Editing History of aviation (section)

==== Combat schemes ====
{{See also|Flying ace|List of World War I flying aces|Aerial victory standards of World War I}}

It was not long before aircraft were shooting at each other, but the lack of any sort of steady point for the gun was a problem. The French solved this problem when, in late 1914, [[Roland Garros (aviator)|Roland Garros]] attached a fixed machine gun to the front of his plane. [[Adolphe Pegoud]] became known as the first "[[flying ace|ace]]", getting credit for five victories before also becoming the first ace to die in action, it was German [[Luftstreitkräfte]] [[Leutnant]] [[Kurt Wintgens]] who, on 1 July 1915, scored the very first aerial victory by a [[Fokker E.I|purpose-built fighter plane]], with a [[synchronization gear|synchronized machine gun]].

Aviators were styled as modern-day knights, doing individual combat with their enemies. Several pilots became famous for their air-to-air combat; the most well known is [[Manfred von Richthofen]], better known as the "Red Baron", who shot down 80 planes in [[air-to-air combat]] with several different planes, the most celebrated of which was the [[Fokker Dr.I]]. On the Allied side, [[René Paul Fonck]] is credited with the most all-time victories at 75, even when later wars are considered.

France, Britain, Germany, and Italy were the leading manufacturers of fighter planes that saw action during the war,{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} with German aviation technologist [[Hugo Junkers]] showing the way to the future through his [[Junkers J 1|pioneering use of all-metal aircraft]] from late 1915.