![]() Credit is usually given to Sir Frank Whittle of Great Britain (first to apply for a patent) and Dr. In the early 1930s, the jet engine was invented. fighters by the end of WWII and was used even more successfully in Korea and Vietnam. Adopted and perfected after the war by many nations, close air support became a mainstay of U.S. The concept of close air support of land forces, developed by the Germans and the Russians, greatly increased the capabilities of land forces. These lumbering aircraft developed new covering formations to protect against Luftwaffe fighters to fall out of formation was to be fatally exposed. ![]() British and American bomber fleets also had a significant effect on the progress of the war in Europe. We also learned to use our admittedly inferior machines to advantage.īilly Mitchell was vindicated by the battle of Midway, which changed the course of the war in the Pacific, when Japan’s offensive naval superiority, embodied by aircraft carriers, was destroyed by American naval dive bombers, all technically inferior to the Japanese Zero. But thanks to innovative engineers, by the later stages of the war, our aircraft were significantly superior to those of our adversaries. Army and Navy aircraft were inferior in almost every way to German and Japanese aircraft. World War II was the supreme wakeup call. In the 1930s, America and the rest of the world slumbered while Goering, with Hitler’s support and approval, built the German air fleet. In the 1920s, General Billy Mitchell demonstrated the vulnerability of the naval fleet to attack from the air and was rewarded with a court martial and an ignominious end to his career. The regular Army was not impressed, however, maintaining that aviation was peripheral to the serious business of ground warfare. When the enemy began to counter this advantage, aircraft were armed, air battles ensued, and dogfighting tactics were developed. At first, airplanes merely provided a vertical battlefield perspective, replacing the balloons that had been used for this purpose since the American Civil War. In the case of the United States, we have reached a fundamental decision point on the vector for future military aviation, and moving forward will require all of the engineering skills we have developed over the past century.īy World War I, aviation enthusiasts here and abroad had become convinced that the refinement of airplanes would lead to greatly advanced military capabilities. Each nation can determine its own aviation destiny. These aviators and engineers of the past have provided the basis for where aviation is today and where it can go in the future. A little more than 10 years after the first powered flight by the Wright brothers in 1903, there was dogfighting over Europe 20 years later, commercial aviation began 30 years later, there were routine passenger flights 40 years later, jet aircraft 44 years later, level, supersonic flight 50 years later, the possibility of atomic powered aircraft 60 years later, Mach 3 planes and 70 years later, the Concorde.īehind these achievements stand pioneers of military aviation, such as Orville and Wilbur Wright, Giulio Douhet, Billy Mitchell, Manfred Von Richtoffen, Willy Messerschmidt, Ernst Heinkel, Artem Mikoyen and Mikhail Guerevitch (MiG), Eddie Rickenbacker, James Doolittle, Glenn Curtiss, William Boeing, Leroy Grumman, Igor Sikorsky, Kelly Johnson, Chuck Yeager, Scott Crossfield, Pete Knight, Harry Hillaker, and a multitude of others whose names we do not know. In the twentieth century, no greater progress was achieved than in aviation (with the possible exception of the rise of electronic systems). Man’s horizons were expanded again and again, but one of the greatest challenges of all - the ability to fly - remained a challenge. ![]() Throughout the nineteenth century and the continuing Industrial Revolution, great strides were made in engineering, medicine, physics, chemistry, and other scientific fields. The spirit of these individuals, as embodied in America’s engineers, is largely responsible for our success as a nation and particularly for our success as aviation innovators. America was founded by people seeking to distance themselves from relatively static societies, people attracted to building a new land and developing a new society. How did the United States achieve its current dominance in the air? I believe many factors have played a role - innovations by aerospace engineers from many nations, the visionary ideas of a few individuals, and the means (and willingness) to spend significant portions of our wealth on military equipment. In the 100th year of powered manned flight, it is appropriate that we step back and review the evolution of military aviation and look ahead to the future. In the twenty-first century, we will see the dawn of the space fleet.
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