Recently, drones have dominated coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war, epitomized by last week’s media storm around Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and the Kremlin. We take those capabilities for granted today—they’re just a feature of war. But plenty of active service members were alive during a time when today’s UAVs were inconceivable.

So, how did we get here? Believe it or not, drones as we know them right now actually originated more than a century ago during World War I and World War II. They certainly weren’t pretty. But for better or worse, war breeds innovation, and those wars laid the groundwork for today’s UAV technology.

Let’s take a look at some of those early drones and how they morphed into the high-flying, supersonic, undetectable UAVs permeating the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Prewar Foundations

Before diving into the history books, we need to define what a drone is. For our purposes, we’ll be using a simple definition: a drone or UAV is any aircraft that does not have a human crew or pilot on board.

That includes balloons, which were responsible for the earliest unmanned flights. The ancient Chinese used sky balloons, or Kongming lanterns—now a symbol in Chinese culture—for military signaling. A few centuries later, the first hot-air balloon designed to carry people, developed by aviation pioneers the Montgolfier brothers, flew without a crew in 1783.

But it wasn’t until the mid-19th century that the first UAV was deployed in combat. That distinction belongs to the Austrians, who in 1849 bombed Venice, Italy, using explosive-laden balloons. Unsurprisingly, they weren’t very effective—many of them even blew back toward Austria due to wind.

Before long, engineers were looking at a new application for UAVs: aerial photography. 

The first surveillance drones didn’t emerge until the Vietnam War. But in 1858, French photographer Nadar was credited with taking the first photos from a balloon. A few decades later, William Abner Eddy took photos from a flying kite, some of which survived. And around the same time, Alfred Nobel was thought to have taken photos from a “rocket camera,” though the history is disputed.

Yet all of these aircraft had a big problem: They were difficult or impossible to control. Nikola Tesla began laying the foundation for radio-controlled vehicles with his “robot-boat” in 1898. A technological marvel for its time, Tesla reportedly fooled a crowd at New York City’s Madison Square Garden into thinking they could control the vehicle by shouting.

Tesla never built a remote-control system for flight. But leading up to WWI, Britain’s Royal Aircraft Factory recognized the potential for radio-guided combat aircraft—and got to work.

WWI and the 1st UAV

The task of developing a radio-controlled airplane was left up to A.M. Low, an English engineer, physicist, and inventor commissioned by Britain’s Royal Flying Corps in 1914, just more than a decade after the Wright Brothers’ first flight.

Considered by some to be “the father of radio guidance systems,” Low in 1916 developed a design called the Aerial Target (AT) that laid the foundation for drones as we know them today. The following year, a monoplane made by Geoffrey de Havilland—who would go on to found the aircraft manufacturer sharing his last name—became the first AT model to fly under radio control. It was considered the first UAV flight.

While working on AT, Low survived two assassination attempts by the Germans, who saw the danger in his invention. The British military, however, eventually scrapped the program. Low later developed remote-controlled boats to counter submarines, though they were never deployed in war.

The U.S. also took notice of Low. In 1917, at the behest of scientist-inventors Peter Hewitt and Elmer Sperry, the Navy began developing the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane, or “Flying Bomb,” considered to be the earliest iteration of the modern cruise missile. It was made by attaching automatic control gear to the Curtiss N-9 seaplane and eventually, after failed tests, a custom Curtiss airframe.

Launched from a catapult—and later a car—and controlled through gyro-stabilization technology created by Sperry, the aircraft never saw battle. But the U.S. military now had UAVs on its mind.

Around the time the Flying Bomb was undergoing flight testing, the U.S. Army asked inventor and engineer Charles Kettering to design a “flying machine” that could hit targets from 40 miles away.

His design, the Kettering Aerial Torpedo—better known as the “Kettering Bug”—was groundbreaking despite never seeing combat. It was capable of carrying 180 pounds of explosives over 75 miles at a speed of 50 mph, making it an enigma of its time.

Using a guidance and control system developed by Sperry, the Bug was programmed to turn off its engine after a specified number of revolutions corresponding to the distance it needed to travel, improving its accuracy. That resulted in several successful flight tests in 1918, and the U.S. government would ultimately spend $275,000 (or about $4 million today) developing it.

The Bug and its predecessors ultimately never saw battle. But Kettering’s design and others would later inspire the UAVs deployed during WWII.

The Interwar Period

The Allies didn’t need drones to win World War I. But the early glimpses of UAV technology were too tantalizing to ignore, and the interwar period brought plenty of new innovations that have stuck around.

One is the quadcopter design, a common feature of modern drones. The first practical quadcopter design arrived in 1924, when French engineer Étienne Oehmichen flew his Oehmichen 2. Around the same time, George de Bothezat successfully flew a quadrotor helicopter for the U.S. Army.

But the bulk of UAV innovation at this time came from the British and American militaries. 

Drawing upon Kettering’s Bug and Low’s radio-control technology, the British Royal Aircraft Establishment began building the Larynx autopilot cruise missile in 1925, conducting test flights between 1927 and 1929. Britain also developed the Fairey Queen, a radio-controlled target drone constructed from a Fairey IIIF floatplane, in 1931. Only three were ever flown.

But one British innovation from this period had staying power. In 1933, the country started building the DH.82B Queen Bee, a pilotless variant of de Havilland’s Tiger Moth biplane that revolutionized military target practice. The Queen Bee began flying remotely in 1935 and was in service with the Royal Air Force and Navy until 1947. Remarkably, it could fly as high as 17,000 feet and as fast as 100 mph, and it could be recovered after flight. More than 400 were built over a decade.

But perhaps the Queen Bee’s longest-lasting impact comes from its name. Historians believe that when the British demonstrated it for the U.S. military, officials began using the word drone—a term for worker bees—to refer to UAVs as a tip of the hat. But more importantly, Queen Bee is thought to have inspired the first American drone program.

U.S. experiments eventually produced the Curtiss N2C-2 antiaircraft target drone in 1937. Controlled remotely from a TG-2 “mothership,” the N2C-2 entered Navy service in 1938, and the Air Force adopted the concept the following year. The technology was ideal for target practice, but the requirement of a mothership limited its range and applications.

The Queen Bee and N2C-2 were the first UAVs to see extensive military use. And they arrived just in time for World War II, when drones really started to take off.

WWII and the First Mass-Produced UAVs

A couple hundred Queen Bees and a few thousand N2C-2 variants flew as target drones during World War II. But the conflict, the largest the world had ever seen, triggered the proliferation of UAVs.

The first mass-produced drone emerged from an unlikely source: actor Reginald Denny, a successful Hollywood leading man who experimented with radio-controlled aviation in the 1930s. Throughout the decade, Denny’s Radioplane Co. demonstrated several target drones for the U.S. Army.

In 1940, Denny’s persistence won Radioplane an Army contract to mass-produce the Radioplane OQ-2 and its successor, the OQ-3. The company would go on to build an astounding 15,000 target drones for the Army during WWII, marking the beginning of heavy military drone use. And in 1941, a patent filed by engineer Edward M. Sorensen allowed the aircraft to complete the first beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights.

If Britain was the driving force behind UAV innovation during WWI, it was the U.S. in WWII. 

In 1942, the U.S. military developed an early assault drone, the Naval Aircraft Factory TDN-1, which did not see operation but is credited as the first drone to take off from an aircraft carrier. Shortly after, it devised the Interstate TDR-1 assault drone, which saw about a month of deployment in the Pacific Theater before being retired in 1944.

The U.S. also experimented with applying radio control to out-of-service aircraft. In 1944, Operation Aphrodite saw the Army Air Forces repurpose the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator for remote flight. These designs were also the first UAVs equipped with cameras for first-person-view flights.

Despite flying 14 missions, Aphrodite was considered a failure. The drones were essentially torpedoes equipped with explosives, requiring the pilot to jump from the aircraft before impact. One mission led to the death of Joseph P. Kennedy, the older brother of John F. Kennedy.

However, the U.S. did find success with one of the earliest combat drones, the GB-1 glide bomb. Also known as the “grapefruit bomb,” the aircraft’s wings allowed it to glide farther than a torpedo, which allowed bombers to release it from outside enemy lines. More than 1,000 GB-1s flew during WWII in 1944 and 1945.

But ironically, a U.S. invention inspired the Germans to build the most devastating UAV of the time. Remember that old Kettering Bug? Well, the Germans certainly did, adapting the model into what would become the V-1 flying bomb, commonly known as the “doodlebug” or “buzz bomb.”

The V-1 is considered to be the first operational cruise missile, and it was unlike anything the world had ever seen. It was a true monstrosity of its time, capable of traveling more than 150 miles at speeds approaching 400 mph—not far off from modern passenger airliners.

At the height of the V-1’s deployment in 1944, Germany riddled London with bombs, launching more than 100 drones per day, before switching its sights to Belgium. The flying bomb was remarkably effective for its time, so much so that it inspired the British to produce some of the earliest counter-UAV technology.

Near the end of the war, the Germans also introduced the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile, the V-2 rocket. Amazingly, the V-2 traveled close to the speed of sound, making it stealthier and even more dangerous than the V-1. More than 3,000 were launched between 1943 and 1945.

The vast majority of these aircraft were retired in the years after the war. But the damage was already done—the Germans had just provided the first glimpse into the power of combat drones, and there was no turning back.

Through decades of trial and error and the modern-day equivalent of billions of dollars, WWI and WWII produced most of the foundational concepts of drones as we know them today, from remote-control to BVLOS operations.

In the following decades, research and development of UAV technology didn’t subside—it picked up exponentially. Around the world, militaries began contracting with private manufacturers, conducting extensive testing, and pouring billions of dollars into drone technology, introducing new innovations such as surveillance drones during the Vietnam War or precision drone strikes throughout the war on terror.

Now, they’re being used for just about every armed conflict on Earth. And as drones continue to wreak havoc in Russia and Ukraine, chances are they won’t be going away any time soon—for better or worse.

The post How Were Drones Used During WWI and WWII? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

During the Battle of Britain, the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy defended Great Britain against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe (air force) in a duel for air superiority over southern England.

Germany’s primary objective was to compel Great Britain to agree to a negotiated peace settlement. In July 1940, Germany’s air and sea blockade began; the Luftwaffe targeted coastal shipping convoys, ports, and shipping centers. On August 1, the Luftwaffe was ordered to gain air superiority over the RAF and incapacitate the RAF Fighter Command. On August 13, the attacks shifted to target RAF airfields and infrastructure. As the battle continued, the Luftwaffe also targeted aircraft production factories and strategic infrastructure. During the Blitz, the Germans used terror bombing on politically significant areas and civilians.

A single-seat, short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft, the “Supermarine Spitfire was critical in defeating Luftwaffe air attacks during the Battle of Britain,” according to the RAF. During 1940, the Spitfire became a symbol of defiance and freedom for the British.

“Pilots on both sides were at the controls of some of the most iconic aircraft in aviation history, including the Spitfire, Hurricane, and Messerschmitt Bf 109,” as told by the Imperial War Museum. Because of the Spitfire’s superior high-altitude performance, it is considered by many as the airplane that provided the margin of victory, although more Hurricanes were involved and credited with more “kills.” 

The Spitfire’s Design

In the early and mid-1930s, aviation design teams developed the next generation of fighters. New techniques used monocoque (French for “single shell”) construction, a structural system used in airframes, in which loads are supported by the aircraft’s external skin, much like an egg shell. Examples from the time period include the French Dewoitine D520 and the German Messerschmitt 109—and monocoque construction became primary for light airplane design in the post-war years. 

In addition, new high-powered, liquid-cooled, in-line engines developed around the same time. Aircraft designers also incorporated retractable landing gear, fully enclosed cockpits, and low-drag, all-metal wings. Although engineers had introduced these advances on civilian airliners, the military adopted them more slowly, as it favored the simplicity and maneuverability of biplanes.

In 1934 the Air Ministry sought a new, high-performance fighter for the RAF. Reginald Mitchell, the chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works, designed the Spitfire—it was a variant of floatplanes he designed in the 1920s. 

Mitchell’s high-performance fighter exploited the power of the Merlin engine, while also being relatively easy to fly. To fulfill a home defense mission, the Spitfire could climb quickly to intercept enemy fighters and bombers.

Mitchell and his design staff used a semi-elliptical wing shape to solve conflicting requirements. The wing had to be thin to create less form drag, but thick enough to house the retractable landing gear, armament, and ammunition. According to Beverley Shenstone, the aerodynamicist on Mitchell’s team, “the elliptical wing was… aerodynamically… the best for our purpose because the induced drag caused in producing lift was lowest when this shape was used.” 

Mitchell’s Spitfire featured an advanced aluminum airframe, making it light and strong. Its elliptical wing had innovative sunken rivets, designed by Shenstone so that the wing would have the thinnest possible cross-section. 

While it took longer to build a Spitfire than a Hurricane (and it was less durable), it was faster and more responsive. The Merlin’s efficient two-stage supercharger also gave Spitfires exceptional performance at high altitudes.

The Spitfire prototype flew in March 1935. Because of its outstanding performance and flight characteristics, the Air Ministry ordered 310 Spitfires on June 3, 1936. Mitchell continued to refine the Spitfire’s design until his death in 1937. His colleague Joseph Smith took over as chief designer, overseeing the many Spitfire variants.

Although full-scale production was scheduled to begin immediately, there were numerous problems, and the first production Spitfire was not manufactured until mid-1938.

As a result of the delays, the Air Ministry planned to stop Spitfire production after the initial order. However, Supermarine convinced the Ministry that production problems could be solved, and 200 additional Spitfires were ordered on March 24, 1938. Deliveries to RAF squadrons began in mid-1938 and continued throughout the war. 

The Battle of Britain

The first Spitfires entered service in August 1938. When World War II began on September 1, 1939, nine RAF squadrons were equipped with Spitfires. RAF Fighter Command refused to send Spitfires to France during the German blitzkrieg of 1940, and by July 1940 there were 19 Spitfire Mark I (MkI) squadrons available.

Spitfire MkIs that fought in the Battle of Britain were powered by Merlin engines with 1,030 horsepower. The airplanes had wingspans of 36 feet, 10 inches; were 29 feet, 11 inches long; and reached a maximum speed of 360 mph and a ceiling of 34,000 feet. Generally, Spitfires engaged Messerschmitt Bf 109s, while the slower Hurricanes attacked German bombers. The Spitfires were as maneuverable and faster than the German fighters at altitudes above 15,000 feet. 

Once the RAF modified its tactics, the outcome of aerial combat often depended more on a pilot’s capabilities than his aircraft. During the Battle of Britain, Spitfire pilots shot down 529 enemy aircraft, while 230 were lost.

Improvements

Supermarine developed improved Spitfire versions driven by progressively more powerful Merlins. Twenty-four Spitfire versions were built; and several wing configurations and guns were used. For example, fighter-bomber versions carried a 250- or 500-pound bomb beneath the fuselage and a 250-pound bomb under each wing. Other performance improvements were made by using new constant-speed propellers and modifying the Merlin to run on 100-octane aviation gasoline (avgas).

British production aircraft were flight-tested before delivery. Alex Henshaw was the chief test pilot at one of the several facilities where Spitfires were assembled. He assessed all Spitfire changes, and also coordinated a team of 25 test pilots. Between 1940 and 1946, Henshaw flew 2,360 Spitfires, more than 10 percent of total production.

Henshaw wrote about flight-testing Spitfires: “I loved the Spitfire in all of her many versions. …the later versions, although they were faster… were also much heavier and so did not handle as well. …an improvement at one end of the performance envelope is rarely achieved without a deterioration somewhere else.”

Other Service in World War II

Following the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire became the principal aircraft of RAF Fighter Command. It operated in several roles, including interceptor, fighter-bomber, trainer and  photo-reconnaissance, and continued to do so until the 1950s. The Seafire was an aircraft-carrier-based adaptation. Fitted with tail hooks and strengthened tail sections, it was utilized in the Fleet Air Arm from June 1942 until the mid-1950s. 

Spitfires were used in the European, Mediterranean, Pacific, and Southeast Asian theaters of war. They were used in the defense of Malta, in North Africa and Italy, and helped provide air superiority over the Sicily, Italy and Normandy beachheads. They also served in the Far East beginning in the spring of 1943. 

Beginning in early 1941, a key role for Spitfires was as a photo-reconnaissance aircraft. In 1941 and 1942, Spitfires provided the first photographs of the Freya and Würzburg radar systems, and in 1943, helped confirm that the Germans were building the V-1 and V-2 rockets by photographing Peenemünde, on the Baltic Sea coast of Germany.

In late 1943 Spitfires powered by Rolls-Royce Griffon engines came online that were capable of top speeds of 440 mph and ceilings of 40,000 feet. These aircraft were used to shoot down V-1 “buzz bombs.” 

The aircraft’s original airframe was strong enough to be fitted with increasingly powerful Merlins and eventually Rolls-Royce Griffon engines producing up to 2,340 hp. Therefore, the Spitfire’s performance and capabilities improved during its service life. 

Nearly 1,200 Spitfires were delivered to the USSR, and Spitfires also were used by the U. S. Army Air Forces until they were replaced by P-47 Thunderbolts in March 1943.

Final Years

The last version of the Spitfire was the Mk 24, first flown on April 13, 1946. On February 20, 1948, almost 12 years after the prototype’s first flight, the last production Spitfire was built. Spitfire Mk 24s were used in only one regular RAF unit; 80 Squadron replaced its Hawker Tempests with Mk 24s in 1947. These aircraft were relocated to Hong Kong in July 1949, and during the Chinese Civil War, their main duty was to defend Hong Kong from Communist threats.

During the Malayan Emergency, Spitfires flew over 1,800 operational sorties against Malayan Communists. The final operational sortie of an RAF Spitfire took place on April 1, 1954, by a Mk 19 Spitfire of 81 Squadron. It flew from an RAF base in Singapore to photograph a jungle area near Johor, Malaysia, thought to contain Communist guerrillas. 

The last non-operational flight of a Spitfire in RAF service involved a Mk 19, and occurred on June 9, 1957, when the airplane participated in a temperature and humidity test. This was also the last known flight of an RAF piston-engined fighter.

A restored Spitfire in flight. [Courtesy: Royal Air Force]

Legacy

The Spitfire was the most strategically important British single-seat fighter of World War II. More Spitfires were built than any other British combat aircraft before or since World War II —some 20,350. Additionally, the Spitfire was the only British fighter to be in continuous production before, during and after World War II.

The aircraft was produced in more variants than any other British aircraft. These included the prototypes, those powered by various Merlin and Griffon engines, the high-speed photo-reconnaissance variants and those with several different wing configurations. There were 6,487 MkVs built (more than any other type), followed by 5,656 Mk IXs. 

Different wings, featuring several different weapons, were fitted to most marks – the A wing had eight 7.7 mm machine guns; the B wing had four 7.7 mm machine guns and two 20 mm cannon; the C (or universal) wing could mount either four 20 mm cannon or two 20 mm and four 7.7 mm machine guns; and the E wing had two 20 mm cannon and two 12.7 mm machine guns. 

Throughout the war, designers continued to improve the Spitfire’s speed and armament. However, its limited fuel capacity restricted the airplane’s range and endurance, except in the dedicated photo-reconnaissance role, when its guns were replaced by extra fuel tanks.

FLYING Classics thanks BAE Systems, Encyclopedia Britannica, historyhit.com, the Imperial War Museum, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Air Force Museum for information and photos that contributed to this article. 

The post Spitfires Served as Heroes of the Battle of Britain appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Origins

Orville Wright made the world’s first controlled, powered, and sustained heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903. Less than four years later (August 1, 1907), the U.S. Army Signal Corps formed an Aeronautical Division. It was put in “charge of all matters pertaining to military ballooning, air machines and all kindred subjects,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The division was the first heavier-than-air military aviation organization in history and the beginning of what eventually became the U.S. Air Force. 

The Aeronautical Division purchased the first powered military aircraft from the Wright brothers in 1909, created aviation training schools, and started a pilot rating system. 

The 1st Aero Squadron comprised the “first military unit of the U.S. Army devoted exclusively to aviation,” as designated on December 8, 1913, according to Air Force Materiel Command. It was the U.S. Army’s first air combat unit. Now it’s known as the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, remaining active since its creation. 

Congress authorized the Signal Corps’ Aviation Section, and directed it to operate and supervise “all military aircraft, including balloons and aeroplanes, all appliances pertaining to said craft, and signaling apparatus of any kind when installed on said craft,” according to the Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA). It also would train “officers and enlisted men in matters pertaining to military aviation.”

When World War I began, the 1st Aero Squadron was the U.S. Army’s entire tactical air strength. Congress appropriated $500,000 for the Aviation Section on March 31, 1916. Influenced by the war, Congress appropriated over $13.6 million for military aeronautics and land acquisition for airfields on August 29, 1916. 

According to the Air Force Historical Research Agency, by October 1916, Aviation Section plans included 24 squadrons. By December, seven squadrons had been organized or were in process. Of the squadrons formed by early 1917, only the 1st Aero Squadron was fully organized and equipped when America entered the war on April 6, 1917.

World War I: United States Army Air Service 

The first U.S. aviation squadron entered combat in February 1918, staffed mostly by pilots who had previously volunteered with the French. American-trained squadrons soon joined the fighting.

Most American aviators flew French airplanes, since U.S. aircraft production was behind schedule. Training was hazardous, causing twice as many deaths as in combat. Additionally, “green” U.S. pilots faced experienced German pilots, resulting in heavy losses in early aerial combat.

The Aviation Section’s inefficiency mobilizing led President Wilson to transfer aviation responsibilities to the Secretary of War. 

Despite various challenges, American pilots steadily improved; 71 U.S. pilots shot down at least five aircraft, earning “ace” status. Eddie Rickenbacker led all Americans with 26 “kills.” U.S. aviators helped stall German offensives in spring 1918, and control the skies in final Allied offensives.

Air Service personnel engaged in combat between February and November 1918. On Armistice Day, 740 U.S. aircraft stood in front-line squadrons (about 10 percent of Allied aircraft). Despite its relatively small numbers, “the Air Service conducted 150 bombing attacks, dropped 138 tons of bombs, and downed over 750 enemy aircraft and 76 enemy balloons.”⁴ 

Demobilization and the 1920s

Pundits of the day called World War I “the war to end all wars,” and the U.S. government took that seriously. Between Armistice Day and June 30, 1920, officer strength plunged “from 19,189 to 1,168, and enlisted strength dropped from 178,149 to 8,428,” according to AFHRA.

“During most of the 1920s, the total offensive strength of the Air Service” in the continental U.S. was one pursuit, one attack, and one bombardment group, according to the AFHRA. The Panama Canal Zone and the Philippines each had one pursuit and one bombardment squadron; two squadrons of each type remained in Hawaii. 

The Air Service became the Air Corps through the Air Corps Act of 1926, but little else changed. The Air Corps had 919 officers and 8,725 enlisted men; its “modern aeronautical equipment” consisted of 60 pursuit planes and 169 observation airplanes, according to AFHRA. 

Despite limited funding, the Air Corps focused on setting new records in altitude, speed, endurance, and distance, helping focus the nation’s interest on the potential of military aviation and earning international prestige.

“Blind flying, aerial photography, and airborne communications,” took on critical importance, according to the National Museum of the United States Air Force. In addition, the Air Corps “flew forest-fire patrol and border patrol, crop dusted farm fields, bombed ice jams in swollen rivers, flew relief supplies into disaster areas, and dropped feed to snowbound livestock.”

War Clouds in Europe

During the 1920s and 1930s, U.S. aircraft manufacturers led the world in passenger aircraft development. In particular, numerous U.S. and foreign airlines purchased the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2 and DC-3. Meanwhile, Germany and Japan focused on building more powerful warplanes.  

Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937, with a clear advantage in aircraft and mechanized weapons. Germany “tested” its aircraft during the Spanish Civil War, assisting Nationalist forces under Francisco Franco. In September 1938, Luftwaffe aircraft supported German ground forces that occupied Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland. 

World War II began by most measures on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland using blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactics—coordinated aircraft, mechanized weapons, and infantry. 

President Franklin Roosevelt worried about the United States being drawn into the war. He also believed in the growing importance of airpower, and according to advisor Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt believed “that airpower would win it,” according to AFHRA.

President Roosevelt requested 10,000 airplanes for the Air Corps from Congress on January 12, 1939. On April 3, Congress authorized $300 million for an Air Corps “not to exceed 6,000 serviceable airplanes,” according to AFHRA, to make up for lost time.

World War II

Germany quickly conquered Poland, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France. Swift Nazi victories caused Congress to appropriate funds to improve and enlarge the U.S. armed forces. 

But when war began the Air Corps had only 800 first-line combat aircraft. U.S. fighter aircraft were inferior to those flown by the British, Germans, and Japanese. In late 1940, newspaper publisher Ralph Ingersoll visited England and wrote that the “best American fighter planes delivered to the British are used either as advanced trainers—or for fighting equally obsolete Italian planes in the Middle East.”

Plans were revised upward, to 84 combat groups with 7,800 aircraft and 400,000 troops by June 30, 1942. By the end of the war, the Army Air Forces (AAF)—established on June 20, 1941, by Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall—grew from 26,500 servicemen and 2,200 aircraft in 1939 to 2,253,000 servicemen and -women and 63,715 aircraft in 1945.

Expansion and Reorganization

The War Department began building bases and air organizations in the continental U.S. and overseas in 1939. During this expansion and reorganization, “the Hawaiian Air Force was activated on November 1, 1940, the Panama Canal Air Force on November 20, 1940, and the Alaskan Air Force on January 15, 1942,” according to AFHRA. (These subsequently became the Seventh, Sixth, and Eleventh Air Forces.)  

The War Department was reorganized on March 9, 1942, four months after Pearl Harbor. Three autonomous U.S. Army Commands were created: Army Ground Forces; Army Service Forces; and Army Air Forces. In September 1942, the First, Second, Third and Fourth Air Forces were created. 

By the end of the war, the USAAF had 16 numbered air forces (First through Fifteenth and Twentieth), distributed worldwide to prosecute the war, plus a general air force within the continental U.S. to support the whole and provide air defense.

Operational Summary

The Air Force Historical Studies Office (AFHSO) summarized the USAAF strategy during World War II:

“…the first priority [was] to launch a strategic bombing offensive in support of the RAF [Royal Air Force] against Germany. The Eighth Air Force, sent to England in 1942, took that job. After a slow and often costly effort to bring the necessary strength to bear, joined in 1944 by the Fifteenth Air Force stationed in Italy, strategic bombing finally began to get results, and by the end of the war, the German economy had been dispersed and pounded to rubble.

“Tactical air forces supported ground forces in the Mediterranean and European theaters. In the war against Japan, Gen. Douglas MacArthur made his advance along New Guinea by leapfrogging his air forces forward and using amphibious forces to open up new bases. The AAF also supported Adm. Chester Nimitz’s aircraft carriers in their island-hopping across the Central Pacific and assisted Allied forces in Burma and China.

“…the Twentieth Air Force [was] equipped with the new long-range B-29 Superfortresses used for bombing Japan’s home islands, first from China and then from the Marianas. Devastated by fire-raids, Japan was so weakened by August 1945 that [Gen. H.H.] Arnold believed neither the atomic bomb nor the planned invasion would be necessary. The fact that AAF B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrated what air power could do in the future.”

• READ MORE: FLYING CLASSICS: B-29 Superfortress 

USAAF Statistical Summary

AFHSO also provided the following information: 

• “USAAF incurred 12 percent of the Army’s 936,000 battle casualties. [A total of] 88,119 airmen died in service. Only the Army Ground Forces suffered more battle deaths. 

• “Total AAF aircraft losses from December 1941 to August 1945 were 65,164. The AAF is credited with destroying 40,259 aircraft of opposing nations.

• “Total sorties flown by the AAF were 2,352,800, with 1,693,565 flown in Europe-related areas and 669,235 flown in the Pacific/Far East.”

Demobilization 

As it had when World War I ended, U.S. armed forces immediately began a massive demobilization following the surrender of Germany on May 7, 1945, and Japan on August 15, 1945. In the AAF, “officers and enlisted were discharged, installations were closed, and aircraft were stored or sold,” according to AFHRA.

Between August 1945 and April 1946, AAF manpower fell from 2.25 million to 485,000, to 304,000 in 1947. AAF aircraft decreased from 79,000 to fewer than 30,000. Permanent AAF installations dropped from 783 to 177. Less than a year after war’s end (July 1946), only two of the 52 AAF active-duty units were combat-ready. 

In February 1946, General H.H. “Hap” Arnold, AAF commanding general, retired due to ill health. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz succeeded him, reorganizing the AAF into major commands not requiring a second restructuring once the Air Force became independent. Additionally, he restructured reserve components, including creating the Air National Guard in April 1946.

Reorganizing the U.S. Military

By April 11, 1945, 80 “key military and naval personnel” had been interviewed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Special Committee for the Reorganization of National Defense, according to history.defense.gov. Their recommendation? That U.S. armed forces should be organized into a single Cabinet department, and that “three coordinate combat branches—Army, Navy, and Air” comprise the operational services. The committee noted that the “statutory creation of a United States Air Force would merely recognize a situation that had evolved during World War II with the Army Air Forces.” The measure saw broad approval.

Nonetheless, the Navy Department opposed a single Department of Defense and creation of a separate Air Force during congressional hearings. On December 19, 1945 President Harry S. Truman declared his strong support for an air force, “reminding Congress that prior to the war independent Army and Navy departments had often failed to work collectively or in coordination to the best interest of the nation,” according to AFHRA.

An Independent Air Force

With President Truman’s endorsement, Congress enacted the National Security Act of 1947 on July 26, 1947. The Department of Defense, the United States Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency were established.

On September 18, 1947, Stuart Symington became the first secretary of the Air Force. This officially founded a new U.S. military branch. Gen. Spaatz became the U.S. Air Force’s first chief of staff on September 26, 1947, overseeing both the demobilization of the largest air force in military history and its rebirth as an independent branch. 

Legacy

“The Army Air Forces in World War II” is the official history of the AAF, stating, “By the close of the war [the AAF] had emerged as virtually a third independent service.” This was almost inevitable after the AAF became an autonomous U.S. Army Command in 1942. At its height, the AAF had more than 2.4 million people and 80,000 aircraft in service and flew more than 2.3 million missions during the war.

Today, the Air Force has over 300,000 active duty troops, with approximately 20,000 pilots, according to veteran.com.

Happy birthday, U.S. Air Force, and many more!

FLYING Classics thanks the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Materiel Command, the Council on Foreign Relations, military.com, the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the United States World War I Centennial Commission, veteran.com, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and of course the United States Air Force for information and photos that contributed to this article.

The post Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the U.S. Air Force appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Knowing they were behind, the U.S. armed forces were working desperately to improve their armaments. Several companies bid on building a new torpedo bomber; Grumman Aircraft’s design was chosen by the Navy. In April 1940 two prototypes were ordered. The Navy then ordered 286 torpedo bombers in December 1940. Designed by Leroy Grumman—founder of the company and an aerospace engineer—the prototype was the XTBF-1, first flown in August 1941.

On the afternoon of December 7, 1941, Grumman held a ceremony to open a new manufacturing plant and display its new Avenger torpedo bomber to the public. When Grumman officials learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the facility was quickly sealed off against possible sabotage. 

In January 1942 the first production TBF-1 joined the fleet and the Avenger quickly went into mass production. During the first half of 1942, 145 TBFs were delivered.

Powered by a Twin Cyclone Radial

The Avenger was powered by a Wright R-2600-20 Twin Cyclone 14-cylinder radial engine that generated 1,900 horsepower. Each Avenger held three crew members – pilot, turret gunner, and radioman/bombardier/ventral gunner. The airplanes only had one set of controls, and there was no direct access to the pilot’s position from the aircraft’s interior. Radio equipment was large and cumbersome, and filled the length of the “greenhouse” canopy to the pilot’s rear. 

A synchronized .30-caliber machine gun was mounted in the nose, a .50-caliber gun was mounted next to the turret gunner’s head in a rear-facing electrically powered turret, and a .30-caliber hand-fired machine gun mounted under the tail was used to defend against enemy fighters attacking from below or the rear. Later models of the TBF/TBM replaced the cowl-mount .30-caliber gun with twin Browning AN/M2 .50- caliber guns, one in each wing outboard of the propeller arc. These guns gave pilots better forward firepower and increased the airplane’s strafing capabilities. 

The Avenger was built with a large bomb bay that held either one Mark 13 torpedo, a 2,000-pound bomb, or up to four 500-pound bombs. It was a rugged but stable airplane said to fly like a truck. With a 30,000-foot ceiling and a fully loaded range of 1,000 miles, the Avenger was superior to any previous American torpedo bomber, and far better than its Japanese counterpart, the obsolete Nakajima B5N “Kate.”

To ease aircraft carrier storage concerns, Grumman designed the Avenger (as well as the F4F-4 Wildcat carrier fighter and the later F6F Hellcat) to use the new Sto-Wing patented “compound angle” wing-folding mechanism. 

After hundreds of TBF-1 models were delivered, the TBF-1C began production. Space for specialized internal and wing-mounted fuel tanks doubled the Avenger’s range. With capable radios, fairly easy handling, and long range, the Avenger was also a good command aircraft.

In 1943, Grumman began to phase out its production of Avengers to manufacture Hellcat fighters. The Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors, with manufacturing facilities in Maryland, New Jersey, and New York, began to produce Avengers under license (designated TBMs). In mid-1944, production of the TBM-3 began. It was equipped with a more powerful engine and wing hardpoints for drop tanks and rockets.  

In total, 9,836 Avengers were built. Grumman manufactured 2,290 TBFs before production ended, while General Motors produced 7,546 (2,882 TBM-1s and 4,664 TBM-3s). 

Battle of Midway

By early June 1942, more than 100 Avengers had been delivered to the Navy, but they were too late for the pivotal Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942. However, six Avengers had been assigned to Torpedo Squadron 8 on Midway Island for evaluation. The aircraft and their crews arrived on Midway three days before the battle. None of the pilots had ever been in combat, and few had ever flown out of sight of land. Operating from the island’s airstrip, the Avengers and other aircraft attacked the Japanese fleet. Five Avengers were shot down, and the last was badly damaged. 

Author Gordon Prange wrote in Miracle at Midway that dive bombers were responsible for sinking four Japanese fleet carriers. He noted that the obsolete Devastators—and having too few Avengers on hand—contributed to the lack of a complete victory at Midway. 

Later, with increased American air superiority, more effective attack coordination and more veteran pilots, Avengers played a more dynamic role in subsequent battles with Japanese forces. 

Action in Guadalcanal

After the Americans captured Guadalcanal, Japanese Marshal Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto organized a large naval counter-strike in the Eastern Solomons. On August 24, 1942, Japanese and American carrier forces met. According to the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum, the Saratoga and Enterprise had a total of 24 TBFs. During the afternoon and evening, Avengers were launched in four different strikes. In the second strike, torpedoes struck the light carrier Ryūjō and helped to sink her at the cost of seven aircraft.

In the war’s fourth big carrier engagement (the Battle of Santa Cruz, on October 26, 1942), Avengers did not play a major role. The two surviving U.S. carriers in the Pacific, USS Enterprise and USS Hornet, each carried 14 Avengers. Although the carriers helped stop the Japanese effort to retake Guadalcanal, most of the Avengers were shot down by Japanese combat air patrol and anti-aircraft guns. 

These early battles showcased the strengths and weaknesses of the Avenger, but also exposed the deficiencies of the Mark 13 torpedoes used by the U.S. Navy during the first two years of the war. Because of the torpedoes’ poor performance, torpedo bombers flew many missions carrying 500-pound bombs instead. 

READ MORE: Warbirds in Lake Mead

The Japanese continued to attack Guadalcanal. From November 12 to 14, 1942, the naval Battle of Guadalcanal took place. Leading the powerful Japanese naval forces was the Hiei, a 37,000-ton battleship. Marine Corps and Navy Avengers torpedoed and helped sink the Hiei.

Although the Avenger was a sound aircraft, the National Naval Aviation Museum notes that increasingly effective Japanese anti-aircraft capabilities, combined with vulnerability during torpedo runs rendered traditional massed torpedo bomber attacks less likely after Midway. “The Torpedo Bombers,” an article in the October 1944 issue of FLYING, stated, “torpedo attacks must be delivered at a comparatively short range and amid heavy enemy AA fire. Torpedo bombers no longer creep in low over the water. They move in with the dive bombers and at high altitudes under the same fighter coverage.”

Avengers also were used in different roles, including reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare, mine-laying, airborne early warning and control, glide bombing in close air support, light transport or cargo work, and medical evacuation. 

“The Torpedo Bombers,” also stated, “…Grumman Avengers had sown mines in the harbor at Palau. This job was so well done that no ship in the harbor at the time of the mine planting ever got out. Thousands of mines had been laid by aircraft, but this was the first time carrier-based planes had, with fighter protection, gone right into the enemy’s front yard and done the job.” 

In November 1943, the U.S. Navy began systematic night-fighting teams. From the Enterprise, Avengers and Hellcats were directed toward incoming Japanese bombers. Radar-equipped Avengers would lead the Hellcats behind the bombers, close enough for the Hellcat pilots to see their exhaust flames so that they could be shot down.  

During the “Marianas Turkey Shoot” (June 19 and 20, 1944), more than 350 Japanese aircraft were downed (primarily by Hellcats). A 220-aircraft mission followed, seeking the Japanese task force. Fighting 300 nm from the fleet, Hellcats, TBFs/TBMs, and dive bombers suffered many casualties. However, Avengers from the aircraft carrier USS Belleau Wood sank the light carrier Hiyō. 

On October 24, 1944, Avengers were instrumental in sinking the Japanese super-battleship Musashi in the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea. In the next day’s Battle of Leyte Gulf, Avengers helped keep Japanese surface ships from exposed U.S. troop transports. On the 26th, TBFs also helped sink Zuikaku and three light carriers.

By late 1944 the U.S. Navy had almost complete air superiority. On April 7, 1945, the remaining Japanese super-battleship—Yamato—made a desperate run for Okinawa. 

In 1997, Charles G. Fries, Jr. a TBM tail gunner, described the attack to the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale. “…we went after the last remnants of the Japanese Fleet, which comprised the battleship Yamato, the cruiser Yahagi and two screen destroyers. When we came into range, the squadrons split into two sections. The first TBMs got the wagon [Yamato], and she was severely damaged, ready to sink. So we went after the cruiser… Both big ships and the destroyers put up a lot of flak. After firing our torpedo, we were pleased to see the cruiser go down. Later another destroyer went down too. …we sank three of the four Japanese ships. As far as we were concerned, the Japanese fleet was no more.”

As noted by the National WWII Museum, Avengers “effectively interdicted enemy shipping and delivered ordinance on enemy positions throughout the Pacific war.” 

As well as torpedoing surface ships, Avengers were very effective submarine hunters in the Pacific theater. Because of this prowess, Avengers also were used in the Atlantic, helping escort Allied convoys. “Avengers could launch off the shortened decks of escort and light carriers,” noted worldwarIIaviation.org. 

In the North Atlantic, Avengers destroyed 30 submarines, including the unique sinking of the Japanese cargo submarine I-52. Flying from escort carriers, the Avengers became the key strike aircraft in the Allied hunter-killer groups.

After the war Avengers continued flying in the U.S. Navy, primarily as missile platforms, in anti-submarine, electronic countermeasures, and for training. The last Avengers were retired from the U.S. Navy in 1954.

Specifications

FLYING Classics thanks the following organizations for information and photographs that contributed to this article: flightjournal.com, National Naval Aviation Museum, National WWII Museum, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum, Northrop Grumman Aerospace, and the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.  

The post Grumman’s Avenger: The Most Effective Torpedo Bomber of WWII appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Development work on an aircraft to improve the United States’ intelligence-gathering capabilities had already begun at Lockheed’s Skunk Works in Burbank, California. 

During President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s second term, tensions between the U.S. and the USSR escalated significantly. When Gary Powers’ U-2 aircraft was hit by Soviet surface-to-air missiles and he was forced to bail out and then was captured, the Cold War became even hotter. 

After the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961, relations between the two nations deteriorated even more—due to incidents like the Bay of Pigs, the loss of another U-2 over Cuba, the erection of the Berlin Wall, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. An improved spy plane was desperately needed.

Delivering ‘Impossible’ Technologies

Considered one of the best aircraft designers of the 20th century, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson led Lockheed’s Skunk Works team that had previously delivered “impossible” technologies on “incredibly short, strategically critical deadlines” (including the U-2). 

However, this new aircraft was radically different. “Everything had to be invented,” Johnson recalled. Nonetheless, he committed the Skunk Works team to create such an aircraft—and to have a prototype flying in “a mere 20 months.”

The new airplane’s speed was mandated to exceed 2,000 mph—1,740 knots—and not for short, after-burner-driven bursts, but to maintain that speed for hours. However, at that speed, atmospheric friction generates temperatures that could melt a conventional airframe of the time.

Dealing with the issue of extreme heat, there were numerous design and material challenges. Designers decided that only a titanium alloy would provide the strength needed, be lighter than stainless steel, and be durable enough to withstand excessive temperatures and speed.  

The titanium alloy was covered with a corrugated skin that was heat-resistant. The concept of a “stealth aircraft” was new, while the use of titanium was also an almost unexplored area of engineering. Because titanium is a very sensitive material, new tools and processes had to be developed. 

In regard to heat, while the airplane’s leading edges would be subjected to high temperatures, the ambient temperature that the aircraft would be flying through was minus-60 degrees Fahrenheit.

The team’s engineer Ben Rich grappled with this for long hours before he remembered that black paint both emits and absorbs heat. To help redirect the heat caused by friction, the aircraft was painted black, which led to its name: “Blackbird.”

First Flights and Modifications

Lockheed designated the Blackbird prototype the A-12. Its first flight occurred on April 30, 1962. The A-12 was a single-seat aircraft; in total, 13 A-12s were produced, and they were used in a top-secret CIA program. As FLYING contributing author Peter Garrison noted in his column, Technicalities (FLYING, October 1994), “Lockheed delivered an airplane…that could cruise at almost 2,000 knots 15 miles above the ground, and had an unrefueled range of 2,300 nm. At that time, such performance was unheard of. But the technology for it existed or lay just within reach; this was, remember, the era of the X-15 and the XB-70 as well.”

The new aircraft would inevitably draw comparison to the X-15, powered by a single Reaction Motors XLR99 57,000-pound thrust liquid propellant rocket engine, and famously taken to a record-shattering speed of Mach 6.7 by Air Force Capt. William “Pete” Knight during an Oct. 3, 1967 flight that reached an altitude of 102,100 feet.

Another A-12 variant was designed as an interceptor. Air-to-air missiles and another cockpit were added for a second crew member to operate radar equipment. This was the YF-12, and it looked identical to the A-12 except for its nose. Three YF-12s were constructed and operated by the U.S. Air Force. A third variant was the M-21, which had a pylon on its back for mounting and launching one of the first unmanned drones. Two M-21s were built; however, the program was stopped in 1966 after a drone collided with its mothership, killing one of the pilots.

The SR-71 Is Born

The final derivative of the A-12 had a twin cockpit and larger fuel capacity. Flight tests on the improved prototype continued, and the airplane broke height and speed records. On July 20, 1963, it achieved a sustained speed above Mach 3 at an altitude of 78,000 feet. 

Called the SR-71—SR for Strategic Reconnaissance—it first flew on December 22, 1964, piloted by Robert “Bob” Gilliland, a Lockheed test pilot. According to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, the first SR-71 entered service in January 1966, at Beale Air Force Base (KBAB) in California. This version would fly intelligence missions for the U.S. Air Force for more than 30 years. A total of 32 SR-71s were built, according to the National Air & Space Museum. Including all the variants, there were a total of 50 Blackbirds built. 

A key modification of the SR-71 was a reduction of its radar image. Although the initial test flight had gone well, there were rumors of new advances in radar by the Soviets, so the U.S. government requested the radar profile be reduced. 

To comply, the Skunk Works team redesigned the aircraft’s surfaces to avoid reflecting radar signals, moved the engines to mid-wing, and added radar-absorbing elements to the aircraft’s special paint. 

The improvements were radar-tested using a full-scale model of the Blackbird. The results were definitive; although the Blackbird was more than 100 feet long, it “would appear on Soviet radar as bigger than a bird but smaller than a man,” according to Lockheed. Skunk Works staff “had succeeded in reducing” the Blackbird’s “radar cross-section by 90 percent!”

As described by the Smithsonian Institution, “the Lockheed SR-71 was a twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft. Its airframe was constructed largely of titanium and its alloys; while its vertical tail fins were constructed of a composite to reduce the aircraft’s radar cross-section. It was equipped with Pratt & Whitney J58 turbojet engines that featured large inlet shock cones.”

The engines were as complex as the rest of the aircraft. At the time, the J58 engines were the only engines built to continuously use afterburners (which is why the SR-71 consumed so much fuel). When the airplane was flying at supersonic speed, each engine inlet was “blocked” by a spike, which moved forward and backward depending on the airplane’s speed. 

• READ MORE: That Darkstar in Top Gun: Maverick—Was it Real?

The SR-71 in Operation

Interestingly, no Blackbirds ever flew over Soviet airspace, because the U.S. stopped Soviet overflights after the 1960 U-2 incident. However, SR-71s were used over Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Vietnam, North Korea, and locations that have yet to be declassified.

No Blackbird was ever lost to enemy fire. However, the airplanes’ reliability was an issue; 12 of 32 were lost to accidents. In addition, it was very complicated to operate and fly. According to aviation historian Peter Merlin, a great deal of effort was required to get an SR-71 into the air. “It took an army of people to prepare the aircraft. A Blackbird operational mission essentially had a countdown, like a space mission, because there was so much preparation involved in both getting the crew ready and the vehicle ready—an unbelievable amount of effort and manpower.” 

Piloting the Blackbird

Piloting the Blackbird was a very difficult assignment that took total concentration. However, its pilots welcomed the challenges. According to the Lockheed Martin website, Air Force Colonel Jim Wadkins said, “At 85,000 feet and Mach 3, it was almost a religious experience. Nothing had prepared me to fly that fast… My God, even now, I get goose bumps remembering.”

Because of the SR-71’s speed, normal visual references, such as highways, rivers, and metropolitan areas, were replaced by larger objects—mountain ranges, coastlines, and large bodies of water.

Blackbirds were unaffected by air defense systems because of their incredible speed and high-altitude operational characteristics. While the SR-71 had electronic countermeasures, its main defensive system against missiles was simply to outrun them. As quoted from a documentary about the SR-71 Blackbird on PBS, “If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outfly the missile.” 

Lockheed’s Johnson announced in 1981 that more than 1,000 missiles had been launched at the SR-71, but none of them had damaged one of the aircraft. 

NASA’s SR-71 Program

The Air Force retired the remaining SR-71s in 1990, but NASA continued to use four Blackbirds through the 1990s and early 2000s. At the SR-71’s service ceiling of 85,000 feet, it was possible to see the curvature of the Earth; it was an excellent experimental unit for space travel. With its speed and height capabilities, the aircraft was used as a platform to conduct research and experiments in aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, thermal protection materials, high-speed and high-temperature instrumentation, atmospheric studies, and sonic boom characterization. 

NASA’s high-speed and high-altitude aeronautical research occurred at Dryden Flight Research Center, which was located within the boundaries of Edwards Air Force Base. Dryden’s SR-71 activities involved other NASA research centers, government agencies, universities, and commercial firms. 

NASA’s SR-71 program was canceled in late 2001.

• READ MORE: NASA’s Supersonic X-59 Clears Critical Ground Tests

An Icon of the Cold War Era

The Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s on January 26, 1990, owing in part to defense budget cuts and the high costs of operation. As technology improved, the SR-71 was replaced by satellites and UAVs, which offered instant access to surveillance data.

The SR-71 first leapt into the skies in December 1964. Many consider it the most iconic aircraft of the Cold War era. On July 28, 1976, a Blackbird set records that remain unbroken—flying at a sustained altitude of 85,069 feet and a top speed of 2,193.2 miles per hour, or Mach 3.3. 

Although most of us will never be privy to the critical information Blackbirds gathered, they provided the United States with detailed, mission-critical reconnaissance for more than two decades. The SR-71 was one of several spy airplanes built to venture into enemy territory without being shot down or even detected. From 80,000 feet, an SR-71 could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface each hour. 

Most of the remaining Blackbirds are stationed at museums or military bases across the U.S. On its retirement flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., on March 6, 1990 (on the way to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum), a Blackbird flew coast to coast in a record-setting 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds.

“It still looks like something from the future, even though it was designed back in the 1950s,” Merlin said. “Because of the way the fuselage bends and the wing curves and twists, it looks more organic than mechanical. Most conventional airplanes look like someone built them—this one almost looks like it was grown.”

FLYING thanks brickmania.com, CNN, Lockheed Martin Corporation, migflug.com, NASA, nationalinterest.org, the Public Broadcasting Corporation, the Smithsonian Institution, and sr-71.org for information and photographs used in this article. 

Aircraft Specifications

An SR-71 on a NASA mission. [Credit: NASA.gov]

The post FLYING Classics: Lockheed Created the ‘Impossible’ SR-71 Blackbird to Replace the U-2 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.