Fighter Interceptor Wing

“Never before had so much brain-power been focused on a single problem.”(Laurence qtd. in “Eyewitness”). Many inventions can be said to have changed the world, and the way it worked. Only a core few of these many inventions can be said to change air warfare, and few of those are as game-changing as the B-29 Superfortress by Boeing. The B-29 was the plane that dropped the atomic bombs in World War Two (“bomber”). The plane by Boeing was used most in World War Two as a strategic long-range bomber. This invention revolutionized the concept of war, and war is a factor in all life on planet earth. The B-29 bomber changed warfare by sparking the innovation of aircraft technology, saving lives, and allowing more power to be carried by the means

The Korean peninsula has had a long history of turmoil, miring the country in wars and disputes. Due to growing tensions in the region around the mid-1900s, it would soon become necessary for America to step in to assist in resolving conflict. The Air Defense Artillery (ADA), or the Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) during the Korean War, played a major role in supporting the war effort during the Korean War. The AAA played an important role leading up to the war, during the war, and the lessons learned from the war assisted in building the branch for the future.

The US government attempted to break the sound barrier due to the tensions of the US and the Soviet Union. There was a weapons race between the two nations, who could have the more superior weapon. Scientists discovered that at very high speeds, planes would become violently unstable but the instability would pass if they were able to break the sound barrier. In order to create the more superior plane, the US attempted at building a plane that would break the sound barrier

Although the soviets built much bigger bombs the U.S. had smaller bombs that were more

Centuries before the Korean War, wars were long and painful events that any man could ever go through. Troops would match from countries to countries, crossing mountains, trial through the forest, and wander the desert to meet with their enemy in battle. The only problem with the troops traveling so far for so long is that before the war ever starts, the men were fatigued and casualty rates were higher than they should be. By the Korean War, an amazing machine was introduced to the military ranks, turning the tide in warfighting and troop survivability. UH-1 Huey Helicopter, or Utility Helicopter, was the one machine that was created by Bell that change the concept in warfighting and giving the United States the upper hand in war. On several

Why President Truman Decided to Drop Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki At 02:45 August 6th 1945, the B-29 Superfortress the Enola Gay took off from the specially lengthened North Field on the Island of Tinian in the Marianas. The plane piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets was 7 tons. At 0815 hours the bomb doors of the B-29 opened and flying at approximately 32,000 ft the uranium based atom bomb code-named “Little Boy” was unleashed upon the city of Hiroshima. Over 70,000 men women and children were killed by blast alone.

Attacks could have progressively gotten worse as the wartime progressed. Document one showed us that the bomb was very powerful, yet there was a more powerful artillery in the making. ”In their present form these bombs are now in production and even more powerful forms are in development.” “It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction...” “ If they do not accept our terms they may expect a ruin from the air...”

The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was a single-engine, single-seat, metal fighter plane and ground-attack aircraft that was made by the Americans. The P-40 Warhawk fighters first flew in 1938 and caught the attention of the United States Army Air Corps, who placed the largest fighter plane order it had ever made for fighters for a count of 524 at a cost of US$13 million. This was the earliest serious fighter in WWII and did its job until better fighters came out. It was known as a safe and secure aircraft that was able to fly pilots back home after being shot up in action. Many variants of this plane were later created. In addition, the shark teeth graphics were a big feature on this plane.

After the attack, damage occurred on eight of the United States’ Navy battleships, death came to 2,403 American’s, and the wounded numbers rose to 1,178. The United States was infuriated and wanted retaliation against the Japanese immediately. This would not be an easy task since all of the naval assets had be disabled. The president of the United States and all of the highest-ranking officers of the time could not seem to figure out how to make an attack on Japan. The idea of Army bombers flying off naval ships came to light when a submariner named CPT Francis Cowell saw some army bomber aircraft practicing at a naval landing strip. CPT Cowell passed the idea of army bombers taking off from a navy ship to General Happ Arnold who quickly realized that this could be the key to their predicament. This concept was so crazy for its time and the high-ranking officials could only think of one man that would be able accomplish such a task and that was Jimmy Doolittle. Jimmy gathered 79 volunteers to begin training for “extreme” short-field takeoffs however; Jimmy never told his men what their mission would be. All of the volunteers knew how great of a pilot Jimmy Doolittle was and they never second-guessed their decision to be a part of Jimmy’s master plan. The pilots used a highly modified Mitchell B-25 bomber specifically designed by Jimmy Doolittle

The B-29 made its maiden flight on September 21, 1942. B-29s carried eight .50-cal. machine guns in remote controlled turrets, two .50-cal. machine guns, and up to 20,000 pounds of bombs (Boeing B-29 Superfortress). This was the most expensive weapon of World War II, costing $3 billion, which was more than the development of the atomic bomb at $2 billion. It was a justified cost that essentially ended the Pacific War. On August 6, 1945, the B-29 dropped the atomic bomb, Little Boy, on Hiroshima, killing 80,000 people. Another B-29 dropped the second atomic bomb, Fat Man, on Nagasaki on August 8 killing 40,000 (Parker, 339). On August 15 the Japanese surrendered, ending World War II, but hundreds of Japanese were awaiting horrendous deaths of burnt skin, urinating blood, and

The question was how though ? how can the U.S bomb the Japanese with the small aircraft they had . The Americans went to work and tried figure out what they can do .

During World War II, the US Air force developed the B-29, which could bomb from high altitudes and was thought to destroy targets much more efficiently and effectively. McNamara analyzed the bombing operations to make them more efficient. The B-29 could get above the fighter aircrafts and above air defenses so the loss rate would be much less, but accuracy also declined. With that in mind, the planes were lowered down from 23,000 feet to 5,000 feet and it was decided to bomb the cities with firebombs. In a single night, 67 Japanese cities were burned and 100,000 Japanese civilians were killed.

In this focused history of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG family of fighters and the ace pilots that flew them, Khazanov and Medved provide first-hand accounts of MiG-3 fighter pilots during World War II. As one of the Soviet Union’s few pre-war modern types available, this fighter was built to be an advanced, high-altitude fighter to counter war-proven German technology. Even though production was ended at the close of 1941, the MiG-3 soldiered on against the Nazi War Machine as newer types were developed, finally being completely replaced on the front-lines until mid-1942.

In 1946, the US Air Force began a program in secret, a program that would push the boundaries of aviation into the stratosphere. It was a hugely expensive undertaking which would require creative accounting and the full financial strength of the US government. Tens of thousands of engineering man hours, many lives, years and careers would be consumed in the attempt to unravel the secrets of flight at supersonic speed. The program was conducted in relative obscurity, far from prying eyes, in California's high desert at Muroc Army Air Base. The base was renamed Edwards Air Force Base in 1949 in honor of Capt. Glen Edwards, who was killed in a crash of the YB-49 flying wing a year earlier. The YB-49 wasn't intended to break speed records, it was an airplane that broke every configuration rule in an effort to improve efficiency and carry more bombs farther on a given load of fuel. Bomb load and range were the measures used to determine the value of a bomber in our most recent conflict, WWII. The YB-49 was a concept far ahead of its time and would reemerge in the future as the B-2 when control technology would catch up with the concept. It was a tailless, underpowered flying wing that suffered for the lack of the computers required to

Through the efforts of the “Manhattan Project” and the scientists within it, several nuclear bombs were created. Two of which, “Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” ended up being dropped on Japan. “Little Boy,” the only uranium bomb created was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 (Batchelder 99-105). “Fat Man,” the second nuclear bomb ever used in warfare, detonated above Nagasaki on August 11, 1945 (Batchelder 95-105). The leaders of the United States, decided that dropping the newly developed atomic bombs on Japan was the smartest action they could take at the time, given the current situation that the United States and the world was in. Dropping the bombs on Japan was mainly motivated by the belief that human lives could be saved. A massive invasion of the Japanese mainland was the only other option if no bombs were going to be dropped. The fact that the Japanese main army of approximately two million had never before been defeated on top of the Japanese terrain which was much better suited for guerrilla warfare than the mechanical ways of the U.S. put estimated American deaths alone well over the deaths at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (Batchelder 114-118).