Even though some people believed that flying would be a great invention, others looked at it as the end of the world. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin thought that the introduction of flight would lead to aerial attacks on civilians and could possibly be the end of civilization. Baldwin did not believe that people should go through life of experiencing the realization that, “there is no power on earth that can prevent him from being bombed” (pg 256). Different religious people and theologians were also concerned about the doom that flight would bring. Saint John Chrysostom, who was born prior to flight being invented (347-407), believed that flight was an “inescapable divine-judgment” (pg. 256).Another theologian named Juam Caramuel y Lobkowitz thought that god intentionally did not allow men to fly so they could live a peaceful lives. William Derham, who was a natural philosopher thought that flight would allow people to do more evil things and as a result, could destroy peace of the world. Johann Daniel Major thought that flight would be worse than gun power. Finally an author named Samuel Johnson believed that flight would be great for virtuous people. However, the bad of the world would use flight to do bad things.
4.)
One of the planes that emerged from the design revolution of the 1930’s was the modern bomber. The first modern bomber created during the time was the Boeing B- It had an open cockpit and a light bomb load, it was not used much during war but it was the first step to creating the Boeing 247 which was used. The next modern bomber that was created was a Martin B-10 in 1933 which was, “first modern, all-metal mono-plane bomber to enter service”. (pg. 390). It was an enclosed cockpit and the B-10s soon became bombers for the American military in WWII. Another bomber that was created during the time was the XB-15 in 1934 and it’s the largest military aircraft flown. This was created because it was an ideal bomber for the Nordern bomb sight which increased the accuracy of bombing by the U.S. military. Even though that plane wasn't successful, the newer model YB-17s was bought by the army. The YB-17 was used as a weapons system. It was unique from the other countries because it was all metal and a multi-engine airplane (pg. 391). The Seversky P-35 was made after that and that was used in New Guinea and in Eastern Europe. Many people died because of these bombers, they were able to do a large amount of damage in a short amount of time. It created a new terror for soldiers and civilians. It also caused the destruction of the environment and many cities.
6.)
In the beginning of the war, the allies thought that bombing could be avoided. However, the allied forces decided to use strategic bombing throughout WWII. What was unique about bombing compared to sea or ground fights was that bombing was never ending for 6 years. The theory behind it was that the allies used bombing in order to destroy the will of the axis. The early bombing raids were not very successfully. They were “nothing more deadly than propaganda leaflets” (pg. 409). Also, the accuracy of the bombings were terrible. The flyers weren’t use to flying over seas and would end up being off course. Not only that, they couldn’t protect the bombers that were flying. However, the axis and allies kept using bombers and during September 1940 to March 1941 there was a blitz of bombing raids. Sixty thousand English civilians lost their lives to air attacks and the Blitz created the most deaths (around two-thirds). When Germany took all of France and London was in flames, the allies wanted to seek revenge and unleash unrestricted bombing against German cities. However, this was not the only reason, the other reason was for an offensive advantage. Bombing Germany would be safer than sending out a ground force where a lot more soldiers would die. Overtime, accuracy and navigation improved for bombing (around 1942-1943) and started to become very successful. Also, the RAF began to receive help with the Eighth Air Force in England and now precision attacks occurred during the day and night, creating havoc for the axis (pg. 413) .
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