Could WW1 aircraft be shot down by rifles on the ground?

This was actually a trained air defense tactic during WW1 and WW2 of the entire infantry unit laying on the ground shooting up at low aircraft as fast as possible. read more

Yes— in the sense that the rifles had the power to down the plane. A shot to the engine could disable it. Shots to other parts of the plane would need to get lucky to bring it down. Of course, the shot most likely to bring down a plane would be one that hit the pilot— cockpits were not armored. read more

World War I was the first major war where airplanes were used as a significant part of the military. The airplane was invented by the Wright Brothers in 1903, just 11 years before the start of World War I. read more