WIngs Assignment #4

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

Although many thought that the technological improvements in the field of aviation were nothing but good and had the potential to change the world for the better, not everyone shared in this idea. The Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin had previously stated “’I wish for many reasons that flying had never been invented”’ (Crouch, 356). He, as well as some other world leaders and theologians, thought that flying and as a result, aerial attacks on civilian targets, would lead to the end of mankind. His position was not unique but was instead in line with the ideas of Saint John Chrysostom, a church father who thought that wings were a symbol of the inescapable divine judgment, and Juan Caramel y Lobkowitz, a Spanish theologian who stated that “God denied men the faculty of flight so that they might lead a quiet and tranquil life” (Crouch, 356). Others who shared in this idea was Noel Andre, Engligh natural philosopher William Derham, and German experimenter Johann Daniel Major. These men as well as some others thought that flying would lead to the end of mankind because of the fact that the airplane was being used as a weapon that was more powerful and had the capacity to do more damage than other weapons that had previously been used. Additionally, it gave pilots larger targets and the capability to kill more people.

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

Although the first Shanghai incident is rarely mentioned in the history of World War II, “the attack on Shanghai demonstrated the fundamental role of an aircraft carrier: the projection of force in support of national policy in an area where land-based air power is unavailable” (Crouch, 359). As this was a new development it took many earlier flight tests in order to establish a perfected and usable design but Capt. Joseph Mason Reeves “developed the effective on board operational procedures for aircraft carriers” (Crouch, 360) and due to his earlier experiments he was able to increase the speed of the operations as well as increased the number of airplanes that were carried. The central purpose of the aircraft carrier was the ability to attack the enemy from the sky. For example, during the war the aircraft carrier was used to help planes travel long distances without having to use all of the fuel. As they were on the aircraft carrier they could launch from the middle of the ocean which allowed then to appear in spots that the enemy might not expect them. Additionally, the rise of the American aircraft carrier also helped further define the role of dive bombing.

3. What role did strategic bombing play during the war and was it successful?

One aspect of the war that was extremely controversial is the idea of strategic bombing. During the war both sides used strategic bombing and the motives for using strategic bombing varied across the different countries. For some, strategic bombing was a form of vengeance, however for Britain fighting the battles in North Africa “bombing offered the only opportunity to strike an offensive blow against Germany” (Crouch, 411). Additionally, the leaders of both the RAF and the USAAF believed that the use of strategic bombing was the best way to ensure a victory in the least painful path. The development of new technologies such as discovering that a night fighter could follow the signal emitted by a target back to its source and then by the end of the way being able to locate targets at night or through clouds, allowed more effective strategic bombing. As for the success of strategic bombing, “strategic bombing had not broken the will of any nation, nor had it proved to be wither as cheap or as decisive as it proponents had hoped” (Crouch, 425). Obviously the destruction that resulted from these bombings was intentional and it seems that in terms of thinking if it was successful one must consider if the damage done and lives lost was worth the victory.

Crouch, Tom D. Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, 2003. Print.