North American Fighter

III. Mustang kept on developing through the 60’s getting bigger engines and more sleek design. They made the cobra jet and Mach 1. Then the super cobra jet and the boss. And many more each one getting faster and more expensive.

The Arrow was Canada’s most advanced technological innovation at the time. The aircraft was not only one of Canada’s best aeronautical inventions, but it was also one of the best all around the world. The Arrow’s glory was short lived but not useless, it became Canada’s pride and excellence (Campagna, 2016). The Arrow was such a huge step into aerospace aviation that many people wondered the possibility of Canada’s future developments. Rob Cohen, the CEO of Canadian Air and Space Museum said, “If the company left it alone and develop the arrow process, Canada would have a man on the moon.” This shows that the technology that the Canadians possessed was so advanced that with the right minds Canada would have made a full functioning rocket well before anyone else (Hobson, 2016). The Arrow was also “considered to be a serious contender for the top military aircraft for the next several years” according to many magazines at the time (Aviation week, 2016). Many engineers from Canada and the rest of the world knew that the Arrow was the cutting edge of aviation technology that existed at the time. It was the very lifeline of Canada’s military aviation industry. It was a promising piece of technology that put Canada on the aeronautical map. The Arrow offered enormous advantages in capability in comparison to the other planes of the world. The Arrow, if given the time and money,

General Lauris Norstad of NATO said the Arrow team were “just about the best team anywhere”. When building the Iroquois engines the engineers skipped an entire generation of jet engine development. When the Arrow program was terminated, 14 528 employees of Avro Canada lost their jobs (Shutting Down the National Dream, Steward, ix - 1). With already uncertain economic conditions, the cancellation of the Arrow caused a tremendous unemployment problem. The company itself on that day was the third largest company in Canada. The employees, out of work had no idea what to do. Half an hour after Diefenbaker had canceled the Arrow program, the executives were sitting around a bar together getting drunk at 10 in the morning (Shutting Down the National Dream, Steward, 263). Joe Morley, the Sales and Service Manager had many employees ask him what they should do now. He told them “Sorry, we’re all on our own now. I’ll write letters of reference and help in any way I can” (Shutting Down the National Dream, Steward, 267). One engineer by the name of Lindley came up to Morley and asked “What about the six aircraft? What about the one with the Iroquois in it - can we fly it?” To which he responded “We can’t fly it. We can’t do anything” (Shutting Down the National Dream, Steward, 265). Even a RCAF test pilot showed up a little while later and asked the team if he could

Two years earlier, America’s military preparedness was not that of a nation expecting to go to war. In 1939, the United States Army ranked thirty-ninth in the world, possessing a cavalry force of fifty thousand and using horses to pull the artillery. Many Americans — still trying to recover from the decade-long ordeal of the Great Depression — were reluctant to participate in the conflict that was spreading throughout Europe and Asia. President Roosevelt did what he could to coax a reluctant nation to focus its economic might on military preparedness. If the American military wasn’t yet equal to the Germans or the Japanese, American workers could build ships and planes faster than the enemy could sink them or shoot them

In 1903 the Quadracycle's successor was designed and named the Model A, the Model A was much more refined and technologically advanced. Using a new two-cylinder engine it produced nine horsepower and featured a two-speed transmission with a chain driven drive train that had a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour, and sold for a pricey 850 dollars (Wise 77). Not more than a year later the Ford Motor Co. was introducing new models, the Model C & F were only updated model A's but the new Model B was a

Technology played a key role in determining the outcome of World War II. The high military demand for more advanced technology acted as a catalyst for the development of technology in the interwar years of the 1920’s and 1930’s. Scientists and Engineers alike poured massive amounts of research and development time into supporting the war effort, and more advanced technology was developed at an alarmingly rapid rate. One notable fact about technology in World War II is that World War II is the first war in which many military attacks were designed

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.

Aircraft and the war materials are important to any war. The aircraft in the war was very different for each person. They had many different types of aircraft depending on their way of flying. Also the designed it based on how “dangerous” they felt they were. During the war there were over forty different versions of the very successful aircraft from Germany. They wouldn’t build them based on if they were better for fighting or if they were better for flying. They based them on how the person flying them wanted the aircraft to be. This caused problems for Germany. It is very time consuming for Germany. It took a long time to build each of the planes. Since they were all different they

In the fall of 1964, Ford included an entirely new Mustang engine lineup and the addition of the GT group. The 200 cu in six-cylinder engine replaced the 170 cu in six-cylinder engine, thus increasing the six-cylinder’s performance from 101 horsepower to 120 horsepower. The 289 cu in replaced the 260 cu

In addition to all the ships being produced the Americans were also coming up with newer weapons to use against the U-boats. These weapons would be used by both planes and battleships. Some of the aircrafts “were fitted with powerful

The Germans also intended to bring a brand new generation of piston engine aircraft into production around 1941. However, all but one of those aircraft failed to live up to expectations and ended up being produced in very small numbers if at all. The aircraft production of the Germans

By mid-1942, World War II was looking bleak for the Allied powers. The German Wehrmacht was blitzing through Soviet Russia, the Luftwaffe had laid waste to much of London, Rommel was about to take Africa, and the Japanese nearly had control of the Pacific. Fortunately, as the Axis started running low on materiel, America was increasing the Allied supply dramatically. This enormous production capacity displayed by the U.S. was the product of their new military-industrial complex, as plants across the country geared up production of weapons and combat vehicles and the government began pumping resources into the creation of new military-oriented production facilities. The American

Their greatness was unrecognized so there wasn’t much demand, and because the Lend-Lease Act had not been put in place, payment came right out of the Allies’ pockets. Nevertheless, these issues were solved with the engine switch and the Lend-lease Act. “(Green)” Perhaps the Mustang’s greatest advantage was its incredible accuracy at long range; it could down an enemy fighter before it was even in that plane’s firing range. “(Sherman3)” Another advantage was its square-tipped wings and tail, which made manufacturing easier and less costly while performance stayed the same. “(Green)” December 13, 1943, is the date when P-51s flew their first long range escort mission. It was four-hundred ninety miles to Kiel and back again with the Allison engine still in use. They then did a one-thousand and one-hundred mile mission to Berlin; that distance was unheard of for fighter planes and was made possible by the improved flight range of the Merlin engine. It was the best escort fighter we had, working well even in plain daylight. They ensured the destruction of several enemy supply lines and manufacturing plants. However, these bombing raids were at first riddled with failure. They often were shot down before deploying bombs and lost many planes to shrapnel. We soon learned from our mistakes and utilized the firepower of our Mustangs; taking a quicker, more spread out approach while our Mustangs shot down

The Douglas C-47 was manufactured in December 7th, 1935. It was manufactured by Douglas. The C-47 was the military model of the DC-3. It could travel 1,600 miles, it could carry up to 6,000 pounds of cargo, and it could also carry 28 soldiers in full combat fear. As a medical airlift plane, it could accommodate 14 stretcher patients and three nurses. Seven basic versions were built. Every branch of the military flew it and all the allied powers flew it. The Navy version of the C-47 was the R4D. The aircraft operated in every continent in the world and participating in every major battle.

The P-38 Lightning was a concept designed to swing air superiority to the allied forces during World War 2. Sherman (2002) wrote, “In 1937, the U.S. Army put out a requirement for a high-altitude interceptor capable of 360 MPH at 20,000 feet and full-throttle endurance of one hour at that altitude.” With these requirements in mind the engineers proceeded to build one of the most powerful fighters in World War 2. With unparalleled performance the P-38 seemed to be the answer.