B 17 Characteristics

Antiaircraft in the early twentieth century comes out of a rich pedigree of coastal defense and to a lesser degree field artillery. To trace air defense artillery’s

Being the real first heavy bomber, the B-29 would start production six years after the B-17 won the USAAC competition. The head of Boeing Aircraft Co. on January 29, 1940, received a letter titled "U.S. Army, Airplane, Bombardment, Specification For". (The Boeing B-29) This would start production of the B-29. After thousands of hours of work, the plane took it maiden flight on September 21, 1942. The plane could carry a whopping 70 tons of cargo, the same amount of weight the Enola Gay carried on its way to Japan. It could fly at 400 miles per hour, almost 200 more miles per hour than its predecessor. The plane could also fly 4 thousand miles. (The Boeing B-29) The most famous B-29, the Enola Gay, dropped the bombs on Japan and forced them to raise the white flag and win the war against the Japanese. The plane was flown by Paul Tibblets and Robert Lewis. These planes helped win the war against the Axis powers and capture Berlin.

Because of the tight formations and gutsy flying by the B-17 crews they were able to put thousands of tons of bombs on target with great accuracy. The insight and information of the crews was a vital part in the military to create bigger and better equipment to help the war come to a close. While many of the crews were lost, the steel on target and the information provided saved thousands of lives. The average death toll of a B-17 pilot during World War II was eighty percent. To put that in perspective CPT. Morgan, the pilot of the Memphis Belle, said it like this, “You eat breakfast with 10 of your closest buddies, go on a mission, and only two would be at

The Boeing Company also writes The Fortresses were also legendary for their ability to stay in the air after taking brutal poundings. ”Gen. Carl Spaatz, the American air commander in Europe, said, ‘Without the B-17 we may have lost the war’. “ (Qtd.in. Boeing) (Boeing “B-17”). In B-17 Fortress at War Freeman records a story of the Mary Alice. The Mary Alice was a famous B-17 that flew in the European theatre. The Mary Alice is an example of a B-17 ability to take a beating and still be able to fly back to base no matter how wounded. Freeman writes about the Mary Alice 66th mission on a German synthetic oil refinery which is known to be the most dangerous of mission due to heavy anti-air defenses set up by the Germans (101-102). Freeman writes on page 102 about the heavy damage the Mary Alive sustained,

But, the aircrafts were eventually used for more than scouting ahead it later turned into a point of emphasis of where the war would take place. Using this source to support my thesis will help give a better understanding of what I will be writing about. I will be using this source to help the development of sub-points that I will be using in my research paper. The context of this source will help out on the claims and development of things I will discuss in my paper, and I will not use this document to disagree

     The name General Carl ‘Tooey’ Andrew Spaatz has become synonymous with the phrase air power and strategist. Air power has come along way since Wilbur and Orville launched the first airplane in 1902 in the city of Kitty Hawk. Famous engineers have taken the Wright-Brothers design and made great improvements to them while slowly integrating these new powerful means of transportation, weaponry and communication aids into the military. Since the onset of World War I there has been a debate on how to most effectively use these new airplanes in the Army’s collection. Most individuals believed that airplanes should be under control of the Army theater commander, while very

Topic: Our Topic for this assignment is the Hawker Hurricane, a British fighter plane that was mainly used in the Royal Air Force and the Battles fought by British and its Allies.

The first flight occurred in 1903 when the Wright brothers famously took their airplane for a final test flight in December. In the years after this historic flight many people start to see the potential for airplanes in war, transportation, and shipping. Other builders disregarded previous doubt about flying and began to replicate the ideas of the Wright brothers in creating planes with three axes. In addition, the approach of WWI prompted military personnel to pursue uses of airplanes as a war machine. The airplane influenced many aspects of American culture after it’s invention including civilian life, war technology, and individual possibility.

The First World War was monumental in history because of all the new technology that was introduced. One particular area that developed during the Great War was the use of airplanes by the German and Allied militaries. In comparison, they both had different mentalities towards an invention that was only made successful less than a decade before the outbreak of war in 1914 by the Wright Brothers in North Carolina, United States. The German Military welcomed the idea with open arms, investing in its potential for military uses, whereas the Allies remained reserved and hesitant, claiming that aircraft could not be used for anything more offensive than reconnaissance missions. These differences in opinions later affected the development of each air force. The German military kept making monthly improvements to their equipment whereas the allied pilots were slow in their respective air forces evolution. However, there was a common progression that both militaries had which was the slow phasing out of the cavalry on either side due to the effectiveness of the aircrafts reconnaissance capabilities. During the World War One, the German military took advantage of the new technology available to them, which gave significant results, whereas the Allies had a more traditional mindset for the beginning of the conflict.

Any hours of flying, all 16 made it, and 15 of those dropped their ordnance on the enemy homeland. 15 planes went on to China, and 1 flew on to the Soviet Union. While the material damage of this raid was minimal, this turned out to be a incredibly important mission. It boosted American morale tremendously, and made the Japanese hastily attack Midway, which became the turning point in the war.

Planes were important in the Pacific war. The B-29 delivered weapons to American soldiers in the region. Those weapons helped them win many major battles against the Japanese. They also helped America win the war. The B-29 was used to drop the “Little Boy” bomb on Hiroshima and “Fat Man” on Nagasaki.

The “bikko”, as the Japanese have nicknamed America’s most powerful aircraft, drops B-29 bombs on Tokyo. The residents of Tokyo race for shelter. These American aircrafts

On July 17th, 1989, the B-2 Bomber flew its first planned flight. The B-2 Bomber is known for its super stealth mode. Due to setbacks, the bomber has had many failures. The B-2 is not as stealth as the Airforce would have hoped. The aircrafts stealth is generated by airframe that absorbs radar signals so that little is reflected back to radar systems. This helps the enemy not be able to detect the aircraft in sight. The Airforce as well as many agree that it is still a great aircraft to have in the air even with the setbacks. Many are trying to face these problems and help increase the value of the bomber.

Towards the end of the War the airplane becomes a practical device of war being able to carry weapons. Anthony Fokker and Louis Bleriot create the most successful of early modern biplanes known as the D-VII and D-VIII. Biplanes are eventually taken over by the monoplane, or one wing. This new design allowed for faster flight and better visibility for the pilot. Air-cooled engines lead the way for commercial aircraft, and Boeing introduces the first modern airliner the 247. Airplanes are effected the greatest by supply and demand of war. New styles of war begun to emerge so did new and improved types of aircraft. The population of the U.S. also begun to grow which leads to the modern most sophisticated commercial airliner the 777. Most aircraft improvements are found in the military and intelligence field. The most high tech aircraft known today for such things as spying are the SR-71 Blackbird, and the U-2 Spy plane. The most complicated and best aircraft performance is still held by the space shuttle and probably always will be. The last 200 years have seen incredible changes in aircraft from the man with wings to heavier than air flying machines that can travel at supersonic speeds.

United States Defense Department continues to develop and acquire systems which provide the required capabilities to the war-fighters. B-2 stealth bomber has unique wing configuration and stealth technology. The structure of B-2 is similar to B-35 which was developed in 1940 ‘s by Northrop. The first B-2 was displayed publicly on November 22, 1988. Its flight was on July 17, 1989. This aircraft got its full operational capability in Dec., 2003. The main contractor which is responsible for its system integration and design is Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems. Development of B-2 was started in 1981. Air-Force was given approval for the procurement of 132 operational B-2 aircrafts in 1987, mainly for strategic bombing missions. The purpose of development of B-2 was changed to regular operations after the demise of the Soviet Union. So, the order was reduced to 20 operational aircrafts and one test aircraft.