Wings #5 - Carissa Wolfe

Wings #5

Carissa Wolfe

2. The beginnings of supersonic flight research in America began in 1918 with the wind tunnel tests of MIT graduate Frank Caldwell. Caldwell’s tunnel tests showed that planes would lose lift and experience increased drag at speeds of 450 mph. When approaching the speed of sound air condenses and creates a shock wave that increases wing pressure to a point where the pilot could no longer operate the controls. This was obviously a significant barrier to high-speed aircraft, and required innovation in propulsion and structural design. In 1933, Jacob Ackeret invented the first Mach 2 wind tunnel. Various systems of propulsion were tried in Germany, France, and America such as rocket-propulsion, steam turbines, and gas engines. Frank Whittle and Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain were revolutionary in rejecting these methods in favor of a pure turbojet engine. Their inventions were tested in 1937 and shown successful. However, the idea of supersonic flight was viewed as impractical and was not taken seriously by most big-name aviation companies, like NACA, the Air Ministry, and the National Academy of Sciences. Britain on the other hand was already devoting time and money to this type of research. It wasn’t until U.S. General Arnold discovered that Britain was preparing to fly a jet engine plane that the United States finally began to take note of the possibility of supersonic flight (445-453).

7. The invention of the computer revolutionized the aviation industry. In the 1930s the problem of wing and tail vibration mid-air (flutter) required a team of mathematicians to perform the complex calculations needed to determine design factors. Engineers would travel from company to company doing these calculations. One can imagine the potential error involved with this method. The invention of the computer allowed for these operations to be performed almost instantaneously. Computers could interpret information from wind tunnels and transform it into visual images of fluid dynamics. Computers also changed the way airplanes were built and the speed of their production. Instead of having to draw out hundreds of blueprints, software programs with advanced graphics processing did the monotonous work in seconds. One such program was the CAD/CAM (computer-assisted design/computer-assisted manufacturing), which was capable of producing a three-dimensional image of the plane. Additionally, special-purpose machines enabled plane construction and assembly to happen at a much faster rate. Machines were able to heat aluminum in a way that made it lighter and better suited for flight. Captain Luis de Florez played a large role in creating ground-based technology like missile-tracking, navigation, and simulation systems. In the 1960s the Autonetics Division of North American Rockwell produced a navigation system that had included circuit chips (microchips) that were less bulky than those used previously. This introduced the concept of microchips into everyday society. (511-521).

10. Aviation was certainly the most important military technology since gunpowder. Although computers and nuclear weapons were undeniably impactful they came after aviation had already created a new type of warfare. Secondly, their original function was to serve aviation by making more efficient and dangerous aircraft. Aviation allowed for massive attacks that happen rapidly, in a way that naval and land warfare could never accomplish. It is important to note that computer technology used for precision aiming has reduced civilian casualties overall. Even so, the stakes were higher with aerial warfare and that fact alone created tension between nations that influenced all of the wars since the beginning of the 20^th century. No single factor can affect the outcome of a war like a country’s air power. This was demonstrated during the Berlin Airlift when the United States was able to send supplies to those on the ground, who prior to aviation would have had to surrender. In Desert Storm the United States Army and Afghan rebel troops on land were able to operate in conjunction with air forces in order to defeat the Taliban. However, this point can be best summed up by military historian John Keegan: “There are certain dates in the history of warfare that mark real turning points…Now there is a new turning point to fix on the calendar: June 3, 1999, when the capitulation of President Milosevic proved that war can be won by air power alone” (519-521, 585-590).