Reconnaissance airplanes During the Great War reconnaissance
airplanes were widely used to gain an advantage over the enemy, by using scout
planes to obtain photographs and other various information about the enemy.
Reconnaissance airplanes were usually flown lower (below 24,000 ft) and were slower
because of their role in the war. Most of these types of planes were
strategically designed to look like birds (when seen in the sky, from afar) as
a form of camouflage. Operating the airplanes at a lower altitude enabled them
to get a better quality photograph and also prevented the freezing of their
camera lens. Reconnaissance airplanes were also slower because of their need of
capturing quality images, which allowed multiple ground units to bombard the
scout planes. Scout planes also never traveled in pairs for their slow speed
and easy vulnerability. As the war progressed other nations started noticing
that making fighter/recon hybrid planes, would be much more beneficial rather
than making slower and easily targeted scout planes. The new hybrids featured
better cameras (for higher speeds and altitudes) and could even shoot down
enemies. Since the new hybrids were faster and able to defend themselves, most
fighters (Spitfires, Lockheeds, etc), were equipped with camera either on their
nose dome or the bottom of their wings. Many great reconnaissance planes, for
example the Mach 3 Lockheed SR-71 Black Bird, were introduced just after WWII,
and were used heavily throughout the Cold War. By using hybrid recon planes,
more intelligence could be obtained which allowed nations to act upon the
enemies defenses or even respond better to their attacks. The intelligence
gained could vary form surprise attacks, to enemy lines that weren’t quite
ready for another attack. The introduction and use of the new (primitive at the
time) reconnaissance airplanes enabled different nations to succeed in the war.