[WWI] Need help with a term paper

[Helen and Chris]

Hi,

if I can add my tu'pennyworth, your daughter has chosen a fascinating but enormous subject.  Volumes have been written, and are still being written, on the subject.

I'm assuming from the expression "term paper" and the responses you have had so far from US based listees, that you are also in the the US?  And that the "term" is this one, ending at Christmas?  So your daughter doesn't have a great deal of time for research?

If so, then at the moment she has the equivalent task of discussing the social ramifications of the American Civil War in 400 words!  So, whilst I thank my fellow listees for the leads to increase my knowledge over a period of months, if not years, your daughter is limited to a few weeks of research.

May I suggest, therefore, that she tries to find a particular aspect of WW1 aviation to concentrate upon.  OK, the invention of the interupter gear to allow bullets to pass between a swirling prop and the effects that had on aircraft design has been written about countless times.  But that makes research easier and, to this day, there is argument as to whether Anthony Fokker, one of his employees or someone else altogether, invented the system.

Perhaps she may like to explore things like how fighter aircraft came about and how they became specialised.  Or the effect on the war of air to ground radio.  Or the development of camouflage. Or any one of countless related subjects.

To howls of protest from my colleagues, may I suggest that she could do worse than to try and find a topic of interest via Wikipedia.  Unlike myself, it is brief and concise (Discuss, in 500 words, the downfall of the British Empire!), but its sources do need to be verified.

Having done that, then she can turn her attention to finding more on that aspect from the sources already suggested by the list.

The aquisition of knowledge is knowing how to find it.

HTH

Chris.


> Greetings,
> 
> My daughter has decided to write a term paper on WWI aviation for her
> college history class.  While I have a number of reference books and 
> journals,
> I'm at a loss to put my finger on anything general enough to describe 
> the big
> picture.  I thought I'd ask the list for your favorite books, articles, 
> etc of a
> general nature.  I'm thinking the obvious points to cover are those such 
> as the
> rapid development of aeronautics, the end of chivalry, the role of 
> two-seaters,
> air combat, etc.  Anything else she should cover?  Any advice would be
> appreciated.
> 
> I recently found Smithsonian Annals of Flight series online... some of 
> these are OT.
> http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/AnnalsofFlight/sc_Browse.cfm?by=issue_date
> 
> Thanks, -K-
> 
> 
> 
> 
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