AviationGeeks.com - Impact of Aviation

From the beginning the Wright brothers where sure that the airplanes would come to good use for the military and in February 8, 1908 they signed a $25.000 contract with the U.S. War Department for a two seat airplane. But the U.S failed to keep up with other industrialized countries in terms of aviation military and in 1911 the Italians flew their first combat reconnaissance flight. In the beginning of the World War I reconnaissance pilots used to wave when they past each other but with fast development of airplane and weapons that was about to change. In 1915 the Germans placed a machine gun that was synchronized to shot through the spinning propeller, the other European counties where soon to follow. When the United States entered the war in April 1917 the Aeronautical Division of the Army consisted of only 55 airplanes, 35 pilots and 1987 enlisted personnel compared to 230 airplanes that the Germans had, 130 that the France had, and 110 airplanes that the British had.

The Great War was an important awakening call for the United States. Only 411 planes where manufactured in the U.S. in 1916 but following a request from France in March 1917 to provide 4,500 airplanes by 1918 the U.S. manufactured an amazing total of 20,475 training and service planes in 12 months. The only U.S. manufactured airplane to enter a combat in the World War I was the De Havilland DH-4 which was originally a British Combat plane that was altered for the Liberty engine. Another U.S manufactured airplane during the war was the Curtiss JN-4 nicked named “Jenny”. Even though the JN-4 was never used in combat it got the reputation of a reliable military training plane. After the war thousands of the JN-4 where sold to civilians and where very popular with stuntmen on the early air shows among other things.

After the Great War the government started cut down funding to the Air Corps (the Air Service was changed to Air Corps with the Air Corps Act in 1926) and in 1924 only 754 men where enlisted so there weren’t much development going on in the Air Corps  in the 1920s. It wasn’t until the 1930s that the military aviation really started to take off again with airplanes like the Martin B-10 a long range, twin engine bomber produced in early 1930s. In 1935 the B-17 “Flying Fortress” took of, the long range four engine bomber made great impact on the World War II.

The attack on Pearl Harbor really shows the impact that aviation had on the military and how important the airplane carries where. Even though the United States hadn’t declared war on Japan, six aircraft carries equipped with 432 planes attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Japanese sent off 354 airplanes in two waves and managed to destroy 14 U.S. battleships and killed over 2000 personnel and lost only 29 airplanes themselves. Later during the war, the U.S. planned an attack on Tokyo. Originally the mission was to take off the aircraft carriers from 500 miles distance from the target, but they got spotted by an enemy patrol and had to take off 650 miles outside of Tokyo without knowing if they would have enough fuel to make it to the Chinese airfields. Only four men where lost and the others where able to get back to the U.S. but even though the damages where little and mostly to industrial zones this helped to boost the moral of the allied troops and the people back in the United States. Another tragic event that can be tracked to military aviation occurred on August 6 and August 9, 1945 when atomic bombs where dropped from B-29 Superfortress on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, and the following day the Japanese government declared themselves defeated.

In the end of the World War II, Germany was divided into 4 separate zones of occupation that belonged to the British, France, American, and Russian. Berlin that also was divided into 4 zones, was depended on getting the supplies through the ground routes do to restricted air routes to the city, and in June, 1948 the Russian cut off the major ground routes to and from the city with a population of about 2.5 million. The idea of an airlift came from General Albert Wedermeyer, former U.S. commander in China and was only thought as an short-term measure but lasted almost a year and in that time 277,264 flight where made into the city, mostly C-47 and C-54 carrying 2,3 million tons of supplies.

The Korean War was the first time the Air Force was independent from other military units, and this war really showed the importance of having the Air Force. In the Korean War the Air Force got the use of their first jet fighter the Lockheed F-80 “Shooting Star”. The F-80 was design in 1943 but the World War II ended before it could be engaged in combat, but the Shooting Star had some problems; it needed long and smooth runways and their staying time over Korean targets was limited and eventually they where changed for the old F-51 Mustangs. The use of helicopter was also demonstrated on the Korean War and proved essential to emergency operations and ferrying solders to and from the battlegrounds

In the war in Vietnam, military aviation played a leading role although “dogfights” where not as common as in the previous wars the U.S. Air Force shot down 86 enemy aircrafts between 1965 and 1968, mostly by F-105 and F-4 fighter jets. The helicopter proved even more essential in the Vietnam War then the Korean War. The large number of helicopters used in Vietnam where Bell UH-1 “Huey” and where used for various things, some of them being transport of personnel and weapons, air assault, and in emergency evacuation.

Still today aviation plays a leading role in military operation. The Air Force keeps developing state of the art military equipment like the B-2 Spirit Stealth multi role bomber that entered service in 1993. Another plane to enter service in 1993 was the C-17 Globmaster III, with payload of 169,000 pounds and a range of up to 8,500 nautical miles. Boeing has been developing unmanned military jets so the development in military aviation is not nearly over and we can predict to see some changes in following years.

The impact aviation had on the economy and society in the beginning wasn’t that great, the airplanes where expensive at $5,000 to $7500 each, landing grounds where limited, not many people knew how to maintain them and where short of facilities. The stuntmen where one’s of the few making any money flying, they got $20 a week and $50 each day they flew. It was there where the Wright brothers made their money, with exhibition around the country, and the Wright Exhibition Company was making about $1 million annually, so aviation was getting profitable.

In the 1920s people started to establish airliners around the country but without the Airmail Act (the Kelly Bill) in February 1925 not many airlines would had made it. The Airmail Act offered airliners to get a contract with the Post Office Department, where they would make most of the income. In late 1920s recognizable airline where founded like American, Delta, TWA, and United.

Airline traffic grew tremendous over the years and in 1929 airline passenger where 173,405. Business traveler counted for a large number of those passengers, business trip that used to take weeks only took days, so many corporations took advances of flying because it saved them time and money and many firms even bought executive jet for their employees.

It wasn’t until the Boeing 247 and McDonnell Douglas DC-3 in the 1930s that companies weren’t totally depended on government mail contracts. During those years passengers grew and terminals where being build, people on west coast where visiting relatives and friends on the east coast, or even in Europe and the other way around and flying really became a hit in the U.S. This also changed the way people did business, now business partners from New York and Miami could gather for a meeting without losing day’s at work. Development in aviation continued and not before long aviation came to be one of the biggest industries in the country and now Boeing and General Electric are both in the top 25 of the Fortune 500 list for 2005.

On September 11, 2001 tragic event occurred when terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center and thousands were killed. After the 9/11 came difficult time for the economy and specially the airlines in the U.S. and many had to file for bankruptcy but those hew made it through are starting to pick up again and last year was record year in airplane sale for Boeing, with 1002 airplane ordered this year, which is not bad for company that manufacture under 300 airplanes a year.

The future is also looking good in aviation. Airbus predicts that by 2023 number of passenger aircrafts in service will double and freight traffic will grow by almost 6% per year for the same time, so I think it all right to say that the aviation will only come busier in the following years to come