The B-17‚ which was an American heavy bomber‚ was a massive success in the European Theater. According to America in the Air War‚ B-17s shot down 23 German fighters using defensive 12.7mm machine guns for every 1‚000 sorties over Europe (a sortie was one mission by one plane). B-24s‚ another large bomber‚ had only 11 for every 1‚000 sorties. Most B-17s in Europe were in the 8th Air Force‚ bombing German airplane parts factories. However‚ they were not completely invincible. Before long range fighters
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None of the Navy pilots on one of the carriers had ever been in combat‚ nor had any of the army fliers of the marines. Seventeen of twenty new pilots were just out of flight school‚ some with less than four hours flying time. Some of their dive-bombers could not dive-the fabric came off the wings. Their torpedoes were slow and unreliable‚ the torpedo planes even worse. Yet they were up against the finest fighting plane in the world. Their enemy was brilliant‚ experienced and all conquering. They
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The attack on pearl Harbor also known as the battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise fighter plane attack by the Japanese on the third largest island on American Naval base Pearl harbor in Oahu‚ west of Honolulu‚ Untied States . It occurred on a sunny Sunday morning on December 7th 1941‚ and lasted 110 minutes‚ from 7:55am to 9:45am. Most of the men thought it was a surprise drill. By 9:55 almost 200 airplanes and the ships the Oklahoma‚ California‚ Nevada‚ Arizona and West Virginia were destroyed
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Coats of the Revolutionary War to trench warfare of World War I‚ World War II also had a defining characteristic. One can make the argument that in World War II that defining characteristic was the use of aviation‚ most notably the bomber. One of the most iconic bombers of World War II was the B-17 Flying Fortress. This paper will explain what brought about the development of the B-17 and its inception‚ as well as the B-17’s role in combat and supporting ground troops. Lastly‚ discussed are the
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Strong magnetic fields - Pirates - A time warp - Another one of the US ’s secret hideouts - Atlantis rising to the surface of the sea‚ causing bad weather - Giant octapus pulling everything under the sea On 5 December 1945‚ five Navy Avenger bombers left the plane staton at Fort Launderdale. They were on a training mission for the day to practice bombing but what they didn ’t know was that they we ’re headed straight for the bermuda triangle. At 3:50pm a radio transmission was overheard which
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At the onset of war in late 1939 through 1940‚ a mix of overwhelming German ground advances backed up by swift strategic German air attacks‚ generally known as “blitzkrieg” or lightning war‚ rendered the air forces of Poland‚ the lower countries‚ and ultimately even France‚ along with many other countries totally useless as German troops quickly took over air bases following bombardment (“Timeline of World War II”). For the U.K.‚ however‚ the English Channel and a lack of surface ships in the Kriegsmarine
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The Luftwaffe was the name of the German Air Force in World War II‚ along with the tank units and infantry were all involved in Blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg is translated to a Lightning War. The Luftwaffe was organized Hitler in 1935 to conduct the Blitzkrieg and bombings. Blitzkrieg was used to invade Poland. The Polish military tried to defend Poland but failed because they did not have the firepower or the speed that the Nazi’s had. The Nazi’s attacked one after another‚ then immediately after they
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whole U.S. off guard because of the secret attack. In total‚ the entire Japanese fleet consisted of 353 planes. Nagumo’s force arrived 275 miles northwest of Oahu‚ and at 6:00 A.M. It launched the first attack wave‚ consisting of 49 bombers‚ 40 torpedo planes‚ 51 dive‐bombers‚ and 43 fighter aircraft. When they arrived at the Harbor‚ they dropped a torpedo on the U.S.S. Arizona and blew it up killing over 1‚100 people on board. They also did the same thing to Oklahoma and it completely turned upside down
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technology allowed for more accurate bombing runs and precision targeting of military and industrial locations. By factoring in altitude‚ air speed‚ and ground speed‚ World War II bombsights allowed bombers to fly at higher altitudes during their bombing missions which provided safety to the bombers and their crews from anti-aircraft guns and defending fighter aircraft. Radar Radar technology works by transmitting strong‚ short pulses of radio energy into the air in a specific direction using
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friendly to the United States. The bombers missed many of their targets and left most of Castro’s air force intact. As news broke of the attack‚ photos of the repainted U.S. planes became public and revealed American support for the invasion. President Kennedy cancelled a second air strike. In 1959 when Fidel Castro finally came to power in an armed revolt that overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The CIA had used obsolete World War II B-26 bombers‚ and painted them to look like
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