Military History - Avaiation of WW2

BY: Aaron London and Justin Bresnahan

 American Aircrafts
With the industrial capabilities and the industries being far from the fighting
america had the luxury of basicly building any type of aircraft needed for the war.
There are a total of 183 U.S. world war 2 aircrafts. Planes were not used by the
americans until about two years after the conflict. The country of the wright
brothers sold tons of metal including airplane parts and engines. Pearl Harbor was
the poke that woke up the beast. We can say that because of Pearl Harbor and
the economic power of the American people that changed the course of the war,
making some of the best airplanes at this time. Among the most famous aircrafts
built in America would be the P-51 Mustang and the B-29 superfortress which was
the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima on August 6th 1945.
Grumman F4F Wildcat
In December 1940, America manufactured one of their first monoplanes to fly from
carrier decks. The F4F-4 contained six 50 caliber machine guns and could reach
up to 320 mph. The Grumman was most successful in the hands of Butch O’Hare
and Joe Foss.
F4U Corsair
The Corsair was designed to be carrier-based fighter. Its difficult handling and
landing characteristics made the navy rely more on the Grumman hellcat. Its
speed, maneuverability, and ruggedness caused many to rate it beside the
Mustang as one of the best fighter planes of ww2. The F4U corsair reached
speeds of 425 miles per hour. It had good visibility with a bubble-top canopy. It
also held a monster engine that could produce 2,250 horsepower. It was also
equipped with six 50 caliber machine guns.
F4U Corsair
 British Aircrafts
One of the most famous british ww2 aircrafts was the spitfire. It was first in the air
in March 1935 and it held the best flight and performance characteristics. These
planes were sent to engage german fighters while the slower Hurricanes went for
the bombers.
Spitfire
The Spit was the mainstay of the RAF. Because of the shape and size of the wings
and the craft itself, the aerodynamics gave it graceful handling but yet deadly in
combat. The plain packs a 1,000+ hp Merlin 2. Believe it or not, Rolls Royce took
part in creating this magnificent liquid cooled engine for the duty of war.
Boulton Paul Defiant
First British plane to ever hold four machine guns on it and the third mono cab
plane which means it can hold 2 soldiers.

The gun was powered by hydraulics

Anyone who faced the plane faced a hail of lead from the four brownings mouted
on it.
 German Aircrafts
During ww2 Nazi Germany made some of the most innovative planes. But thank
god that the Russian and American power overwhelmed them. The aircrafts in
Germany were very advanced early on during the war. Germany had a constant
trend to push basic airtime designs to its limits. The Bf 109 proved this trend, in
1937 it had carried a 610hp engine and by 1944 it had carried a 1800hp engine
which is an insane jump. The planes were nothing without the Luftwaffe's aka the
German air force. These men were pushed to there limits with a “fly til you die”
policy. Which basically permitted those who were the best to exceed more mission
and more aerial victories.
Walter Nowotny
He was an Austrian born fighter ace of the luftwaffe. He is credited with 258 aerial
victories. This means that with 258 enemy encounters he took down 258 aircrafts.

He got most of these victories on the Eastern front in the Focke-wulf FW-190

First pilot in history achieve over 250 aerial victories

Junkers Ju 88
In 1936, the Ju aircrafts were built to perform heavier and slower than any other.
The A-1 version of the prototype was designed to carry a large load of bombs for
great defensive armament. It contained three machine guns along with a 20mm
cannon to fire forward. Because of the size of the aircraft, the th Ju pushed up to
986 hp.
Manfred von Richthofen “Red Barron”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCtvfu5NIG0
Nakajima B5N Kate
Japan was capable of possessing the finest torpedo bomber at the time. With the
help of 100 Kates, Japan could take success by giving heavy damage to U.S.
battleships during Pearl Harbor. After the first half of the war, America advanced in
a manor where the B5N was nothing but a sitting duck. It had an air cooled radial
engine which produced roughly 1,000hp. The firepower of the aircraft was poor as
it only had one 7.7 mm machine gun and one torpedo weighing around 16
hundred pounds. It could only move as fast at 235mph and had next to no control.