The term scout, as a description of a class of

military aircraft A military aircraft is any Fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing or rotorcraft, rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary military of any type. Some military aircraft engage directly in aerial warfare, while others take on su ...

, came into use shortly before the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and initially referred to a fast (for its time), light (usually single-seated) unarmed

reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using Aerial photography, photography), signals ...

. "Scout" types were generally adaptations of pre-war

racing aircraft Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a pre ...

– although at least one (the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.2) was specifically designed for the role. At this stage the possibility of

air-to-air combat Air combat manoeuvring (ACM) is the Military tactics, tactic of moving, turning, and situating one's fighter aircraft in order to attain a position from which an attack can be made on another aircraft. Commonly associated with dogfighting, air c ...

was considered highly speculative, and the speed of these aircraft relative to their contemporaries was seen as an advantage in gaining immunity from

ground fire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire ( in Australia), desert ...

and in the ability to deliver timely reconnaissance reports. Almost from the beginning of the war, various experiments were carried out in the fitting of armament to scouts to enable them to engage in air-to-air combat – by early 1916 several types of scout could fire a machine gun forwards, in the line of flight, thus becoming the first effective single-seat

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

– in effect, an entirely new class of aircraft. In French and German usage these types were termed "hunters" (''chasseur'', ''Jäger''), but in the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

and early

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

parlance "scout" remained the usual term for a single-seat fighter into the early 1920s. The term "fighter", or "fighting aircraft" was already current, but in this period referred specifically to a two-seater fighter such as the

Sopwith 1½ Strutter The Sopwith Strutter is a British single- or two-seat Multirole combat aircraft, multi-role biplane aircraft of the First World War.Lake 2002, p. 40. It was the first British two-seat tractor configuration, tractor fighter and the first Briti ...

or the Bristol Fighter. This usage "scout" (or sometimes "fighting scout") for "single-seat fighter" can be found in many contemporary accounts, including fictional depictions of First World War air combat such as the

Biggles James Charles Bigglesworth, nicknamed "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer, the Title role#Title character, title character and Protagonist, hero of the ''Biggles'' series of adventure books, written for young readers by W. E. Johns ...

books. These often refer to French or German "scouts" as well as British ones. The usage also survives in some much later non-fictional writing on First World War aviation.

Examples of scouts

The Royal Aircraft Factory identified some of the designs as "Scout Experimental" *

Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 is a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory by a team consisting of Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and Major Frank Goodden. It was one of the ...

* Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.6 * Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.7

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scout (Aircraft) Military aircraft Reconnaissance aircraft 1910s fighter aircraft 1920s fighter aircraft