11. The French and German air forces took part in the battle
While in command at Verdun General Petain recognized the necessity of achieving control of the air over the battlefield. Both the French and German aviation squadrons cut their teeth, so to speak, in the skies over and around the Verdun battlefield. The techniques for attacking barrage balloons and observation aircraft were developed at Verdun, and air-to-air combat emerged. The men of the air war faced a different set of horrors, since they soared far above the mud, the shattered landscape, the massed artillery fire, and the screams of the wounded. For them, it was, in the early days of the air war, marked by the chivalric behavior of an earlier time.
Although casualties among the men of both side’s air services were high, the pilots and aerial gunners lived lives very different from those at the front. They were based behind the battle lines, away from the artillery bombardments and infantry assaults. They, for the most part, lived fast when not in the air, carousing and gambling when not flying. The short missions they flew, limited by the amount of gasoline and ammunition their aircraft could carry, were punctuated often by the luxurious lives they enjoyed on the ground. They also frequently communicated with their counterparts on the other side, dropping messages over aerodromes, informing them of the fate of their comrades in arms.