1. True
2. False

The Wright Brothers coaxed their first heavier-than-air machine into the sky in 1903, and WWI began in 1914. It was the first war to see aircraft as killing machines. It was a new, deadly era.

1. They became much more advanced.
   They were nearly identical.
2. Planes actually regressed in design as the war dragged on.

At the war’s start, airplanes were primitive contraptions. But survival instincts have a way of speeding up engineering processes — just a few years later, planes were far more advanced ... and much deadlier.

1. airship
   triplane
2. cloaking device

Zeppelins were huge airships with cylindrical hulls that became symbols of German aggression in the war. The Zeppelins were deployed as bombers and scouts.

1. nitrogen gas
   magical unicorns harnessed to a yoke
2. hydrogen gas

Zeppelins used hydrogen, which made the craft lighter than air. The gigantic airships then lumbered into the skies, filling the Allies with dread from miles away.

1. "Airplanes will soon rule the battlefields."
   "The airplane is useless for the purposes of war."
2. “I can’t wait to start bombing things!"

Foch was a brilliant general who simply didn’t understand the potential of planes in battle. He said, "The airplane is useless for the purposes of war."

1. bombing
   strafing enemy lines
2. scouting

At first, planes were moving observation posts, helping both sides conduct reconaissance. It wasn’t long, however, before weapons took wing.

1. with axes
   with hand grenades
2. with flamethrowers

The first fighter planes weren’t equipped with guns, leaving pilots to attack with handheld guns and, you guessed it, hand grenades. As you can probably imagine, these methods were not very effective.

1. nuclear bombs
   rocket launcher
2. machine gun

The Eindecker fighters were the first to introduce a machine gun synchronization mechanism, which allowed a weapon to shoot bullets between the propeller blades. Without this clever device, pilots would’ve simply blasted the propellers and wound up dead.

1. fighter
   bomber
2. jet

The British Bristol F.2 was a famed fighter. The biplane had two seats and very good maneuverability, making it an excellent dog fighter.

1. immense bombing damage
   terror
2. thousands killed by strafing runs

Zeppelins were minor players in offensive operations, killing just a few hundred people during bombing runs. But the fear that they inspired was even more harmful, as they floated along like dark beacons of death and destruction.

1. Zeppelins were actually more capable than many planes.
   Zeppelins were just cool.
2. Because even Germans like Led Zeppelin.

Early fixed-wing planes were rickety and unreliable. Airships, on the other hand, featured dependable technology and carried much larger payloads.

1. "Fokker fodder"
   “flying pigs"
2. “suicide machines"

Allied pilots were not impressed with their own machines. The called them "Fokker fodder," because the German fighters downed them in droves.

1. United States
   Germany
2. Britain

The British Sopwith Camel became one of the iconic machines of the war. The biplane fighter was very hard to fly, but it was also agile, making it very useful in dogfights.

1. True
2. False

It took brave men to step into a cockpit. The first warplanes were so primitive and dangerous that yes, pilot trainees were more likely to die than men on the frontlines.

1. monoplane
   biplane
2. triplane

The Fokker Dr.I was a German triplane introduced in 1917. It was a very successful fighter that the famous Red Baron used to down 19 Allied planes.

1. Avro 504
   Nieuport 11
2. Sopwith Camel

The Allies used Sopwith Camels to record nearly 1,300 air victories in WWI. The Camel was the deadliest Allied fighter of the conflict.

1. Germany only had a handful of planes before 1917.
   They were vastly inferior compared to Allied planes.
2. They were utterly dominant.

As the war gained steam, German planes claimed air superiority. For a time, the Allies were completely outclassed in the skies, sometimes unable to launch even basic scouting missions for fear of immediately losing their crews.

1. True
2. False

As German Eindecker fighters ruled the skies, France introduced its Nieuport 11 fighter, a biplane that was faster and simply better than the Eindecker. Suddenly, the Allies had a fighting chance in the air.

1. a bomber loaded with biological weapons
   a fighter plane carried by a larger plane
2. a type of antibiotic

The first parasite fighters were used in WWI. The term refers to fighters that are ferried into combat by larger planes and then released during combat. The advantage? Fighter planes could save their fuel for when it was necessary.

1. It featured 10 machine guns
   It was very large.
2. It made terrifying sounds like an infant crying all night.

The Felixstowe Porte Baby was a very large British flying boat. It was great for scouting and carrying parasite fighters, but it was slow and vulnerable.

1. True
2. False

At first, warplanes didn’t have any easily spotted markings. But ground troops mistook friendly planes as foes and shot at them, so each side began painting symbols on the underside of each plane’s wings so as to avoid friendly fire.

1. nearly 5,500
   about 500
2. 18,000

For a machine that was barely known to humankind before the war, the Allies sure managed to build a lot of them. They manufactured nearly 5,500 of the Camel as the conflict raged.

1. scout
   fighter
2. heavy bomber

Germany built around 200 of its Gotha heavy bomber, which featured a crew of three. The huge bomber had a wingspan of nearly 80 feet.

1. True
2. False

It’s true, the British were the first to create an aircraft carrier. They revamped an ocean liner and installed a flight deck, but it was finished too late to impact the war.

1. 110 MPH
   191 MPH
2. 230 MPH

Few planes in the war could top 100 MPH, but the Nieuport 17 managed around 110 MPH. Its speed and fast climbing capability made it a deadly Allied weapon.

1. It was huge.
   It had afterburners.
2. It was capable of around-the-world flight.

The British Handley Page was a big, heavy bomber. At the time, it was the biggest British warplane and one of the largest aircraft in the world.

1. Eindecker
   Gotha
2. Albatros D.III

In the spring of 1917, the new German Albatros D.III fighter inflicted huge losses among the Allies. But the Allies pressed on in spite of "Bloody April" and later introduced planes meant to counter the D.III.

1. The engines fell off.
   The wings broke.
2. The cockpits were too small for pilots over 5 feet tall.

You didn’t want to be a pilot of an early Fokker Dr.I — the wings tended to break. In multiple cases, pilots were killed when the plane’s wings failed.

1. It was very successful.
   It was a miserable failure.
2. It was introduced too late to help the Allies.

France’s SPAD S.XIII was incredibly valuable, fast, powerful and deadly. France built nearly 8,500 during the war and planned many more, but Germany finally surrendered.

1. Allied sabotage.
   All of the mechanics were dead.
2. They were out of lubricant.

Castor oil was used for multiple German plane models during the war, but the lubricant became very scarce. Synthetic substitutes were terrible, so plane reliability suffered.