Going to Fly a Kite in the First World War

The First World War saw much experimentation, and some old ideas were re-vamped as manned aviation matured. The manned kite concept had been tried on several occasions prior to the First World War. Captain B. F. S. Baden-Powell, the brother of the founder of the scouting movement, developed a man-carrying kite called the "Levitor", in the early 1890s. This was a hexagonal kite that was tried with some success, and subsequently sent to South Africa for use in the Boer War. However, it arrived to late for service. A Lawrence Hargrave developed a box kite in 1894, while Samuel Cody invented the man-carrying kite called the Bat. The War Office allowed him to conduct trials in 1904 and 1905 after some publicity stunts that involved crossing the English Channel in a boat drawn by a kite. The Bat actually entered service in 1906, but it was eventually replaced by aircraft. In August 1914, the British Army list included a kite section stationed at South Farnborough, although it was disbanded shortly efter the outbreak of war.

In the United States, Alexander Graham Bell developed a tetrahedal kite, which was tried but not developed between 1905 and up to 1907. The United States did continue experimenting with man-carrying kites throughout the First World War. Boston-based kite maker Samuel F. Perkins made a kite train that allowed an observer to be carried skyward, but the contraption was very susceptible to wind conditions. It was used for demonstrations on the homefront, but never deployed to a war zone.

However, France and Germany did use kites on several fronts. In 1909, the French War Ministry ordered a man-lifting kite, and a Charles Dollfus held a competition to determine the best type. The winged box kite system of Captain Madiot won the Contest, but Madiot was killed in an airplane accident a year later. Following the accident, the French War Ministry asked Engineering Captain Jacques-Theodore Saconney (1874-1935) to design a kite train that could be used up an altitude of 600 meters (1,800 feet). Saconney's concept included an automobile with a winch that was driven by the automoble Engine as well as a trailer. The system was accepted by the French authorities, and it was even installed on the cruiser Edgar Quinet in 1911. Exercises were conducted in 1913 under the supervision of Captain Saconney, who had become the Director of the Aerology Laboratory and Telephoto at Chalais-Meudon in 1912.

Trials on board the Edgar Quinet.

There were three photograhy sections in France when war broke out, besides Saconney's laboratory: one in Toul, one in Verdun and one in Paris. Each section consisted of three men: an office, a kite operator and a photographer. Captain Saconney was dispatched to the 1st Army in Epinal in the Vosges together with his laboratory, now a combined kite and balloon unit, since his work was considered quite valuable by the French Army.

Winch car.  

Vehicles of the combined kite and balloon Company.

Readying a French observation kite 

Captain Saconney, who by the way also served as the observer of the detachment, had at his disposal kites as well as some 1880 pattern Type E balloons and automobiles. He and his unit, the 30th Company, would travel between 20 and 40 kilometers each day to various sections of the front, but they had to return to Epinal every evening, or risk facing charges of desertion. Working with telephones and runners to relay observations, the unit becomes quite successful. Between September 27, 1914, and February 10, 1915, the 30th Company accumulates atotal of 172 hous of observation, out of which 48 hours consist of observing from kites. Some 80 artillery units were sighted and 67 were targeted. At some point a second company was formed, and this unit was sent to the North Sea coast. However, poor weather leads to few opportunities to observe enemy activity, and as balloons and aircraft become commonplace, the use of the kite units diminished. The French Army Headquarters disbanded the kite and balloon companies in March of 1916. Captain Saconney continued serving with the balloon units of the French Army. He enjoyed a distinguished career in civil aviation and academia after the war.

In 1914 Germany designed a folding box kite system for use on the Kaiser's u-boats. The kite was launched, and the observer in a basket was subsequently hauled up using a man-powered winch. The German Imperial Armed Forces did have a number of Felddrachenwarte for meteorological purposes all over Europé, but they seem to have used unmanned kites for weather observation at altitudes between 2,000 and 5,000 meters (6,000 to 15,000 feet). The naval equivalent was called Seedrachenwarte. The Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces had similar units.

Finally, the Imperial Russian Army used the Baden-Powell kite, while the Navy had Hargrave-type kites. A Lieutenant (N) Bolshev (Bolscheff) pioneered the use of observation kites after having worked with ballooons, but Little is known of the Russian experiences with kites.


Sources:


Walter J. Boyne (Ed.). Air Warfare. An International Encyclopedia. Vol 1, A-L. Santa Barbera: Clio, 2002

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/gonzo-death-traps-from-the-early-days-of-aviation-man-lifting-kites/253674/

https://mashable.com/2016/09/05/man-kites/#89NpkG5.dEqj

http://kitehistory.com/Miscellaneous/Warkites.htm

http://aerohistory.org/1914-1918/mission.html

http://cerf.volant.historic.free.fr/pages/cervolantistes/saconney/la%20biographie%20saconney%20-%20Copie.pdf

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