Just barely over a decade after the Wrights' first flight, war clouds gathering on the eve of World War I convinced many that innovation would be needed to improve the airplane's military effectiveness. These hopes were realized when Italian aviator Giulio Gavotti dropped bombs from an Etrich Taube monoplane on Turkish troops in Libya, becoming history’s first aerial bomber in 1911. Today, aircraft are an essential weapon of war along with new technologies that have been developed since.

Two men in the seat of a Wright airplane. The man on the left is holding a large machine gun and the man on the right is at the controls.

Just barely over a decade after the Wrights' first flight, war clouds gathering on the eve of World War I convinced many that innovation would be needed to improve the airplane's military effectiveness. These hopes were realized when Italian aviator Giulio Gavotti dropped bombs from an Etrich Taube monoplane on Turkish troops in Libya, becoming history’s first aerial bomber in 1911. Today, aircraft are an essential weapon of war along with new technologies that have been developed since.

Two men in the seat of a Wright airplane. The man on the left is holding a large machine gun and the man on the right is at the controls.

Stories

Curtiss SB2C Helldiver: The “Big-Tailed Beast” Defending the Superbomber: The B-29’s Central Fire Control System
Japanese Wonder Weapons  “Wonder Weapons” and Slave Labor The Tomahawk and U.S. Cruise Missile Technology

Exhibitions

Learn more Korea and Vietnam Aviation Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA Learn more Modern Military Aviation Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA