Wings #4 - Rachael Kneice

1.  Why did some world leaders and theologians feel that flying would be the end of mankind?

Many people did not think that flying would be a good idea for mankind. The Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin said that he wished flying had not even been invented. He thought that it was dangerous to mankind because there would be aerial attacks on civilian life. He stated that the only defense against themselves would be to go on the offense, meaning that “you have to kill more women and children than the enemy if you wish to save yourselves” (Crouch, 256). Years before, the theologian Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz felt that God denied men flight so that their lives could be peaceful. An author in the early 1700s had the same thoughts that Stanley Baldwin did, feeling that there would be no security for the good people on the earth, if the bad people had the capability to invade from the sky. Giving men the power of flight did yield potential good results, but many world leaders and theologians felt that it would be a bad thing. Cities would be constantly warring with the sky, and there would be fear among all the people for what might come from the air.

2. What factors influenced the development of the aircraft carrier and what role did it play in WWII?

Aircraft carriers became important throughout the second world war. The major factor for developing them was so that bombers and other military aircraft could travel somewhere and be effective in a place where land-based air power was unavailable. Carriers could take airplanes and transport them closer to where they needed to be, so that the planes weren’t using up all of their fuel. The planes could then return to the carriers and land, instead of having to make a much longer trip back to land. These carriers were used in the Pacific Ocean a lot, between Japan and the Allies, because of how large the ocean was and the great distance to travel. At the start of America’s entrance to the war, Pearl Harbor was hit by dive-bombers that had been launched by an aircraft carrier. The rise of the American aircraft carrier was beneficial in defining the role of dive-bombing (Crouch, 362). Lightweight planes were ideal for the carriers, and could serve as scouts. As for bombing, accurate delivery was a problem. To have an aircraft that could accurately drop a bomb from a considerable altitude meant a much larger and heavier plane than could fit on and take off from a carrier. So the dive-bombers were smaller aircraft with a smaller bomb, but they could easily hit their targets accurately.

4. What type of aircraft emerged from the design revolution of the 1930’s and what role would it play during WWII?

The modern bomber emerged from the 1930’s and made a major impact on WWII. It started with the Boeing B-9, which then led into the Martin B-10, the first modern, all-metal monoplane bomber for military service. Many other types and upgrades were made throughout the years, but the bomber itself was the new invention. They had a precision Norden bombsight, which was believed to be just as important as the airplane itself. This bombsight was moved onto other planes, but the B-10 was where it was first tested. Bombers were used by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The battle for control of the air was incredibly important for World War II. Over Europe, the Allied forces controlled the airs, but the Japanese had the original control over the other side of the world. Bombers were used throughout the war to – obviously – bomb the cities and land of the enemy, whoever that happened to be. Britain was attacked via the air, as was much of France. The ending of the war is remembered by all with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These atomic bombs were carried by bombers and dropped on Japan, leveling the towns and destroying the countryside.