World War I was known as the war to end all wars. At first, warplanes were thought to be of little use in combat. An unknown British general even said: "The plane is useless for war." » At the start of the First World War, planes were rather simple and crude. By the end of the war, aircraft had become more advanced and had divided into fighters, bombers, and long-range bombers. Airplane specifications were changed to meet the demands of war. When war broke out in August 1914, British airmen were associated with the British Army and their officers held military ranks. Before the United States declared war in 1917, American nationals had enlisted in the British and French air services, notably in the Lafayette Escadrille. By the end of the war in November 1918, the Royal Flying Corps was no longer prevalent and was absorbed into the recently created Royal Air Force. The Royal Air Force now had its own command structure, outside the army, and had its own ranks. The Wright Brother's flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903 was the first recorded powered flight. Louis Blèriot made the first motorized crossing of the English Channel in 1909. As planned, the planes remained simple in 1914. A new recruit was more likely to be killed in training than in combat in the Royal Flying Corps at the autumn 1914. the first British navigation of an aircraft which took off from England to bases in France for the first time in the history of warfare, was based on reading a map in flight and, if the clouds permitted, on the search for landmarks on the ground to guide the pilots. At the start of the war, aircraft were used primarily for reconnaissance; for...... middle of paper ......and. If a bomb hit near a target, it was good luck rather than anything else. By the end of the war, aircraft that would be recognized as long-range bombers had been created. Larger than fighters and much less maneuverable, their task was simple: transport as many bombs as necessary to a target and drop them on a given target with a certain degree of precision. The Germans had produced the Gotha bomber while the British had developed the Handley Page bomber. Although the deliberate targeting of civilians was not a new military tactic, bombers made an aerial attack possible. Planes could also attack even a country's means of war production, primarily factories. Such an idea would have been impossible in 1914, but by 1918 it was a reality.