce a "bloody paralyser" of an aircraft for the RNAS. This was
destined to become the Handley Page 0/100 heavy bomber but it did not
enter service (with 5th Wing RNAS) until November 1916.
In the meantime, squadrons (but invariably inventive pilots) had to
devise their own method of carrying and dropping bombs as well as the
best method of actually getting them to hit their intended targets.
A Lieutenant Conran of No 3 Squadron Royal Flying Corps (RFC) attempted
to hit an enemy troop column by dropping hand grenades over the side
of his cockpit. Needless to say he failed to cause any damage to the
troops, but the noise of the grenades caused the horses to stampede.
Over on No 6 Squadron, Captain Louis Strange, one of the more forward-thinking
and charismatic pilots of the fledgling air service, managed to destroy
to canvas-covered trucks with petrol bombs.
 It
wasn't until March 1915 that the first planned bombing raid of the war
was flown, and it involved Captain Strange again. He had modified his
BE2c to carry four 20lb bombs on wing racks which could be released
by pulling a cable fitted in the cockpit. His target was Courtrai railway
station through which streams of German troops were pouring en route
to join the battle at Neuve-Chappelle. With no bombsight to aid him,
Strange attacked from low-level and was successful in hitting a crowded
train causing 75 casualties. Later the same day, Captain Carmichael
of No 5 Squadron, dropped a single 100lb bomb from a Martinsyde S1 on
the important railway junction at Menin. He too, was successful, but
was lucky to return home with severe damage to his aeroplane. A few
days later, 2nd Lieutenant WB Rhodes-Moorhouse of No 2 Squadron, was
posthumously awarded the very first Victoria Cross for work in the air
after bombing Courtrai station in his BE2c.
By this time however, the German airships and aircraft had attacked
the British mainland, and, although the accuracy of the bombing was
poor, the population was whipped in a state of panic by the reports.
An attack by Zeppelins on Norfolk during the night of 19th/20th January
1915 killed 2 civilians and injured 16. The cost of the damage was put
at £7,740.
 The
initial optimism (blown out of all proportion to the actual success
of the raids) of the early bombing attacks in France and Germany had
been tempered by a period of sustained heavy losses and the bombing
campaign was suspended until more suitable bomber aircraft had arrived.
These aircraft (RE7s and Sopwith 1 ½-Strutters) were employed in tactical
bombing - supporting British and French troops in such battles as the
Somme and Arras - but it was the enemy who really embraced the concept
of strategic attacks.
THE FIRST STRATEGIC AIR CAMPAIGN
By mid-1917, the Zeppelins were almost attacking at will, causing little
damage but plenty of panic in the population. The size and apparent
invulnerability of the airships to attack caused great concern and caused
no less an authority than Trenchard to proclaim that 'The moral effect
of bombing stands to the material in a proportion of 20 to 1'. Then,
in June, a new threat arrived - the strategic bomber. Eighteen giant
Gotha bombers, despite being attacked in broad daylight by over 90 RFC
fighters on their inward and outward flights, bombed the East End of
London and the City without loss, causing 162 deaths and injuring over
400. This, and subsequent, although less successful, attacks along with
the Air Staff's promotion of the aeroplane purely as an offensive, not
defensive, weapon ('the aeroplane is not a defence against the aeroplane'
- Trenchard, 1916), had a profound effect on the thinking of military
planners and politicians for many years to come.
Within weeks of this and subsequent German daylight raids on London,
the Air Board had formed a two-man committee to review the nation's
air policy and supply. The Prime Minister, Lloyd George, was one member
but he delegated his duties to a South African-born Lieutenant-General,
Jaan Christian Smuts. Smuts wasted little time in producing two reports
- the first dealing with defence against enemy air attack, and the second
a remarkably far-sighted document on the future of British air power.
In the report, published in August 1917, Smuts said: 'There is absolutely
no limit to the scale of its [air power] future independent war use.
And the day may not be far off when aerial operation with their devastation
of enemy lands and destruction of industries and populous centres on
a vast scale may become one of the principal operations of war, to which
the older forms of military and naval operations may become secondary
and subservient.'
At this time, the RNAS was employing its 0/100s on night attacks of
key enemy installations in France and Belgium such as railways and headquarters.
In October, a dedicated bombing Wing, No 41, was established with the
aim of attacking strategic targets inside Germany. The squadrons chosen
to form No 41 Wing were No 55 (DH4s), No 100 (FE2b's), RFC, and No 16
(Naval) Squadron with 0/100s. It was based at Ochey in France and commanded
by Lieutenant-Colonel CLN Newall (who was Chief of the Air Staff during
the next global conflict). The Wing mounted its first attack against
a factory at Saarbrucken on 17th October with 11 DH4s and a week later,
9 0/100s of 'A' Squadron, RNAS, carried out a night attack against the
same factory in Saarbrucken whilst 16 FE2b's bombed railways near the
same area. Four aircraft (2 of each type) failed to return. The Wing
was expanded with the later addition of Nos 99 and 104 Squadrons, both
flying DH4s.
THE INDEPENDENT AIR FORCE
Following the unification of the flying units of the RFC and RNAS to
create the Royal Air Force in April 1918, No 41 Wing was split into
two wings to form VIII Brigade (the RAF still used the Army organisational
structures). No 41 Wing comprised Nos 55, 99 and 104 Squadrons and was
responsible for day-bombing and the 83rd Wing consisted of two night-bombing
Squadrons, No 100 and No 216. The new, independent strategic bombing
force, which, unsurprisingly, was christened the Independent Air Force
(IAF), RAF, and commanded by Major-General Sir Hugh Trenchard with the
sole purpose of carrying out strategic attacks in Germany without reference
or subordination to Army or Naval Commands - the world's first such
air force.
 The
IAF's operations commenced in early June 1918 with 12 DH4s of No 55
Squadron were despatched to bomb a number of targets in and around Coblenz
and 11 DH4s from No 99 Squadron were ordered to attack rail targets
at Thionville. Additional squadrons were added to the strength of the
IAF before the Armistice with Nos 97, 115 and 215 Squadrons (all with
the new 0/400 four-engined heavy bomber) and No 110 Squadron (DH9As)
becoming operational through the summer of 1918. Had the Great War continued,
and even greater aircraft would have carried the war to the German population
- the Handley Page V/1500 (or 'Super Handley' as it was also known).
A number of these beasts, which were capable of reaching Berlin from
their base in East Anglia, were armed and ready to depart on their first
mission on 11 November 1918, but the signing of the Armistice on this
day put an end to this and indeed, brought a premature end to the career
of the V/1500 which saw very limited service with the RAF. In the five
months or so of its existence, the IAF dropped 550 tons of bombs and
lost 109 aircraft.
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