Aircraft were just coming into military use at the outset of World War I, and initially, they were used mostly for reconnaissance, and aircraft like the B.E.2 were primarily used for such missions. Due to the static nature of trench warfare, aircraft were the only means of gathering information beyond enemy trenches, so they were essential for discovering  where the enemy was based and  what they were doing. These early aircraft were not fitted with radio sets, but messages about enemy troop movements needed to be communicated quickly. Pilots could either drop messages in weighted bags or use message streamers to drop communications to forces on the ground. As trench systems developed and became more complex, it became harder for pilots to accurately record what was happening on the ground and formal aerial photography was introduced early in 1915. At first most aircraft were unarmed, although some pilots did carry weapons with them including pistols and grenades. These were of limited use, however, as the body of the aircraft was quite flimsy this made it difficult and dangerous to fire any weapons. However, crude attacks were made on troops on the ground, and steel darts and other dangerous objects were used by both sides. They were usually dropped in bundles, as this method ensured a wide dispersal. Later, tactical aerial bombing, or the hitting of targets on the battlefield, became an important part of the War, and bombing both military targets and more strategic objectives, such as factories, were soon a common occurrence. As the importance of aerial observation grew, both sides developed tactics to try and shoot down enemy aircraft and to protect their own. By 1915, forward-firing machine guns were being fitted onto aircraft, but the real breakthrough came with the invention of an interrupter mechanism, which allowed machine guns to fire through moving propeller blades. The first one was fitted to the Fokker Eindekker. Throughout 1916 and 1917 aerial warfare developed from lone fighting to ever larger formations of aircraft and patrols.  Patrol leaders would try to obtain an element of surprise by positioning themselves above the enemy before attacking. At this point the formations would break up into individual dog fights. As such 'Air aces' were celebrated as heroes, such as Manfred von Richtofen known as the ‘Red Baron’ became the highest-scoring ace of the war with eighty official victories. He was later given command of the 'Flying Circus', a unit comprised of Germany’s elite fighter pilots. He was killed in action in April 1918 and buried by the British with full military honours. Another was pilot James McCudden who went on to become one of the highest scoring British fighter pilots of the First World War, with fifty-seven victories. McCudden was awarded the Victoria Cross in the spring of 1918, however, he was killed in a flying accident on 9 July 1918. As the War in the air evolved, aircraft became larger as the need for bombers grew. These aircraft could carry large quantities of explosives. They depended on long range and reliability as targets were often well behind enemy lines. By the end of the war aircraft had developed and improved dramatically. Modelling aircraft from World War I has been and continues to be, one of the most popular subjects of the genre, and in this third book in the Aviation In Scale series, we take a look at some of the aircraft of that era, and how to build them in scale.