Technological Advancements During World War II

Technological Advancements during World War II COM/172 Michelle Kustarz December 05, 2013

“The atom bomb was no great decision... It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness” (President Harry Truman). Most people believe that World War II started in 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, in actuality it started on September 1, 1939 when Germany attacked Poland (Rosenberg).While World War II was a horrible and extremely deadly war, with roughly 56,125,262 people who died, that seemed to serve no purpose it brought with it many technological advancements that we still use today (Hitler Historical Museum, 1996-1999). World War II not only helped the world come up with
new inventions, it also brought old inventions into mass use or production like they had never been done before. During World War II there were many ways to keep a competitive edge over the enemy, but the main way to maintain a competitive edge was to force continual advancements in technology. There were many technological advancements made before the war but even more were made during the war after trial and error. Out of the inventions that World War II brought us probably the most widely known invention is the atomic bomb and the hydrogen bomb. The Manhattan Project gave birth to the atomic and hydrogen bombs which were used on japan to end the war in 1945. The Manhattan Project began on September 22, 1942 and was one of the most top secret missions of all the war on the American side (Roberts, 2012). It was a mission to create a weapon that could end the war and employed over 130,000 people at secret sites all over the United States (Roberts, 2012). While the Manhattan Project began in 1942 it was not completed until 1945. However, while the atomic bomb and the hydrogen bomb were the most widely known inventions of World War II, they were not the only advancements in World War II. There were inventions for both the good and the bad made during World War II. The main military competitive edge to maintain in World War II was the development of the aircraft technology.
World War II saw the advancement of the aircraft into what we know today. Prior to World War II aircraft were made of wood and did not go very fast and were not suitable to wartime use. World War II saw the first aluminum aircraft. World War II allowed aircraft to be used for fighter missions, reconnaissance missions, as bombers, and many other types of missions. A wooden aircraft could not take the kind of damage that the aluminum aircraft could take and keep flying. Nor could a wooden aircraft carry the same amount of ammunitions as their lighter aluminum counterparts could carry. Compared to the aluminum aircraft wooden airplanes were heavy and bulky. Along with the improved aircraft came the first test of the aircraft carrier. The first aircraft carrier was built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier in 1925 which was the USS Saratoga, but it remained untested as a war machine until World War II (Pomar, Pawlowski, & Reynolds, 2013). The aircraft carrier was one of the most important inventions used in World War II. It allowed the combatants of the war to launch planes from a safe distance away from their target so that the carrier did not come under fire. However even if the carriers did come under fire they were equipped with their own cannons, quadruple- mount cannons, and heavy caliber anti-aircraft machine guns. They were floating tanks that housed
planes. Some military technology advanced beyond the war into every day products that we all know and use. There was one invention that was started in World War II but was not actually completed until two decades after the war. That invention was the microwave oven. The microwave was actually invented completely by accident. In World War II there were two scientists who invented the magnetron which issues microwaves to be used in radar systems to spot enemy planes. It was a pure accident that proved that microwaves can also cook food (Microwave Oven, 2005). The first domestically sold microwave was sold in 1967. Two decades after the war had ended they became available for the everyday person.
While World War II saw many new inventions, it also saw the mass production of inventions that had been around for a while.
Penicillin was probably the number one most used invention of the entire war. Penicillin was invented in 1928 by Alexander Fleming but it was not used in mass production until World War II (Rosenberg, Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin). The war had so many casualties that it forced the mass use of penicillin to fight off the bacteria in the soldiers wounds and bodies. Without penicillin soldiers who had minor injuries may have died or suffered amputation do to infection caused by bacteria. Penicillin saved uncountable lives and limbs of soldiers during the war. Penicillin was the most important and lifesaving invention forced into use during World War II. Brian J. Ford
said: "If any good can be said to come of war, then the Second World War must go on record as assisting and accelerating one of the greatest blessings that the 20th Century has conferred on Man - the huge advances in medical knowledge and surgical techniques. War, by producing so many and such appalling casualties, and by creating such widespread conditions in which disease can flourish, confronted the medical profession with an enormous challenge - and the doctors of the world rose to the challenge of the last war magnificently."
Another invention that was put into mass production during World War II was synthetic rubber. Synthetic rubber was invented in 1909 but did not see wide use until around 1941 or 1942. Rubber had almost an unlimited amount of uses during the war. It was an extremely important and vital commodity that when Japan took Malaysia, the Allies’ main source of natural rubber, it threatened to be the end of the war for the Allies. The Allies were forced to start producing synthetic rubber in mass amounts like they had never done before. Rubber was used for things such as gas masks which used 1.11 pounds of rubber to produce, life rafts requiring 17 to 100 pounds of rubber to make, and a heavy bomber which required 1,825 pounds of rubber and those were just the war products. Rubber was also used for everyday objects such as raincoats, tires, shoes, gloves, garden hoses, and many more objects we use on an everyday basis (U.S. War Production Board). All the uses we gained for synthetic rubber in World War II are still in use today on a mass scale.
World War II gave us many inventions and even helped us put many previously unused inventions into use. Although the war did not seem to have much purpose it did serve to help our society further its technology. When President Roosevelt said “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan” he did not realize that statement would fit the tone of the entire war (Roosevelt, 1941). World War II truly is a war that lives on in infamy in all our minds. While some of the inventions that World War II produced were indeed harmful there were many more inventions that were for the good of mankind, inventions such as penicillin, microwave ovens, synthetic rubber, and the aircraft industry.

Works Cited
Hitler Historical Museum. (1996-1999). World War 2 Death Count. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from hitler.org: http://www.hitler.org/ww2-deaths.html
Microwave Oven. (2005, August 15). Retrieved December 16, 2013, from ideafinder.com: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/microwave.htm
Pomar, N., Pawlowski, G., & Reynolds, C. (2013, September). aircraft carrier. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from ebscohost: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ehost/detail?sid=7698816f-30ec-46d0-8dc5-761677a39031%40sessionmgr115&vid=1&hid=128&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=lkh&AN=39042671
Roberts, S. (2012, October 8). The Manhattan Project. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from ecampus.phoenix.edu: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=55851172-7f68-468b-b2b2-1c792df07684%40sessionmgr198&vid=4&hid=128
Roosevelt, P. F. (1941, December 8). “A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”: FDR Asks for a Declaration of War. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from historymatters.gmu.ude: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5166/
Rosenberg, J. (n.d.). Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from about.com: http://history1900s.about.com/od/medicaladvancesissues/a/penicillin.htm
Rosenberg, J. (n.d.). World War II Starts. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from about.com: http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/wwiistarts.htm
U.S. War Production Board. (n.d.). WORLD WAR II ON THE HOME FRONT: RATIONING. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from learnnc.org: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/ww2-rationing/5911