Comments on: First strike? http://airminded.org/2009/03/21/first-strike/ Airpower and British society, 1908-1941 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:15:39 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2009/03/21/first-strike/comment-page-1/#comment-100996 Brett Holman Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:14:26 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=1416#comment-100996 That's a good question. I don't think the extension of territoriality to the air was formally established until just after the war, but it had been recognised in an international convention drafted at Paris in 1910 (see <a href="http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1910/1910%20-%201006.html" rel="nofollow"><em>Flight</em>'s account</a>). That wasn't ratified, but some countries nonetheless started making laws restricting entry into their airspace, including <a href="http://airminded.org/2007/03/16/air-port-13/" rel="nofollow">Britain in 1911 and 1913</a>. I think most legal experts agreed that sovereignty of the air was implied by precedent; though Spaight in <em>Aircraft in War</em> (1914) notes that some jurists argued in favour of freedom of the air or an internationally-regulated commons. There was at least one famous example of an accidental violation -- in June 1913 the Germany military Zeppelin LZ16 crossed the border near Lunéville in fog, and landed in a French army training ground! This wasn't used as a pretext for war; but the airship was only returned after experts spent a day crawling all over it, measuring everything in sight. That’s a good question. I don’t think the extension of territoriality to the air was formally established until just after the war, but it had been recognised in an international convention drafted at Paris in 1910 (see Flight’s account). That wasn’t ratified, but some countries nonetheless started making laws restricting entry into their airspace, including Britain in 1911 and 1913. I think most legal experts agreed that sovereignty of the air was implied by precedent; though Spaight in Aircraft in War (1914) notes that some jurists argued in favour of freedom of the air or an internationally-regulated commons.

There was at least one famous example of an accidental violation — in June 1913 the Germany military Zeppelin LZ16 crossed the border near Lunéville in fog, and landed in a French army training ground! This wasn’t used as a pretext for war; but the airship was only returned after experts spent a day crawling all over it, measuring everything in sight.

]]> By: Dan http://airminded.org/2009/03/21/first-strike/comment-page-1/#comment-100914 Dan Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:26:56 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=1416#comment-100914 Forgive me if you've written about this before, and coming from a position of total ignorance... but when were the standards of aerial territoriality established? Are there pre 1914 examples of aviators accidentally violating national boundaries? Forgive me if you’ve written about this before, and coming from a position of total ignorance… but when were the standards of aerial territoriality established? Are there pre 1914 examples of aviators accidentally violating national boundaries?

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