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Aircraft Developments of World War II |
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AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENTS OF WORLD WAR 2 - Military Airplanes - World war 2 technology
Throughout World War II, aircraft became increasingly crucial factors in military strategy and battles. The need to produce high-performance military airplanes as rapidly as possible during the war served as the impetus for many advances in airplane design and production techniques. Here, World War II military aircraft fly in formation. (AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENTS OF WORLD WAR 2 - Military Airplanes - World war 2 technology) It was not until after World War II (1939-1945), when comfortable, pressurized air transports became available in large numbers, that the airline industry really prospered. When the United States entered World War II in 1941, there were fewer than 300 planes in airline service. Airplane production concentrated mainly on fighters and bombers, and reached a rate of nearly 50,000 a year by the end of the war. A large number of sophisticated new transports, used in wartime for troop and cargo carriage, became available to commercial operators after the war ended. Pressurized propeller planes such as the Douglas DC-6 and Lockheed Constellation, early versions of which carried troops and VIPs during the war, now carried paying passengers on transcontinental and transatlantic flights. (AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENTS OF WORLD WAR 2 - Military Airplanes - World war 2 technology) Wartime technology efforts also brought to aviation critical new developments, such as the jet engine. Jet transportation in the commercial-aviation arena arrived in 1952 with Britain’s DeHavilland Comet, an 885-km/h (550-mph), four-engine jet. The Comet quickly suffered two fatal crashes due to structural problems and was grounded. This complication gave American manufacturers Boeing and Douglas time to bring the 707 and DC-8 to the market. Pan American World Airways inaugurated Boeing 707 jet service in October of 1958, and air travel changed dramatically almost overnight. Transatlantic jet service enabled travelers to fly from New York City to London, England, in less than eight hours, half the propeller-airplane time. Boeing’s new 707 carried 112 passengers at high speed and quickly brought an end to the propeller era for large commercial airplanes. (AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENTS OF WORLD WAR 2 - Military Airplanes - World war 2 technology) After the big, four-engine 707s and DC-8s had established themselves, airlines clamored for smaller, shorter-range jets, and Boeing and Douglas delivered. Douglas produced the DC-9 and Boeing both the 737 and the trijet 727. (AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENTS OF WORLD WAR 2 - Military Airplanes - World war 2 technology) |
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