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This is a list of aircraft used by the United States Air Force and its predecessor organizations for combat reconnaissance and aerial mapping. The first aircraft acquired by the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps were not fighters or bombers, they were reconnaissance aircraft. From the first days of World War I, the airplane demonstrated its ability to be the "eyes of the army." Technology has improved greatly over the almost century since the first reconnaissance aircraft used during World War I. Today reconnaissance aircraft incorporate stealth technology; the newest models are piloted remotely. However, the mission of reconnaissance pilots remains the same. The United States is almost unique in having developed aircraft designed specifically for the reconnaissance role, examples including the Lockheed SR-71, Lockheed U-2, Republic XF-12, and Hughes XF-11 (the last two did not enter production). Other nations needing reconnaissance aircraft generally use modified versions of standard bomber, fighter, and other types. The United States has, of course, also operated reconnaissance variants of aircraft designed for other purposes, as the list below demonstrates. ==World War I aircraft== Initially flown with a pilot and an observer, the observer would often sketch the scene of the ground below. Soon, some English observers thought it would be easier and more accurate to use their cameras to photograph the enemy lines. Unfortunately, both sides knew that if they were receiving valuable information from their pilots, the other side must be doing the same, and aircraft became armed to shoot down the other's. After the war, England estimated that its flyers took one-half million photographs during the four years of the war, and Germany calculated that if you laid all its aerial photographs side by side, they would cover an area six times the size of Germany. The United States did not produce any aircraft of its own design for use in combat during World War I. However several British and French designs were used by Air Service Aero Squadrons for reconnaissance missions * Airco DH.4 : British two-seat biplane day-bomber, used by the Air Service; DH-4-BP Experimental photoreconnaissance version. Produced under licence in the United States and used by the Army Air Service until 1932.〔(The U.S. Aircraft Industry During World War I )〕 * (AR-2 (Avion de Reconnaissance) ) * Breguet 14 * Salmson 2A2 : French biplane reconnaissance aircraft.〔( Aerial Reconnaissance in World War I )〕 * Sopwith FE-2 * Spad XIII 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「List of United States Air Force reconnaissance aircraft」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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