Wartime photograph of a Taube reconnoitering the area around Paris. (Author's Collection)

War-time propaganda postcard depicting German infantry closely supported by a Taube. (Author's collection)

A Taube from FFA 4 discovers the lead elements of French Third Army marching toward the Ardennes. (Author's Collection)

German postcard illustrating Taube reconnaissance aircraft over the front. (Aeronaut)

Wartime Propaganda postcard depicting a Taube bombing Paris. (Author's Collection)

Wartime postcard depicting two Taubes departing for the front. (Author's Collection)

French infantry fire on a Taube. (Author's Collection)

Albatros B.I B.30/14 flown by Dietze and Rosenmuller of Feld-Flieger-Abteilung 24

Armed with self-loading carbines, German aviators earned their first aerial victory during the First Battle of Ypres. (Author's Collection)

A pre-war Aviatik P13 B-type biplane, the first of Aviatik's successful reconnaissance two-seaters. By 1912 Austria-Hungary had recognized the Taube's limitations and before the war Germany did also. German companies started to build biplanes before the war and these flew the majority of reconnaissance missions as the few Taubes soon disappeared from the front. (Aeronaut)

DFW В-I на выставке трофейных вооружений в Париже, 1915 год
DFW B.I B.451/14 on display in Paris in September 1914 after being captured; a captured Taube is in the background. The early national insignia on the rudder and both sides of all wings are well shown from this angle. Despite being liberally marked with national insignia many aviators were subject to 'friendly fire' due to poor type recognition. (Aeronaut)

Crash of DFW military Taube A.183/13. Early national insignia are carried. This aircraft was assigned to Flieger Bataillon 1 in March 1913. (Peter M. Grosz Collection/SDTB via Aeronaut)

DFW В-I на выставке трофейных вооружений в Париже, 1915 год
DFW B.I B.451/14 on display in Paris in September 1914 after being captured; a captured Taube is in the background. The early national insignia on the rudder and both sides of all wings are well shown from this angle. Despite being liberally marked with national insignia many aviators were subject to 'friendly fire' due to poor type recognition. (Aeronaut)

Euler B.413/14 was one of the motley collection on unarmed two-seaters used early in the war. (Aeronaut)

Piloting a Jeannin Stahltaube, Ltn. Karl Caspar became the first pilot to cross the channel and drop bombs on England. (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-2012-0702-506)

This early-production LVG B.I was flown by the Bavarians during the early months of the war. The under-carriage skid was intended to help avoid nose-overs while landing on the rough airfields of the time and was a feature of early-production aircraft. Later production LVG B.I aircraft omitted the landing gear skid. The early style national insignia on the rudder is interesting. Power was from a 100 hp Mercedes D.I engine. The sturdy and reliable LVG B.I was the most numerous German reconnaissance biplane in the early months of the war.

LVG B.I in flight with a banner attached to the rudder. Almost half the LVG B.I reconnaissance planes in Bavarian service in 1914 were built by Otto,a Bavarian company.

Pfalz-built Otto pusher with single rudder of modified shape in 1914 national markings but showing no other identification. Pfalz-built Otto pushers only had this distinctive rudder. The engine was a 100 hp Rapp. (Aeronaut)

Otto Pusher two-seater coming in to land. Primarily used as trainers, these primitive aircraft were also used operationally early in the war. (Aeronaut)

One of the few Pfalz parasols with the Bavarian designation, P2, readily visible. Most parasols had small lettering stenciled on various aircraft components. The national insignia were applied to all flying surfaces. In February 1914 the Pfalz company, located in Bavaria, signed a license agreement with the French Morane-Saulnier company to build the M-S Type H and Type L under license. The M-S Type L was built as the Pfalz Parasol; 60 were built with the first two being delivered to the Fliegertruppe in December 1914. Most were powered by the 80 hp, 7-cylinder Oberursel U-0 engines and some were built with the 100 hp, 9-cyliner Oberursel U-I engines. Later these types were retroactively designated the Pfalz A.I and A.II, respectively. (Aeronaut)

Early Rumpler Taube with very prominent national insignia. Soldiers were likely to fire on any aircraft and aircrew of both sides frequently experienced "friendly fire" on that account. Airmen know that "friendly fire" isn't friendly. (Aeronaut)

Rumpler B.I B.483/14 carries national insignia on both sides of all four wings. A 100 hp Mercedes D.I provided the power. Designed and placed into production in 1914, the Rumpler B.I was a good aircraft for its time. (Aeronaut)

A STUDY AT JOHANNISTHAL. - Capt. Engelhardt, on his Wright biplane, fiying at the Johannisthal Aerodrome.
The beginning of the transition; a German cavalryman watches an airplane. (Author's Collection)

National Flugspende (Aviation Fund) fund-raising postcard. (Author's Collection)

Photographs from Louis Bleriot's famous Channel crossing flight. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)