'WWI Aerial Reconnaissance: Views of a Different Front' by Theodore Huscher

Presentation by Theodore Huscher – WWI Aerial Reconnaissance: Views of a Different Front – The League of WWI Aviation Historians Biennial Seminar, at The National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, MO, October 28, 2023

Synopsis: WWI Aerial Reconnaissance: Views of a Different Front
Two early 1917 Austro-Hungarian aerial photo mosaics of the embattled Isonzo Front warrant this further study. Combined, these historic documents show trenches, landform features, and impact of military operations, extending from Tolmin, Slovenia to the Adriatic, during the winter between the 9th and 10th Isonzo Battles.

Compiled late February and mid-March and credited to a two-man flight crew of pilot, Captain Arpad Gruber, Commanding Officer of the Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops; Flying Company #12, and Observer, Reserve 2nd Lieutenant Alois Erlach, utilizing a 35mm Reihenbildner (Rb) serial camera and taken from a height of roughly 8000 feet, in a Hansa-Brandenburg C.I, these aerial photo mosaics would be converted into annotated maps of the heavily contested Carso and Bainsizza Plateaus and Vipava Valley, and utilized by defending troops.

This presentation will emphasize the importance of aerial photo reconnaissance. In its primacy during the First World War, it was a critical intelligence gathering system, focused on front line defenses, to better pinpoint enemy emplacements and assets, for evaluating the opposition for targeting limited resources against and prioritizing accordingly. This early form of remote sensing and geospatial intelligence provides us a unique glimpse into the history of the Isonzo Front.

Bio: Theodore Huscher
Ted’s oldest brother, having built a metallic burgundy Fokker Dr.I model, planted the seed of Ted’s WWI aviation interest. At around age 6, he still remembers the yellow Aurora kit box cover which included a newspaper clipping of the death of the Red Baron. In 4th Grade, Ted bought Gene Gurney’s Flying Aces of World War I (Scholastic Books), read it several times, even wandering through the bibliography to find the address (Whittier, CA) for the Society of WWI Aero Historians, precursor to the League of World War I Aviation Historians. Contacting the Society resulted in membership application, and his joining in August 1976 at the age of 13. He still remembers the thrill of receiving those early issues of Cross and Cockade. From there, it was reading everything he could about Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen and WWI aviation. In 1992, Ted, a charter member of the League, attended his first League Seminar, missing only one since, the year he took his new bride, Nora, to the Bavarian Air Museum in Oberschleissheim on their honeymoon, having proposed the year before in the Air and Space Museum’s WWI gallery. Since then, Ted has given League seminar talks on; Jozsef Kiss: Ace of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (2005) and Julius Arigi: Eagle of Dalmatia (2009). Ted is long-time League Secretary (since 2011), contributing editor on Austro-Hungarian k.u.k. Luftfahrtuppen topics and is much honored to be a member, and speaker at this seminar. Ted has been married to Nora for 30 years this coming May and serves as Geologist for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service - Soil Mechanics Center in Lincoln, NE.